Lowell Church To Mark Start of Addition and Renovation Project with Ground-breaking Ceremony
Lowell -- The Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church will mark the start of construction on a $2.5 million building addition and renovation project with a ground-breaking ceremony on Sunday, June 17.
The Father’s Day ceremony is scheduled to begin after the Divine Liturgy at 11:30 a.m. and be followed by a parish picnic from noon to 7 p.m. on the church grounds. All proceeds from the picnic will benefit the building fund.
The invited guest list includes His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios; the Rev. Nicholas Triantafilou, president of Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology; the Honorable George Chatzimichelakis, consul general of Greece in Boston; Greek Orthodox priests from Greater Lowell; U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan; state Sen. Steve Panagiotakos; state Reps. Tom Golden, Dave Nangle and Kevin Murphy; Mayor Eileen Donaghue, and members of the Lowell City Council.
The formal ground-breaking is the culmination of more than four years of work by the church’s Building Committee – under the direction of Co-Chairmen Nikolaos Manolis and Arthur Faneros – which was authorized by a Parish Assembly to develop a building plan to better meet the needs of the parish.
Last October, more than 200 parishioners turned out at a Special Parish Assembly to overwhelmingly approve the project, authorizing construction to begin once the Capital Campaign Committee had raised $1.5 million for the project.
The new building will consist of nine classrooms for the Sunday School, new offices, a chapel, meeting rooms, an elevator and new restrooms. A new kitchen will be part of the renovated church hall, while the narthex will be renovated with the addition of some new mosaics and marble.
The architectural firm for the project is Dean Burland & Associates of Amherst, N.H., while Construction Resources Inc. of Westford is serving as the general contractor.
After the ground-breaking ceremony, all parishioners and guests will be encouraged to attend the parish picnic. Among the food offerings will be souvlakia, chicken souvlakia, pita, rice pilaf, hamburgers, hot dogs, salad, pastry, beer, wine, soda and other items.
Dancing music will be provided by D.J. Penney.
At 6 p.m., the names of 30 winners will be drawn from the special picnic raffle. Among the prizes are a laptop computer, a weekend adventure at the Radisson Hotel/57 restaurant, two sets of tickets to two Red Sox games and an assortment of $100 gift certificates.
The church picnic is being co-chaired by Angelo Koukos, Jimmy Piazas and Glenn Shanks.
For more information about the ground-breaking ceremony or the picnic, please call the church office at 978-458-4321.
