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Everything to do inside of Park City proper.

The Christian Center Of Park City Celebrates Their New And Improved Facility

Melissa Allison
CCPC Executive Director Rob Harter assists Co-Founder Jim Swartz with Co-Founder Susan Swartz (in white blouse) and others looking on.

The Christian Center of Park City started plans for a renovation and expansion in 2014. On Saturday, they had their ribbon cutting ceremony for the upgraded facility that was paid solely from donations. Melissa Allison has more:

The Christian Center of Park City got its start in the mid 80’s when Susan and Jim Swartz visited Park City looking for a new place to ski. They came across the story about a child dealing with Leukemia and how the community came to his aid. 

Susan Swartz told the gathering Saturday, that’s all they needed to know.

“That really touched my heart and that was a place that we wanted to put down roots and soon that was the vision for the Christian Center," Susan Swartz said. "So, I stand here today and just thank you, all of you for all your support and love. This is truly a community that care and thank you.”

Board Secretary Geralyn Dreyfous told the audience they couldn’t do it without their donors.

“I’d like to start by thanking the Sorenson Legacy Foundation which provided a million-dollar gift which was immediately matched by the Christian Center board raising an additional $2 million," Dreyfous said. "And then Spence and Lisa Eccles came on board challenging the Park City community to match their $500,000 challenge from the George and Dolores Eccles foundation. And the community and again the board responded without hesitation so, this campaign has not only provided the funds to build this permanent place and the beautiful addition to the Park City landscape, certainly we get to appreciate the views of the landscape from inside.”

The original budget was set at $7.3 million. Executive Director Rob Harter said that budget was stretched for a good purpose.

“Along the way we realized we wanted to finish out our counseling center and really make that great because of all the special emphasis on mental health here in Summit County and Park City," Harter said. "So, we decided to build all that out which was not part of our original plans. And then our upstairs area, our third level in the remodeled building, we really turned that into a special events community center, so the community could really use it for all kinds of events. That bumped it to $9.3 so our final number is $9.3. So, it was a bigger chunk than we thought.”

Dreyfous said they were also able to expand the humanitarian services including counseling which serves even people who come in from Salt Lake City.

She said they even help seniors care for their pets, but there is one thing they’re especially proud of.

“Probably the biggest accomplishment has been the expansion and improvements that we’ve done with the food pantry," Dreyfous said. "I think for those of you have not been on a tour I hope you will. There was a lot of intentional design that was put into making this pantry feel like a shopping experience with shopping carts. Kids can go down the line and put things in the basket. Again, really focusing on this idea of dignity and normalizing what might be a rough time in somebody’s life but, making people feel as welcome as possible.”

The center still has to raise $2.8 million to pay for the renovations and expansion. An anonymous donor told them if they could raise $2 million by January 31, they’d throw in a million.

I’m Melissa Allison, KPCW News.

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