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Message from the Friends of St. Nicholas

Dear Friends of our National Shrine,

We are excited to announce the unveiling before Thanksgiving of the new website of the Saint Nicholas National Shrine. There have been many updates and a refreshed look and feel. We are hoping to attract many more visitors to this new site, and increase not only support for the Shrine, but begin to expand in earnest the awareness of the public about the Shrine and its truly global importance.

As the Archbishop said above, the Shrine “will be a tremendous missionary witness in our Nation.” For this reason, all the various facets of the Shrine will have to be explicable and intelligible for the general public.

For this reason, The Friends of St. Nicholas has been working with Gallagher & Associates, a premier interactive design and media company that produces immersive experiences to engage with and create measurable impact for all the visitors to the Shrine. This kind of digital experience, similar to the kind of guided tours you may have experienced in a museum – but much richer – will help bring the message of the Shrine out and beyond its glowing walls. Its visitor experience package will include a donor recognition component, something available for every single donation that has been received. We are grateful to every person, no matter the size of their gift, for this historic undertaking. We will be sharing more on this aspect of the Saint Nicholas Shrine’s ministry to the world as we draw closer to the completion of construction.

The work at the Shrine is proceeding on schedule despite the challenges of the pandemic, as all COVID-19 protocols are employed on the site. The waterproofing work and interstitial space remediation continues, and this is especially important because of issues that arose from the cessation of construction in 2017. In addition, the exterior glass panel production in Austria, and the marble fabrication in Greece are progressing according to schedule.

The fulfillment of the outstanding pledges on a timely basis is critical to the completion of the Church, and we are pleased to report those promises are being fulfilled every day. But our work is not yet complete; we are also committed to raising a $20 million Endowment for the Shrine, and so we are redoubling our fund raising efforts and welcome a broad base of support.

We thank everyone for their votes of confidence in the project and every message of hope and inspiration that we receive. The Saint Nicholas Church and National Shrine at Ground Zero is your Church, one that we all will share with the Nation and with the world. Please keep Saint Nicholas in your prayers and consider making a gift in accordance with your ability. Let your name be inscribed among the thousands who have already made their witness of faith. Let our light shine on that Hill, the light of Orthodoxy, of Hope, and of Love.

Dennis Mehiel
Chairman

Michael Psaros
Vice-Chairman