NATIONAL TRUST LENDS SUPPORT TO CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH

PROVIDENCE, RI –  Calvary Baptist Church, 747 Broad Street, was awarded a $2,500 matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Antoinette F. Downing Preservation Fund for Rhode Island.  The grant will be used to seek grants to restore the church’s building. 

 The church recently celebrated the completion of Phase 1 of the restoration project.  In 2006, $700,000 was spent on a new slate roof and other exterior repairs.  Total restoration costs are estimated to be over $1.5 million.  This grant will enable the church to hire a consultant in grant writing to assist the church in raising funds from foundations and other donors to continue the restoration work.   Calvary Baptist Church was among several grant recipients selected in a competitive application process from applicants across New England and Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

  In announcing the grant, the National Trust Northeast Regional Office Director Wendy Nicholas said, “With these start-up dollars, Calvary Baptist Church joins hundreds of other groups and public agencies that are actively ensuring that America’s architectural and cultural heritage is preserved.”  Through its Preservation Services Fund, the National Trust offers small matching grants to support a wide range of local historic preservation projects across the nation.

 The National Trust for Historic Preservation, chartered by Congress in 1949, is a nonprofit organization with more than 270,000 members.  As a leader of the national preservation movement, it is committed to saving America’s diverse historic environments and to preserving and revitalizing the livability of communities nationwide.