A generous gift gives Woollahra church a new lift. The original two-storey Woollahra Seventh-day Adventist Church was built in 1936, long before modern accessibility standards. This caused challenges for attendees who have difficulty navigating stairs.
“Historically, elderly people stopped attending church because they found it hard to get downstairs to the amenities,” said Pastor Daniel Przybylko. “A lift has been talked about for 15-20 years, but it never got past the wish list until 2023.”
That’s when the church received a generous $50,000 gift from the late Clara Pongrass. She was the longest-ever member of the Woollahra congregation, from 1950 until 2022, when she passed away at age 96. The funds she provided for the lift were especially poignant, as Clara herself would have benefitted from the upgrade. “She could have attended church much longer, if we’d had a lift years earlier,” Pr Przybylko said.
The church celebrated completion of the Clara Pongrass Memorial Lift at an opening ceremony on 4 November 2023. All four of Clara’s children—Steven, Les, Judy, and Tom—attended the service and participated in the ribbon cutting ceremony to dedicate the lift named in their mother’s honour.
“We feel blessed to have a church building that is now accessible to all,” said Pr Przybylko.
Now, all church goers—including those with mobility issues, and parents with prams—can access key areas of the church building, including the sanctuary, gathering hall, kitchen, restrooms, and the children’s room.
For ways on how you can make your church more accessible, visit https://sydney.adventist.org.au/ministries/accessible/.
