CAMILLUS — The New York Landmarks Conservancy has announced 18 Sacred Sites Grants totaling $310,500 awarded to historic religious properties throughout New York State, including $5,000 to The Mission Hope Community in Camillus to help fund stained glass restoration.
“Our Sacred Sites grantees maintain beautiful and important buildings, but also serve beyond their congregations,” said Peg Breen, president, The New York Landmarks Conservancy. “Throughout these difficult months, they have continued providing food, health and recovery programs to their communities. Our grants will help them continue all their vital work.”
The Sacred Sites Program provides congregations with matching grants for planning and implementing exterior restoration projects, along with technical assistance, and workshops. Since 1986, the program has pledged 1,578 grants totaling more than $14.9 million to 836 religious institutions statewide.
The Mission Hope congregation, formerly known as the Camillus Baptist Church, was founded in 1804, and this 1879-1880 church, by Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell, is the congregation’s second building. Much of the church interior dates from 1968 after a lightning strike caused a fire.
The Mission Hope Community was formed in 2020 through the merger of the Camillus Baptist Church and the Fay Road Baptist Church, located in Syracuse.
Mission Hope Baptist Church reaches about 2,400 people outside its membership through activities such as the Nearly New Thrift Shop, an annual concert and ice-cream social, a community-wide yard sale, book group, summer lunch program, a community garden in Syracuse, and refugee resettlement.
A scrapbooking and genealogy group uses the church for meetings.
The congregation has an active ministry in Rwanda.
Unfortunately, flooding in August destroyed the contents of the shop.
The Conservancy is currently working with the congregation on long-term resiliency planning to better protect the church and neighborhood from future flooding.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private non-profit organization, has led the effort to preserve and protect New York City’s architectural legacy for nearly 50 years. Since its founding, the Conservancy has loaned and granted more than $54 million, which has leveraged more than $1 billion in 1,850 restoration projects throughout New York, revitalizing communities, providing economic stimulus and supporting local jobs.
The Conservancy has also offered countless hours of pro bono technical advice to building owners, both nonprofit organizations and individuals.
The Conservancy’s work has saved more than a thousand buildings across the City and State, protecting New York’s distinctive architectural heritage for residents and visitors alike today, and for future generations.
For more information, please visit nylandmarks.org.
