Bartlett church receives $5,000 for Church Bell Fund
The Bartlett Rotary Special Projects Committee donated $5,000 to Bartlett's Immanuel United Church of Christ's Church Bell Fund. Bartlett Rotarians Dr. Kristina Gabrenya and Ray Deyne presented the $5,000 donation to the church Sunday, March 10.
Jackie Ellsworth, Bell Fund chairwoman, and Lynn Filippelli, church council president, received the check for the Please Help Us Make the Church Bell Ring Again Campaign. Other Bartlett Rotary officers and members, village Administrator Paula Schumacher, Fire Chief Mike Falese, Michael Musson and Michelle Sarwars attended the presentation and cake reception, along with members and friends of the church.
Church members, friends and the Bartlett community, along with nationwide support, collected more than $9,000 in a three-month period with the help of advertisements and a GoFundMe page.
The Rotary donation is the culmination of the fundraising portion of the Bell Campaign and their donation, added to the already collected funds, will not only ensure the complete restoration of the bell's mechanisms, but also allow the church to have funds for maintenance for the bell and its structures for years to come.
Work has already begun, with a target completion date of mid-spring 2019.
Immanuel United Church of Christ was built in 1891 and named Immanuel Evangelical Church under the auspices of the German Evangelical Synod of North America. Two denomination mergers brought the church to its current United Church of Christ affiliation.
In 1893, the Ladies Aid raised funds to buy and install the 609-pound bell that called its congregants to worship, rang out the hours for the townspeople and surrounding farmers, and alerted the town of events and emergencies.
Recently, the bell had fallen silent due to stabilization issues and a broken mechanization. The Verdin Company, Ohio, has been contracted to install bearings, clapper spring assembly and a swinging bell ringer to make the church bell ring again.
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