With the new projector in place and operable, though installation details remain, it is time to thank those who have contributed to the project and hope we’re not forgetting anyone.

A brief recent history is in order. (A longer-term history is below.) In the spring of 2015 the Pacific Northwest District Chalice Lighters program announced that it would be accepting applications for grants for Growth Technology Support, with applications due in November. To be eligible applicants had to be a Fair Share Honor congregations and have at least 30 percent of the members enrolled as active Chalice Lighters. RVUUF met both of those requirements, so our first thanks is to those among the congregation who actively support the Chalice Lighters program.*

Walter Ensign assembled the application incorporating material provided by President Delores Nims and John Limb and submitted it on behalf of the congregation. RVUUF was awarded a grant amounting to not quite half the cost a projector.

To receive the grant the congregation had to raise matching funds, which it succeeded in doing quickly, along with funds to address the costs associated with the installation and ancillary equipment to fully utilize the projector. Our thanks first to Roger Howe whose sermon “Reproductive Justice,” given Feb. 3, 2013, won an award for the best Social Justice sermon, which he donated toward an eventual projector purchase. The most recent donors who matched the grant and contributed to the installation costs are Delores Nims, Michael and Wendy Ross and Margaret St. Clair. It is with sincere appreciation that we acknowledge their invaluable support.

Jeff Platt and Michael Sorenson, with their company Ravensclaw, Inc., provided structural engineering assistance refining the design of the steel frame supporting the projector’s shelf and donated the materials and labor for the fully fabricated frame. Thanks to both of them.

Thanks to John Serra and Morty Smith who assembled and finished the wood trim which hides most of the steel and the otherwise ugly stuff.

John Limb is tremendously appreciated for his planning, acquisition and installation, with assistance from Jan Limb and Walter Ensign, of the networking equipment necessary to take maximum advantage of the projector’s features.

Thanks to Walter Ensign who has shepherded this project since late 2011, before the screen was purchased, working with the vendor on both the screen and projector selection, performing the detailed architectural/engineering work to determine the dimensions and placement of the screen and the relationship between the screen and projector placement to avoid interference from the sound system’s speaker enclosure, with John Limb and Jeff Platt evaluating a loaned demo projector to determine its suitability for daytime use in the Great Hall, designing the shelf and trim assembly and finally, after nearly five years, lifting the projector into place with the assistance of John Limb, Jeff Platt, and Morty Smith. A few items remain to be completed, but Walter is looking forward to being able to finally say: “It Is Finished!”

The longer-term history starts back in 2011 with a very generous and much appreciated donation from Dianne Erickson and Lois Pettinger toward a screen. Initial investigation quickly revealed that their donation alone would be sufficient to purchase and install a screen. Pursuing an installed screen made immediate sense, as it would eliminate the clumsy, two-person minimum, struggle with the “portable” screen.

Following on Walter Ensign’s work determining the size and location of a screen, purchase was initiated in the spring of 2012. During the summer of that year Mike Letourneau engineered the installation to meet Oregon’s legal requirement for such items suspended overhead and with John Limb installed the screen. It was, and is, intended that a façade be installed in front of the screen to hide it and to incorporate sound baffles to minimize the noise of raising and lowering the screen. That’s one more thing to do.

Thank you to all who have made the installed screen and projector possible!

Walter Ensign

*At the time of submitting the application the congregation’s enrollment in the Chalice Lighters was 35 percent. Now, just a year later, enrollment has dwindled to 22 percent.