BY SHEILA OJENDYK
MYRTLE BEACH — Dreams are finally coming to fruition at St. Andrew Church. The parish broke ground on a new community life center Oct. 9, ending a weekend stewardship festival.
In 1994, the first of four homes on the block was purchased for future expansion. In the spring of 2003, Msgr. Chet Moczydlowski, pastor, called a meeting and invited all parishioners to participate in planning the parish’s future. The consensus was that there was a need for additional space to serve both the parish and school, and particularly for a gymnasium and meeting facilities. A capital campaign soon followed.
Molly Halasz, principal of St. Andrew School, told the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony, “Our children have had every PE class on the parking lot since I came to the school.” The school’s sports teams have never had a home game.
The new multipurpose facility will include a full-sized gymnasium, meeting rooms, a commercial kitchen, bathrooms, and storage space.
Steve Hepler of Pegram Associates, Inc. is the project architect, and Mashburn Construction is the general contracting company. If all goes according to plan, the new building should be completed by midsummer of 2006.