Indiana Landmarks, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving meaningful places, granted a $125,000 Sacred Places Indiana Fund grant to Saint Stanislaus Catholic Church in South Bend. Jason Kulick is an electrical engineer and a parishioner. He says the grant will be used for an essential safety upgrade, to reinforce a beam that supports the church’s choir loft.
“We discovered this when we were looking at doing some other improvements and permitting,” Kulick said. “That’s when this issue with the structural load on the beam came to light.”
Kulick was part of the church’s grant proposal team. He says the team felt good about the parish’s chances of getting the grant because Saint Stanislaus fit Indiana Landmarks’ criteria.
“They seem very interested in helping specifically with critical repairs and structural repairs,” Kulick said, “compared to, let’s say, redoing the varnishing on pews, or something like that. I think we ended up being a good fit.”
Another aspect Indiana Landmarks looked at was the church’s growth rate and its impact in the community.
“We are approaching our 125th year anniversary,” Kulick said. “To have the parish and the building still be there in the neighborhood is a real blessing.”
