Footloose Church Needs Surgery

AFPRES, American Fork Community Presbyterian Church, has been serving the Utah County community for 140 years!  Our little church played central roles in movies like Footloose, the Butter Cream Gang, and  the TV series Touched by an Angel.  AFPRES has been and continues to be a spiritual home and safe-place for well over a century.  In 1878, the first corner stone was laid, and since then our heart and focus is to serve our community.  In 1879, Miss Ada Kingsbury, a bold Presbyterian missionary,  made the difficult pilgrimage to Utah to begin a school for children living American Fork and neighboring towns.  At this point in American history, public education had not reached the west. Miss Kingsbury brought the gift of education to children in Utah County regardless of their faith.  Her goal was peace, love, and a hope for a brighter future for children and their families. Since then, the church has continued in pioneering initiatives to serve and bless the community.   Today, AFPRES supports a congregation of Congolese refugees who worship Sunday afternoons in our historic building.  We support the Circles Program which helps those who are struggling financially to walk out of poverty and into a brighter future.  Several 12-step programs meet weekly to help those in need.  On our grounds is a specially designed playground for children with autism and their families. The Community Playground, one of a very few in Utah,  is open to all and is a safe, enclosed space for children to play, grown and learn.  On Saturday, July 21, 2018, AFPRES will celebrate 140 years and dedicate the Community Playground.  We hope you will see AFPRES as a vibrant spiritual community church that is praying for Utah County, walking with the Lord, and doing their best to represent Him well.    As we begin our planning our 140th anniversary celebration, we acknowledge our church is in need of your help.  Our 140 year old cedar shake sanctuary roof is old and is leaking.  Additionally, our nearly 50 year old Educational Building roof is in need to repair.  Sometimes our pastor finds the ceiling tiles in his office have crumbled all over his desk.  The pastor's office and Gathering Room have flooded with rain runoff and snow-melt coming through the roof of the Educational Building.  We must replace both roofs as soon as possible.  For years we have been patching them up, fixing leaks, and doing our best to sooth the wounds, but we have reached a point where we can no longer mitigate the damage. The roofs need total replacement and this expense is something that is simply not feasible for our small, yet vibrant church.  NEWS STORIES AND NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ABOUT OUR PROJECT, HOPES AND GOALS. DESERET NEWS https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900021065/we-shape-our-buildings-and-they-shape-us.html DAILY HERALD https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/north/american-fork/iconic-american-fork-church-needs-community-help-for-new-roof/article_16d1ab37-6dde-591b-a2ae-6d99245e8fe8.html CACHE VALLEY DAILYhttp://m.cachevalleydaily.com/mobile/news/article_b8e33306-4da7-11e8-bbdd-7b21f226de8b.html Daily Herald Report About Pastor Michael Heil who created this GoFundMe page for the church: https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/north/american-fork/american-fork-church-continues-mission-with-new-pastor/article_360aafa5-cf8d-581e-9a2c-241c67eb7e9a.html KUTV NEWS http://kutv.com/news/local/utahs-famous-footloose-church-in-need-of-repairs KSL NEWS https://www.ksl.com/article/46315454/congregation-raising-money-to-repair-church-featured-in-footloose ABC NEWS GOOD 4 UTAH: http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-news/congregation-of-footloose-church-raises-funds-for-much-needed-repairs/1165131332 KVNU RADIO INTERVIEW WITH PASTOR MICHAEL HEIL: https://www.kvnutalk.com/4-30-2018-2/ FOX 13 NEWS SOUNTBYTE: http://fox13now.com/2018/04/29/utah-church-featured-in-footloose-needs-help-funding-repairs/ DONATION AND SHARING INFORMATIONi If you would like to donate directly (without the fees of Gofundme) you can visit our site www.afpres.com and press the big green "Give Now" button. There will be an option to donate to the roof fund specifically. All donations given through the site are tax deductible and a form will be generated and emailed to you at the end of the fiscal year. You can also donate here on gofund me, if you want to share this page with others the link is https://www.gofundme.com/footloose-church-needs-surgery!  To learn more about AFPRES, please visit: Our Website, www.afpres.com Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/AFPresbyterian/  Thank you, and may the Lord bless you and keep you.  - American Fork Community Presbyterian Church