Volunteers in Action
- Covenant Presb 1
- Covenant presb 2
- Roosevelt High
- Blessed Seelos
- Mercer Island
Photo 1. Art Felts rackboards while Wes improves pipe speech.
Photo 2. Fred does routing on a new toeboard as Bart assists.
Photo 3. Carl enlarges rackboard holes to fit the new pipes.
Photo 4. Barbara and Art work on the Great main chest.
Photo 5. Bart screws magnets onto a newly constructed chest.
Photo 6. Halie rewiring one of the smaller windchests.
Photo 7. Myrtle and Halie wash pipes as Roger looks on.
Photo 8. Art stands beside a group of Melodias he has rebuilt.
Photo 9. Roger fine tunes the magnets on a chest being reworked.
Photo 10. Volunteers having lunch.
Photo 11. Ben puts in place a tool shelf high up on the Swell chest.
Photo 12. Steve and Sam lay out pipe labels on a complicated chest.
Photo 13. Steve works on wiring in the console.
Photo 14. Myrtle and Gus work on rackboards and switching boards.
Photo 15. Fred, Bart and others get the Swell windchest in place.
Photo 16. Yep! It's lunch time again!
Photo 17. Barbara lays out the Nasard and Harmonic Flute windchest.
Photo 18. Notations are written under each driver board.
Photo 19. Did we mention lunch? Teens were involved in this project.
Volunteers Blessed Seelos Project
This project was entirely completed with volunteer labor, with no paid employees, and with almost no outsourcing of labor at any point. More than 4,000 hours of volunteer time have been contributed by 37 volunteers towards the rebuilding of the organ for Blessed Seelos Catholic Church in New Orleans (see Projects Section for links to the church's history and a technical description of the organ). Many of these volunteers came from the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church and the remainder from the Pipe Organ Foundation. Under the direction of the Pipe Organ Foundation (especially Carl Dodrill and James Stettner) the volunteers have done the multitude of tasks required to rebuild a pipe organ including but not limited to the following:
1. Moving the organs given to the Foundation which went into the present instrument.
2. Assisting in the drawing and layout of the organ within the space provided.
3. Windchest work including releathering, installing magnets, rackboarding, and the actual building from scratch of an occasional windchest.
4. A great deal of wiring including wiring of windchests, Syndyne TM driver boards, and electronic component boards in the console.
5. Building structural supports for the windchests, walkboards, and other components of the organ.
6. Wood finishing work including restoring the console to "like new" condition.
7. Winding including working with the Spencer blower, regulator rebuilding, and laying in place all windlines.
8. Pipework including cleaning and repairing of pipes.
9. Transporting of the organ to New Orleans.
10. Installing the organ in New Orleans (13 volunteers involved by going to New Orleans and doing the work).
We are most proud of our volunteers and their labor over the 17 months that this project has taken for completion. The volunteers have been supported by hundreds upon hundreds of meals provided by the Foundation and prepared by Halie Dodrill. The social support and sharing around the lunch and dinner tables have been pivotal for completion of the entire project and Halie's warmth and hospitality has been key to the entire effort.
You can see photos of the project volunteers in action in the left sidebar. Click on the photos to see larger images.