Letter: Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church fundraising to cover post-fire expenses

Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church (LTCPC) has been a beacon of hope since it was founded in 1948. The church was initially founded as the first year-round church and community gathering location. Thanks to our founders, we have as a community been blessed with our historic building, in the heart of South Lake Tahoe, that serves the spiritual and physical needs of the community.

Today, LTCPC which has a motto of “Come As You Are!” which is felt as an inclusive, caring, welcoming church.

Misfortune Leads To Opportunity

Over the years, one of the strengths of LTCPC has been to support individuals, organizations, and other groups in the community in their time of tragedy.

In early January 2019, LTCPC experienced its own tragedy. A small fire in a maintenance workroom spread fire, smoke and residue from harmful chemicals throughout the building. As one can imagine with a 71-year old building, a number of other critical issues were triggered.  When remediation began, asbestos and lead were found throughout the facility which led to months of remediation without use of the facility. There were also a number of health, safety, ADA and building code requirements that had to be addressed in the restoration plan adding significant expense.

Preparing to for Spiritual and Community Needs
Before the fire, Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church was where worship services, Sunday School classes, Bible studies, youth groups and small groups all happened. But our building was also home to a weekly dinner service, a food pantry, musical concerts, Boy Scout programs, health screenings, blood drives, community forums, three weekly Spanish-speaking worship services, the local election board and so much more.

As we look to the future, our vision is that LTCPC continues to be both God’s house and a home for the community.  As the church has gone through the rehabilitation process, including a number of enhancements that will allow us to better meet the religious education and spiritual needs of our church family, from toddlers to seniors and also create warm and inviting spaces to help serve individuals and organizations in the community.

Rising From Holy Ashes
The goal of the campaign is $750,000. Funds raised in this campaign will provide the necessary dollars to help cover the cost to bring our building up to code in many areas and provide other improvements that will not be covered by through insurance.

Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church is rising out of the ashes. When completed, South Lake Tahoe will have one more awesome resource to help people see hope in God’s glory for the future.

We have since taken on the debt load to keep the beacon to the community shining. However, being a smaller congregation, this debt load is a significant burden but one that was deemed necessary to keep the mission alive.

We had started the outreach process earlier but due to things like COVID and now settling back into our facility after the Caldor Fire evacuation word has been slow to get out to our beloved community (both local and those in our hearts). Now, we are officially reaching out to you to help support us in sustaining our mission to be that “beacon to the community”. If you have ever been helped (directly or indirectly) by our church, heard of someone who has been helped, support programs such as Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous, received sustenance from the food pantry, have a heart for missions, and programs like “Bread & Broth”, we encourage you (the community) to prayerfully consider donating to our cause. Together not only can we rise up but come back stronger than before.

To donate, please click on the link below. From there select “Capital Campaign”. Donations are tax deductibe.

https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=wWsk24ZWJSTZKsGd1RMKlg0BDvsSG3VIWQCP...

With humble gratitude,

Lake Tahoe Community Presbyterian Church.