Estimate for New Queen Street Baptist Church is $2.2M

Efforts are in full swing to rebuild the historic Queen Street Baptist Church, which played a significant role in Belize’s history. Tragically, the church was destroyed by a fire on the morning of February 21st. Rebuilding won’t be easy, though, as the estimated cost for a new concrete structure is over two million dollars. Despite this setback, the school has adapted to continuing its daily operations without the space they once had for their feeding program and reading classes. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali with the story.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

Five weeks after a fire destroyed the historic Queen Street Baptist Church on Eve Street, church services have been moved to one of the school’s classrooms. This arrangement might continue for quite some time, as the cost to rebuild the church is a hefty two point two million dollars.

 

Lloyd Stanford, Pastor, Queen Street Baptist Church

“We have a classroom right in the lower flat of the school and we turned it into a makeshift church and we’re having wonderful attendance and fellowship there. Last Sunday we had about fifty people in that little classroom. In my original release I gave an approximate cost of two point two million dollars. And that is looked at and we get into the actual estimate and plans and so forth, we will see how that will play out. The suggestion that we have right now is that we rebuild as it was but with some modern changes and so forth. That work is ongoing as we work on drawing up a plan.”

 

The plan is to rebuild the new church just like the old one, but with a lift for easier access for people with mobility challenges. However, they might need to cut costs if necessary. Pastor Lloyd Stanford has reached out to his congregation and the wider community for help with fundraising and donations for a block drive. He knows it’s going to be a slow process and will likely happen in phases.

 

Lloyd Stanford

“What the membership looked at when we met with the board of trustees, it will be as it was. That’s what it is right now. When we look at it, there might be some adjustments to it, where we have the classrooms on the lower flat and the church on the upper flat.”

 

Marion Ali

“How close are you to the two point two million dollars?

 

Lloyd Stanford

“We are very far; we’re very far. We’re in the making of all of this. We have a letter that we circulated across the world and people are encouraged to make a deposit to the bank that is in that letter and people are doing that.”

 

Steve Ozaeta has taught at Queen Street Baptist School for the past twenty years. He mentioned that the fire deeply saddened many of the students, but now they’ve bounced back.

 

Steve Ozaeta, Teacher, Queen Street Baptist Church

“It did affect them emotionally. I’m sure it affects them physically as well.”

 

The students have now moved their reading room to an upstairs classroom in the school building. The feeding program is also running from the same building.

 

Steve Ozaeta

“We have made a makeshift kitchen in one of the classrooms by putting a partition so we have the stove and refrigerator in there and the cook is cooking some of the best that Queen Street Baptist can offer.”

 

Besides the damage to the school’s furniture and interior, Ozaeta also lost some personal items he kept there for the kids’ benefit. He’s now asking for help to replace those appliances. Additionally, there’s a need for a teacher’s bathroom.

 

Steve Ozaeta

“I lost a lot of personal things that I used in my classroom such as my water cooler which is essential for the kids when it gets hot. I lost an inkjet printer. I provided all the children’s headphones so they could plug into the computers so they could listen to the sounds for reading. I would love if somebody could assist me with the headphones. For the bathroom the teachers are using the children’s bathroom so the children’s bathroom is for everybody.”

Ozaeta extends his heartfelt thanks to the Central Bank of Belize and Cellular World for their generous donations of several computers and the equipment needed to clean up the soot left after the fire. Marion Ali for News Five.