April 2002

Ron Allaire’s Contribution

It is nearly ten years ago that our fellowship moved from a three bedroom house on Carmel Drive to our present location on Bayshore Drive and John Simms Parkway. We may not have been able to move had it not been for Ron Allaire. This quiet man with sparkling eyes and a winning smile, bought our previous building so we could move into our present building without a worry about the down payment.

Sy Shwiller and Mike Coirin (who has moved to Virginia) discovered this empty building (vacated by the Mormon church for seven years) with a for sale sign in the front yard. Mike diligently compiled a development plan which the congregation adopted for purchasing the building. The next step was to sell our Carmel Drive building. We thought the Korean church was about to purchase it when something came up and the deal did not materialize.

To help us keep on track with our present building purchase, Ron offered to buy the building and rent it to a day care center. The day care center has grown and expanded and has become an important part of the Carmel Drive community. Meanwhile, our building has been renovated and our church family has grown to almost double our size before the move. We later heard that if we had delayed one week to buy our building, we could have lost it to a local restaurant. Next time you see Ron, thank him for helping to make our fellowship dream come true.

This month marks the 35th anniversary of membership for Ron.

Karen Lauer