Brookside Church Launches Raise the Roof Campaign!

The Brookside Community Church, located in the heart of historic Brookside, is reaching out to the entire community for help with urgently needed roof repairs.

Church trustees have launched a campaign to raise $130,000 to replace a crumbling slate roof over the church sanctuary and to fix the underlying damaged ceiling, insulation and sheetrock.

For more than 70 years, the Brookside Community Church with its iconic slate roof, has served as an anchor in the Brookside Historic District of colonial-era homes. Church trustees hope to maintain the historic character and look of the church by replacing the roof with slate, instead of a cheaper material, such as asphalt.

However, this is among the worst times to start any sort of construction project with prices for materials and labor rising by the day.

The church needs $130,000 committed by July 1 to take advantage of a contractor’s quote, which holds only until that date.

“This is not an ideal to launch a construction project, but we cannot wait. The roof is crumbling,” said Trustee President Catherine Pierson. “Since February, we have had four plastic buckets sitting in the hallway between the sanctuary and the choir room collecting freely flowing water.”

The slate is too fragile to complete a spot replacement. So, the plan is to replace the sanctuary roof with Vermont slate, which typically has a 70-year lifespan. In addition, the roofer will remove and repair the copper gutters and snow guards, which together with the slate give the church its historic character. The roof over adjacent Scialla Hall will be replaced with asphalt shingles to lower costs.

Any money raised in excess of what is needed for the roof will go toward other renovations and repairs that are necessary but not as urgent as the roof.

Already, the campaign has received several large Leadership Gifts of $10, 000, and the church trustees and council have all pledged to participate in some way.

“We invite residents to join us and invest in the future of our community church in this once-in-a-generation project,” said Pastor Nicolette Siragusa. “We deeply appreciate the generosity of community members who are able to contribute.”

Donations of any amount are welcome and can be made online. Make a donation.

Supporters also can send a check made out to “Brookside Community Church” to P.O. Box 490, Brookside, N.J., 07926.