HOPE for Bereaved Inc. in Geddes seeks donations to renovate building, secure future

Therese Schoeneck, the founder and executive director of HOPE, said the organization has raised $29,500 of the $80,000 it needs to pay for the first phase of work to repair the sinking foundation of the more than 30-year-old building — dropping down four to six inches in places, she said. 

That phase also includes removing carpets, tile and laminate flooring and replacing them with all new materials, repairing cracks, priming and painting walls and ceilings, installing three code-compliant exterior doors and renting storage pods for office furniture during the renovations.

"It's been a wonderful building," Schoeneck said of the location into which HOPE moved in 1991. "This works for us. ... It's an ideal building for us with that parking on the side and just the way the rooms are all configured."

She also noted the building is completely paid for, as she made the last two mortgage payments to the bank on Dec. 31, 2013. In the time that HOPE has occupied the building, there has been a new roof, a new furnace, a new water heater, a new air conditioner and other repairs.

"We do keep the building up, but those were all smaller projects," Shoeneck said. "This is a big one. ... We just have to fix this, but it's a big fix."

A second phase of the project would involve installing outdoor lighting for the parking lot, repairing and repaving the parking lot, installing a new handicap ramp and repairing the outside landscaping in front of the building. That work is anticipated to cost $35,000.

Schoeneck said Woodford Brothers, a central New York construction company, is slated to begin the first phase in the middle of July in order to complete it by the beginning of August.

Though Woodford Brothers comes at a higher price, the company also comes highly recommended, she said. A couple of other contractors visited the building to examine its needed repairs, she said, and almost immediately told her, "This is beyond us. You need Woodford Brothers."

I don't know that there is anybody else, but they're wonderful," Schoeneck said of Woodford Brothers. "They're the gold standard."

One of the areas sinking the most is the large room where Schoeneck said HOPE holds its support groups, workshops and committee meetings as well as other gatherings.

Because of that, HOPE's support groups will move to nearby St. Ann's Church during the two-week construction, though counseling sessions will still take place at the building since counseling can be done in the offices.

Rather than starting a generic capital campaign, Schoneck said the organization established the Forever HOPE Fund separate from its regular operating expenses in order to pay for the building repairs as well as maintain the organization well into the future and "ensure that the community will always have a place to go when they are grieving," as a letter from the organization tells its supporters.