You are here:
| Fire Update |
 |
 |
 |
 At approximately 12:00am on Tuesday, April 29, fire struck at Little Portion Hermitage in Arkansas' Ozark Mountains. The fire began in our Charity Chapel, and quickly spread through a covered walkway to the Common Center, a building housing the main dining and meeting rooms, offices and library. Both structures are a total loss. We are covered for part of the rebuilding by our trust fund but it falls significantly short of what we need to rebuild. Our immediate need is for a new chapel, kitchen and dining room and later office space, library and an infirmary. We plan to rebuild with stone and earth, and in a way that is environmentally "green". Can you help? No amount is too large or too small and is tax deductible. This is where we are with the clean up project as of Friday, July 25th. The foundation has been torn down and all that remains is for the rubble to be cleared away. We've been having a lot of rain for this time of year which slows the clearing process. However, we are certain that patient endurance will obtain everything in God's time. We are substantially short of the cost to rebuild. Please keep us in your prayers as you are in ours.
Fire Debris Clean Up Begins     Clean up of the fire debris is underway at Little Portion as of Tuesday, July 8, 2008-- thanks be to God!  We are just now getting to work after excavating the burn site. Jesus, the teaching Christ, stands alone as the sentinel over the only reminder of the old buildings and gardens, and a Savior to lead us on during these most painful months. Jimmy Jones Excavation completed removal of the debris and we are now ready to begin planning the new building. A HUGE thank you to Jimmy Jones for donating so much time and labor to help us get ready to move forward. Some of Little Portion's remaining outbuildings are being moved because they are located on part of the new building site. The buildings include the community garages, root cellar and shop. Salvagable materials are being recycled.  The original wood shed Portiuncula Chapel was moved to make space for two new outbuildings which will be used as a shop and for storage, and chickens.  The site is being prepared for the two outbuildings.  This is the new site for the original Portiuncula chapel. It is northeast of family hermitage #6. Minor repairs to the building were made to make it servicable once again. Fire Update Peace and Good in Christ! I have not written a Little Portion Fire update for a long time. But it was not due to lack of work. We have been reviewing architect's preliminary plans. These were reviewed by our Board of Directors, and our General Council. We will see several more detailed renderings next week. After that is a community meeting to get everyone's input. We hope that they will be pleased. Next job is to break ground, and get started. But there many decisions to be made: Poured or concrete block, or some form of real rock. This is the ultimate dream, but we have to trust in God. Right now we have the money to begin, and nearly finish, but we will need more. Much more. We think that we still need several hundred thousand dollars. Why so much? Simple, we want to build a monastery that will last a lifetime to really live in, and withstand another fire. So it will be masonry unless God shows us another way. Plus, we want to stand with the monastic communities of long ago. Something both ancient and new. That's it for now. Other reports will come as more developments arise.  Left to right: Albert Skiles, John Michael Talbot and Lisa Skiles  Left to right: Engineer Dan Minkel and Albert Skiles  Left to right: Viola Talbot and Lisa Skiles  This is the most recent rendering for Little Portion Hermitage. |
