Somers Church Moves Forward

Less than 48 hours after the , the church council met to discuss the status of the church and how things will proceed forward.

The church and its members will have a long way to go to recovery, but positivity and calm radiated from every direction on Tuesday. The motto has been, ‘The building is gone but the church remains.’

“That’s kind of what we’re going on to go forward,” church moderator Anne Kirkpatrick said.

Rev. Barry Cass said that the plan is to rebuild on the same footprint.

“There were a few things we talked about – a bride room in the front somewhere, the sanctuary closer to the elevator so you don’t have to walk down the long hall – but basically the look would be the same, the feel would be the same. But we would be able to be more efficient, more accessible, and greener. That’s where we will be.”

But in the meantime, the focus is on the immediate future.

Everything on the church calendar – from worship services to blood drives – will remain.

At least for the month of January, the worship service will be held in the town hall auditorium at 10 a.m. At least for this coming Sunday, there will be no childcare.

“We considered childcare and decided that the kids have as many questions as the adults do so it’s important for the kids to know that the church is still here and the people are still here and those things will continue,” Cass said. “We thought it was important to do a family service that includes the kids. Hopefully we can help them understand.”

The Champs Place food pantry will be open normal hours on Monday, but in the auditorium. The is working on moving into .

“There was a lot more water damage there than we realized,” Cass said.

The church-owned home at 603 Main St. is unlivable at the moment so the family is staying somewhere else. Cass said the hope is to have the home repaired in the next couple of weeks.

The painstaking process of inventorying and getting cost estimates on every item in the church must now begin. This includes everything from the organ down to the measuring cups in the kitchen.

Cass said that while it is still early, it is expected that the church suffered between $4 million and $5 million worth of damage.

“The organ was $500,000 itself and beyond that, it’s another four I would say – at least,” he said.

A restoration fund will be set up soon, and information on this fund - as well as restoration efforts - will be able to be found on the church Web site. Restoration information can also be found on the church's Facebook Page.

The Connecticut Conference Church of Christ has also set up a way for people to donate online.

“One hundred percent of what is given goes to us,” Cass said.

People have been coming out of the woodwork, offering to help.

“I have been overwhelmed with the response from the church, the community, the state,” Cass said.

Cass then addressed the rumors that have been flying around town about the fire possibly having been intentionally set. He said that he spoke to Sgt. Jose Claudio, who said that the state fire marshal’s investigation is done and the cause of the fire is undetermined.

“They had accelerant sniffing dogs come in who were not able to sniff out any accelerant,” Cass said. “No one has been arrested. Several people have been interviewed, and more than once, and that will continue. There are people of interest. They’re working on that. The fire marshal is done, the state police are not done.”

While there was no accelerant detected, it could have been because of the heat of the fire.

“They said that the temperature was like 1,300 degrees,” Cass said. “The fire marshal said that there’s a possibility that if there was accelerant – there could have been – the heat was so intense that it disintegrated it so the dogs couldn’t smell it. That’s really very unlikely, but it was intensely hot.”

Cass encouraged anyone who might know something to contact the authorities.

“I actually had a call from somebody just before I came over who wanted to know who they could talk to because they had some information they thought would be helpful,” he said. “If you know anything, if you saw anything, like the TV commercial says, ‘If you saw something, say something.’ It’s very important.”

Cass closed the meeting with this prayer, “Gracious God, we place ourselves in your hands. We trust in your spirit, we trust in your presence, and we’ve witnessed your presence in one another and in so many others these last two days. As we go this evening, we would ask that you keep us safe, and hold us in your love until we meet again. I want also, God, to pray for those who may be responsible for the fire that we have suffered. Be with them, be with their families, give them courage to do the right thing, and help us to sense the forgiveness that we need to feel eventually.”