Thank you to our hard-working location team. Chris Charlebois, Elizabeth Potvin, Anne-Michelle Kirkey and Andrea Mrozek spent hours of their time to discern the best downtown location for Sunnyside.
How the Decision was Made
The location team was formed in September 2009. They kept the proposed boundaries in mind (Ottawa River to the north, 417 to the south, Booth St. to the west and Rideau River to the east) and divided that large area into four. The team listed possible rental facilities in those four areas under the following categories: community centres, churches, hotels, theatres, galleries and other (schools, bowling alleys, museums, halls, libraries). In total they examined 85 different locations. Every possible location was contacted by phone and/or in person. Most were visited. In addition, the location team drove around downtown once or twice a week to ensure that they had not missed any possible venues.
Locations were eliminated based on priority criteria established by the Investigative Team in the winter of 2009. By the end of November the possibilities had narrowed to 4 or 5 locations and negotiations over the past 1-1/2 months led to the point of making a confident decision to rent the Alumni Auditorium at University of Ottawa.
The Up-sides of the Decision
- The Alumni Auditorium, located in the Jock Turcot University Centre, is clean, well lit and has a seating capacity of 297.
- It is located in Sandy Hill, a neighbourhood with both demographic and socioeconomic diversity, bordered to the west by the Rideau Canal and on the east by the Rideau River. Rideau Street and the ByWard Market neighbourhood are to the north and the Queensway and Nicolas Street to the south.
- A U of O technician will set up and run lighting, sound system, PowerPoint and some other equipment each week. That’s a great help.
- Two small rooms and one large room are available for Sunday School and nursery. There are other possible spaces as children’s ministry expands.
- The facility falls within our weekly rental budget of $500/week.
- Public transit is excellent as there is a transitway stop right at the university campus.
- For those of you who like the idea of gathering for brunch after church, the “Jazzy” restaurant is upstairs and serves brunch from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The Down-sides of the Decision
- Parking is limited. (Thankfully, Sunnysiders are already familiar with this challenge.) The university is partnering with us to make parking available to a limited number of people in the nearby underground garage. Beyond that there are also free parking spaces on side streets 2-4 blocks away. We will be creating detailed maps and instructions about this in the next few weeks.
- We will not have access to a kitchen. (However, besides Jazzy Restaurant, the university centre food court is also upstairs.) Hospitality is a high value within our downtown congregation so we will find ways to exercise this gift, maybe in each other’s homes.
- The two Sundays around Christmas and New Year’s are not available for rental. The up side to this is that it allows for Sunnyside Grosvenor and Sunnyside Downtown to worship together (at the Grosvenor location) for Christmas Eve and Christmas Season services.
Are you coming to launch team lunch on Sunday?
Please consider whether you will continue to worship at Sunnyside Grosvenor or make your way to Sunnyside Downtown in 9 weeks. Either way it’s all Sunnyside Wesleyan Church! Please RSVP kronberg@sympatico.ca today if you are coming to the next launch team meeting and lunch, on Sunday, January 24 at 12:45 p.m. in the church basement. You will meet Sunnyside Downtown people, hear about and pray for our next directions, and enjoy a delicious lunch prepared by Ellen Kelly and team.
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