Toward the end of 2019, Lighthouse took a bold but necessary step forward with the purchase of a building in the heart of Hawthorne on Lafayette Ave, right across from the movie theater. This new facility will serve as a main headquarters and expanded ministry location, increasing our capacity for serving families, saving and changing lives.
June 14, 2021
Today marks six months since our new Hawthorne Center opened its doors to begin serving the public. What a wonderful half-year it’s been! After a few weeks of serving those in pregnancy-related need, we held a Virtual Ribbon-Cutting and Dedication Service on January 24 to officially mark the building’s opening and to ask for God’s blessing on this new location. You can view photos from that special day here.
Thank you to all who joined us on January 24 for the Virtual Ribbon-Cutting and Dedication Service for our new Hawthorne headquarters and expanded ministry center. We are grateful for the many laborers of love: financial partners, artists, businesses and contractors from the community, borough officials, staff, and a multitude of volunteers – most notably Servant’s Heart Ministry – who came together to create this beacon of light where God’s love and hope shines brightly for those in pregnancy-related crisis!
Since opening our doors in December, we have served hundreds of women and men at 297 Lafayette Ave through individual appointments, and hosted group programs such as Forgiven & Set Free, Star of Hope’s Jobs For Life, RENEW Life’s Getting Ahead workshop, YoungLives meetings, and our new Birth of a Family program. The childcare and café areas have been especially helpful for supporting parents and hosting our volunteer trainings.
If you missed the chance to celebrate and dedicate this building to the Lord with us, we invite you to watch the recording of the ceremony at FriendsofLighthousePRC.org/HawthorneHQ.
With pandemic restrictions lifted, we are holding an in-person Open House on Tuesday, June 29, from 7-9PM for our friends to come see the expanded ministry center they helped to build through their prayers and support. Ice cream will be served. An RSVP is not required but would be helpful. Please text the words “ice cream” along with your name and number of guests to 862-343-5208. We hope to see you there!
December 10
We are thrilled to report that on November 3rd we received our final approval from the town of Hawthorne to occupy and utilize the new headquarters and expanded ministry center! We praise God for all the volunteers, meal providers, business partners, and financial supporters who joined us this past year to help us reach this important milestone for the ministry of Lighthouse!
There were (and still are) some final touches to be done on all floors of the building, so we are still happy to accept volunteer offers for help with light construction, painting and cleaning (please email Jackie@LighthousePRC.org with your interest and availability). But we are even happier to report that in the past month, we hosted our first New Volunteer Orientation in the space, an outdoor YoungLives Club for teen moms, our weekly after-abortion recovery support, and have begun to see a few of our parents for support appointments in the new space. Trainings on our new phone system, and new ultrasound machine took place in early December, and our Student Outreach Director has begun holding virtual classes from her new office there. We plan to begin a regular schedule of client services appointments the week of December 14. We have also emptied out two storage facilities that Lighthouse has been leasing for many years – reducing costs and saving travel time for our staff!
A big THANK YOU to all who played a part in bringing this new center to life! Furnishing and fundraising work still continues to make this foundation for life as strong as it can be! Please email Debbie@LighthousePRC.org if you would like to partner with us.
September 3
Exciting news! Lord willing, we are in our FINAL month of renovations for the main floor of the center! As we look toward an October 1st finish line, Servant’s Heart is beginning to prepare the center for final inspections and the final steps of the renovation. Flooring was installed throughout the center in late August; interior doors are getting final coats of paint in preparation for handles and other door hardware to be installed; and we are looking forward to cabinetry and counters arriving for installation the second week in September. We welcomed our first new tenant on the second floor in August, and are putting finishing touches on the second apartment upstairs. Our parking lot got another upgrade when Kalor Construction company donated and installed gently used fencing to replace some much-used fencing that had lined our property. The last ceiling tiles are going in as a sign that much of the mechanical “behind the scenes” work is coming to an end. We are currently selecting the furnishings that will welcome and serve our families in need, and create efficient, comfortable work spaces for our staff. Thank you so much to each and every person who has contributed labor, materials, finances and meals to make this strong foundation for life a beautiful reality!
June 20
We are so grateful for all the wonderful work our amazing volunteers and generous contractors have accomplished over the past month! Finishing touches are being added to the building’s exterior, thanks to a donation of bricks from Braen Stone, and the generosity of Central Supply in Passaic, and CS Stucco. Our outside “face lift” will present a warm welcome to future visitors. Roofing has been replaced and skylights added or repaired to truly make us a “light-house” for the community. We are preparing to order flooring and cabinetry, and doors and doorframes have been installed, along with ceiling grid, so it is now easy to imagine the rooms being utilized for all their intended purposes! Lots of spackling, sanding and priming of the 810 boards of sheetrock and other walls has taken place and more painters are needed to complete this work and begin final coats of paint on our many walls. We look forward to continued progress in the weeks ahead, and hope you can join us at one of our dates to write Scripture verses on our unfinished floors and pray for the rooms as they are prepared for our life-affirming mission!
May 1
We are grateful to report that all interior framing of rooms is complete, electrical wiring is well underway, a new garage door in place on our storage warehouse, and much of the sheetrock is up! Much plumbing has been done, and Reiner and GRC Mechanical have already assisted us with a lot of HVAC work, and Scott’s Security has worked on – you guessed it, security! Exterior work is being completed by our contractor, CS Stucco, in the next week or so. We are very grateful for CS Stucco’s partnership; they were able to tackle our project earlier because of COVID-19 rescheduling – a blessing for everyone involved! Thank you also to Pfister Maintenance & Roofing who are currently replacing our roofing.
Servant’s Heart Ministry and Director John Oostdyk, along with Bill Vander Eems, continue to do an amazing job keeping our project moving. A big thank you to ALL our volunteers and vendors for bringing this new ministry location to life! Check out the construction photos above to see our progress and maybe a face or two you recognize!