On Sunday February 10th, 17th & 24th the St. Thomas’ community was invited to attend meetings to determine whether or not the parish was “of a mind” to move forward in our discernment journey, which included the hiring of a financial (fund-raising) consultant and an architect.  Of those who attended the meetings and voted, the final tally was 68 people who voted “Yes” to move forward; 2 persons voted “No”.  The financial consultant will guide us in determining how much money we will be able to raise from within the parish membership for a building campaign, which could include a renovation as well as new construction.  Our architects will conduct an investigation of our current support systems and building structures as well as render some simple architectural drafts of possibility in response to the discernment meetings.  These next two steps will help us determine if St. Thomas’ is in a position to move forward with either a renovation and/or a building campaign.

The vestry is thrilled to begin their capitol campaign training with Eleanor Weis, from the Episcopal Church Foundation, on Wednesday, March 26th. Our second training with Eleanor is already scheduled for April 12th.  Eleanor has been working for the Episcopal Church Foundation for two years on all phases of church campaigns—and—comes strongly recommended from the bishop’s office.  Prior to her service with ECF, Eleanor ran the annual fund program for Hospice and before that, she worked as a policy analyst on Capitol Hill. Eleanor is a graduate of Vanderbilt with an M.S. from George Washington.  Eleanor is also an Episcopalian.

The vestry spent an all-day-interview/presentation session with three different architectural firms.  Each company was provided 1 1/5 hours for their presentation.  These presentations were preceded by individual meetings with the clergy and time to visit our campus as well. Eleanor and another ECF member, George Holiman (voluntarily) attended these presentations.  We are also thrilled to invited AURAform as our architect for the next phase of our discernment.

AURAform Inc is an office for architecture located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The firm’s Principals, Matthew Jarvis and John Riordan, co-founded the office after both working for multiple design award winning firms, on projects ranging from art galleries to wineries to modern custom homes.

Matthew Jarvis established a reputation among design professionals beginning his career working at the internationally renowned office, Architekturburo Peter Zumthor in Haldenstein, Switzerland. He pursued his vocation working as project architect for six years with David Jameson Architect, a modern architecture office in the Washington DC Metro Area. John Riordan is a certified architect who has practiced for over a decade at several prominent modern architecture firms across the country.

The goal of AURAform is to exemplify the philosophy its name suggests, to form the subtle atmosphere that emanates from a place and to imbue it with the visceral elements of light and space. The architects of AURAform share the common belief that Architecture is an emotive expression, perceived through the sieve of human experience. Our tenet is to work closely with the client to develop a unique program that is buildable for the scope and cost defined, with the highest quality of craftsmanship, and to administer that vision to fruition.