The Story of Our New Building

We are Almost to our Goal

We are so grateful for your support as we prepare to move to our new home at 608 Church Street.

OUR FUTURE HOME

We feel that God’s hand is on us as we are moving towards this vision of our future home at 608 Church Street.

Original Floor Plan

New Floor Plan

NAMING OPPORTUNITIES TAKEN AND AVAILABLE

We are so pleased that several of our donors have chosen to take advantage of the opportunity to have their name on part of our building.

NEW MATERIALS FOR OUR EXPANDED CAMPAIGN GOAL

The Vine is launching into a new phase of our Capital Campaign, and these materials give the summary of our need and story.

We would be pleased to have you join us as you feel God’s guidance!

1000 BRICKS

To help us reach our goal, we are going to sell 1000 engraved bricks that we will use to create a path in our garden. We would be pleased to have your name on the brick or engrave the brick in honor or in memory of a loved one. The garden will be a place of respite for clients and for members of the community, a place where we all can contemplate God’s goodness to us, where we can ponder the amazing gift of God’s grace that allows healing to happen, that allows us all to move towards a better and better life. Please consider purchasing a brick. You can engrave up to three lines, and we will be in touch after purchase with you to gather what you would like engraved. Thank you!

Fall 2024 Updates

We have been busy in the last few months getting the last details gathered and adjusting the project to fit our budget, and we are so close! We have just a few more pieces to gather and we are ready to go to the city to get our plans approved. Please join us in praying for it all to come together quickly.

We are launching a campaign to sell 1000 bricks! We are making progress with our remaining fund raising; selling this 1000 bricks for our garden path will bring us that much closer.

Learn more here.

Here are some pictures of the progress on the building.

We had some subfloor that was in such shape, we wouldn’t be able to lay the flooring. We had it removed.

AND HUGE SHOUT OUT TO THE BAPTIST BUILDERS of FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH WHO LAID OUR NEW SUBFLOORS!!!!

These guys are amazing, and we are truly blessed with their service. This floor is rock solid.

Blessings and peace, and please keep us in your prayers. More updates soon!

UPDATE JUNE 2024

Through the fall and winter of 2023, we continued to adjust plans with the architect, Jim Norton and to have The Broadway Group get bids from subcontractors who would do the work. As these bids began to come in, we were able to generate our first bottom line cost. We had some sticker shock. Everyone who has been through a process like this warned us to expect it. We are thankful now to be in our second pass of plans, and we are seeking to reduce costs. We are at a great place in terms of knowing actual numbers. We feel like we are very close. With all of that being said, it was evident that we needed to raise additional funds. By the time of the June meeting of The Vine’s Board of Directors, we had raised $2,724,000. The Board accepted an Expected Expense Budget of $3,470,350 meaning that our Capital Campaign goal now is to raise an additional $746,350.

This expanded goal does include the addition of a Community Room external to the original building. We are very excited for what this building will mean for our future ability to reach the community. We can offer workshops for people on the healing journey like “Spiritual Support for People with Depression”, “Conflict Resolution for Couples”, “Coping with Bipolar Disorder”, “Surviving the Suicide of a Loved One”. We can offer support groups and small worship services that focus on healing. This represents an additional cost of $350,000 which is part of the expanded $746,350. This Community Room is already 85% funded.

These are pictures of the inside and the outside of the building as of June 2024.

ANDY KELLY AND JOHN LANEY JOIN OUR OVERSIGHT TEAM

The summer and fall of 2023 brought the wonderful addition to our oversight team of Andy Kelly and John Laney. These two joined Pat Lewallen, Kevin Wilson and Jack Ragland, who had been meeting onsight for a weekly meeting with the Broadway Group representatives that started in the spring and summer of 2022. At this point, the work was evolving with greater and greater need for expertise.

Andy Kelly has a many year building background, and he has helped us with interpretations of the project as we gathered information from our builder and architect and had to make decisions. Andy volunteers for many organizations in downtown Huntsville helping with building maintenance and upkeep to include Harrison Brothers and the Weeden House. He and his wife Cathy worship at Church of Nativity, Episcopal, where Andy also serves on the Building and Grounds Committee.

John Laney, son of Wayne and Liz Laney, is a young man with much expertise in building and leadership. He has brought a voice of reason to the project that we have come to depend upon. He is practical, well-connected and wise beyond his years. The Laney family also worships at Church of the Nativity, Episcopal.

These two are God’s provision for us. God has provided for everything that we have needed from the very beginning. We wouldn’t be where we are today without the volunteer service of Pat Lewallen, Kevin Wilson, Andy Kelly and John Laney.

WORK DAY OCTOBER 7, 2023

The Vine had a wonderful workday at our new building on Saturday, October 7. We were blessed with a host of volunteers from our supporting churches. The previous owners left behind furniture that we moved to a free storage place. We are still doing demolition, and this crew helped us with clean-up and we nearly filled a dumpster. We are saving crown molding, chair rail molding and baseboards to reuse. They helped with that, too!!!!

We have a specialized group from Baptist Builders of First Baptist Church that have replaced 4 rotten places in the floor joists under the floor! Mike and Nan Kirk, Scott Boothe and Frank Bugg were working on this Saturday. It is amazing what they have accomplished!

We are greatly encouraged that our project is moving ahead at Godspeed, and we appreciate everyone’s support.

It is amazing what they have accomplished! For more information about the floor joist repair please see the post below.

TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN MAKES FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION AND DONATES THEIR CROSS!!!

Trinity Presbyterian Church of Huntsville, Alabama closed in 2023 after years of service to the community of Huntsville. It is God’s amazing provision and mercy that Trinity chose The Vine as one of the charities to receive a charitable donation from the sale and distribution of the church assets. The monetary donation will help us build out a counseling room where people, for years to come, will receive hope, grace, love and thus healing. We will name a counseling room after Trinity Presbyterian Church. The check was presented at The Vine office by Linda and Tony Crutcher, Tony being a member of the Trustees.

Trinity Presbyterian also made the most amazing donation to The Vine of their cross which presided over the building as faithful believers came to and from worship in service to the community. Praise and glory be to God. The cross will be seen by people for years to come in our garden near what has been heralded as the future northern entrance to the city. The cross has a wonderful story. Andy Kelly arranged for the cross to be stripped and painted by Berry Allen of Baugh Art and Nick Tate. Both men are precious and pictured below. Nick Tate, a paraplegic man who was homeless, was instrumental in stripping the chipping paint from the cross and applying a new painted, weather resistant surface to the cross. It was countless hours. He actually reported that he moved the cross one time by himself!! This had to have involved heavy equipment because it would be hard for 10 men to do this. Nick blessed the Vine, and it was a true labor of love that he claimed as a life legacy. We will never forget him. I am grateful to Andy Kelly who attempted to get Nick into housing and became Nick’s friend. I am sad to say that Nick passed away not long after completing the cross. The cross will bear the name “Trinity Presbyterian Church” in our garden, and it will also have a plaque that notes the amazing legacy and contribution of Nick Tate.

ALL SAINTS LUTHERAN MAKES CONTRIBUTION AS IT CLOSES

All Saints Lutheran Church had its’ “Service of Holy Closure” on Sunday, November 1, 2023. All Saints Lutheran Church has been a Supporting Church of The Vine since 2009. Rev. Keith Cook, the founding pastor of the church, is in his tenth year of service on the Board of Directors of the Vine. He and his wife Margie help every year with the Branches of The Vine. This Vine is also grateful for the dedicated service of Portia and Charlie Dischinger, Scott Trites, and Yvette and Elga Krasts, who were all members of the church. One of our counseling offices will be named after “All Saints Lutheran Church”.

COUNTLESS VOLUNTEER HOURS INVESTED

There have been many many work days at the building where Baptist Builders from First Baptist Church and the Lincoln Village Crew from Weatherly Heights Baptist have gathered to do demolition and clean up.

These pictures, as numerous as they are, don’t even begin to portray the blessings that God has heaped upon us through all of these dedicated people.

WE HIRED JIM NORTON, ARCHITECT, TO HELP US WITH REMODEL PLANS

Kevin Wilson and Amanda Ragland began regular meetings with Jim to get the first draft of plans ready for review that were presented at a lunch gathering at Narvell’s in March of 2023. During this time there was an oversight team meeting at the building weekly to name and go over issues that needed to be addressed with feedback going into the meetings with the architect. Thank you to David West and Curtis Parcus of The Broadway Group, Jack Ragland, Pat Lewallen and Kevin Wilson for being at these meetings every week to address and name problems and consider options.

Pictured left to right: Jerry McCullough, P.E., Jim Norton Architect, Jack and Amanda Ragland The Vine, Bob Broadway, Curtis Parcus, David West, The Broadway Group, Kevin Wilson and Pat Lewallen, Officers on the The Vine’s Board of Directors. And, in the picture onsite, Kevin Wilson, Pat Lewallen, and Jim Norton.

ROT IN FLOOR JOISTS REPAIRED BY BAPTIST BUILDERS

This was an amazing feet and such an amazing blessing to us that these skilled people fixed five places where the floors joists were rotten underneath. Thank you to Mike and Nan Kirk, Scott Boothe and Frank Bugg.

FLOOD VENTS

One corner of the building is in a flood zone. In order to continue with the remodeling in cost effective ways, we had to install flood vents on the south side of the building. The City has been doing a lot of work that effects the flow of the Pinhook Creek. At some point, FEMA will remeasure the flood zone and the flood way markers, and we hope to be out of the flood zone at that point.

WE HIRED BOB BROADWAY AS OUR BUILDING CONTRACTOR AND BEGAN WITH A REMEDIATION PERMIT

The building had several issues that needed to be addressed. Part of the reason that we were able to purchase the building at such a low price was because it had mold issues. By November of 2022, Mold Remediation was underway, and by December, volunteers were beginning to tear out debris and to make the space ready.

THE GREEN SPACE

There is a green space that is on the edge of the Pinhook Creek. We are hoping that this will be a place that clients and stroll and reflect after a session, that it will be a place of respite and healing.

WE PURCHASED THE BUILDING ON AUGUST 24, 2022

We formed a separate corporation, The Vine Group, to manage the property with the assistance of Carey Walker. The officers of this corporation met at the closing and purchased the future
home of The Vine.

This property will provide

Additional therapy offices for new therapists to end our waitlist. Each new therapist adds 100 sessions
per month.
Handicap accessibility that will increase the diversity of our service.
Meeting space to expand services: on-sight workshops, support groups, small worship services and group
therapy.
Adequate space for parking, waiting room, administration, restrooms to match our growth curve.
Land for future expansion (2.86 acres, one of the last properties in 35801).
A great central location, less than 2 minutes from I-565 and N Memorial Parkway.
Beautiful green space to turn into a prayer garden for clients and for the community.

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN DONORS JUNE 2022

Jack Ragland, Connie Wilson, Scott Boothe, Kevin Wilson, Susan Boothe, Don Wilson, Anne Stone, Sarah Curtis, Milan Buncick of the Doris Burwell Foundation, Pamella Barratt White, Scott Ames, Caroline Buncick of the Doris Burwell Foundation, Nancy Brock, Margaret Ames, Buck Brock, Kelly Andress of the Doris Burwell extended family, Doug Madison, LeaAnn Barnett, Karen Madison, Pattie Cline of the Doris Burwell Foundation, Ken Barnett, John Cline, Rosemary and Dennis McMahan, Maureen and Bill Lokken, Jerry and Carol Mebane, Mary Witherspoon, Jim Roberts, Newell Witherspoon, Charlie and Portia Dischinger, Amanda Ragland, Kim and Ralph Mitchell.

DECISION TO BUY THE BUILDING PRESS RELEASE

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama, June 16, 2022: The Vine Pastoral Counseling Center announced at their annual fundraiser that they are purchasing 608 Church Street to be their forever home in downtown Huntsville giving a legacy of hope to future generations. This is possible because the organization raised $1,928,600 (out of goal of $2,500,000) through the outpouring of support from the community with over 60 donors. The Vine is now entering the public phase of the campaign to raise $571,400 over the next 4 months.

During this time of COVID recovery and cultural upheaval, now more than ever mental health is important. New CDC analysis shows that in 2021, more than 37% of high school students reported they experienced poor mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and 44% reported they persistently felt sad or hopeless during the past year. More than half (55%) reported they experienced emotional abuse by a parent or another adult. Research by Legal Templates, a company that provides legal documents, showed that 31% of couples responding admitted the lockdown has caused irreparable damage to their relationships. The Vine is currently providing an average of 500 sessions a month. (84,520 sessions between 1999 and 2021, with $1,020,199 of Scholarship Assistance). “The Vine offers quality counseling services by professional therapists who incorporate two very important things: Jesus and mental health care. That’s a powerful and necessary combination. We need to normalize mental health care and reduce the stigma because our community is stronger when we are taking care of everyone. I am proud to contribute financially so that these services provided by The Vine are prominently available here in Huntsville”, said Bob Broadway. The new office location will allow more therapy offices, handicap accessibility, more parking, space for on-site workshops, programs for the community and the completion of a Healing and Prayer Garden that will be available to clients and to the public.

The Vine is proud that the lobby will be named by the Doris Burwell Foundation. The Community Room will be named by Mr. and Mrs. Harry B. Brock, III. One counseling room will be named by Bill and Judy Case, and another will be named by Newell and Mary Witherspoon. Contributors to the Campaign include: Bob and Julie Broadway, Ken and Lea Ann Barnett, Buck and Nancy Brock, The Doris Burwell Foundation, Pam Barratt White, Newell and Mary Witherspoon, Bill and Judy Case, Mr. Don Wolfe and Mrs. Sarah Curtis, Lou and Joanne Horn Foundation, A Donor Advised Fund of the U.S. Charitable Gift Trust, Dr. and Mrs. William C. Stone, Drs. Ike and Rebecca Nelson, Drs. Amanda and Jack Ragland, Scott and Susan Booth, David and Amy Harbarger, Bill and Maureen Lokken, Tom and Donna Coon, Doug and Karen Madison, Pattie and John Cline, Dennis and Rosemary McMahan, Dr. Ralph and Rev. Kimberly A. Mitchel, Mr. Scott and Rev. Margaret Ames, David and Angela McKenzie, Elaine and Brian Leffel, Carol T. Mebane and John S. Mebane, Joanna Antonios, Kevin and Connie Wilson, Worth Stuart, Cheryl Johnson, Brenda McGhee, and 11 Anonymous Donors.

The Vine is a 501(c)(3) organization with the mission to provide services for individuals, couples, families and congregations that will facilitate healing and wholeness in human life and relationships. Services will be provided to any person regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status or faith perspective. The fees for services range from $5 to $135 a session, based on ability to pay.

LEGACY OF HOPE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN BEGINS

The Capital Campaign Development Team (Amanda and Jack Ragland, Kevin Wilson, Pat Lewallen, Margaret Ames, Portia Dischinger, Amy Creech) began meeting through the Fall to plan and prepare. Our Legacy of Hope Capital Campaign began with our first requests for support in January of 2021.

THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE STORY

In 2019, in strategic planning, the Board of Directors of The Vine began to wonder about the future office space needs for the ministry. At this point in time, The Vine was 20 years old, and the Directors at that time were wondering if renting office space would sustain the counseling needs for the next 20 years.

In 2020, Kevin Wilson, Board Chair, and Pat Lewallen, Board Vice Chair, led the Board of Directors through strategic planning to research how to conduct a capital campaign, the actual building needs and the financial realities of The Vine. Christine Jones, Bob Broadway, Jack and Amanda Ragland were active during these early conversations.

This strategic planning came to a decision point in June of 2021 where the Board of Directors voted to move into the next phase: to hire a capital campaign consultant and to find a building.

WE FOUND A BUILDING!

In fall of 2021, we located 608 Church Street with the assistance of Bob Broadway, and our dream was officially taking shape. In December of 2021, Bob placed a down payment on the property to hold it for us until we could see if we could raise the money.