Every Saturday, members of the Bellingham Ukrainian Evangelical Church meet at their church on Cornwall Avenue.
They’re not there to worship, although church secretary Nazar Gamdysey said he dedicates that day to God.
They’re rebuilding their church that was severely damaged due to arson in September 2021.
Members have now erected the beginnings of what will again be a place for Ukrainians and Russians to worship, and a community space for all.
Who or what started the 2021 fire is still unknown to him, Gamdysey said.
The fire happened just more than a year after the congregation purchased the building from St. John’s Lutheran Church. Members had done some small renovations and touch-ups to the 1955 structure, built mostly out of cedar.
But after the Sept. 10 fire, the classrooms on the top floor of the church were burned, the sanctuary was singed, and the basement ended up having to be rebuilt due to water damage. Arsonists started a small fire in the basement kitchen, and two in the classroom section of the church, said Gamdysey.
CDN requested records of the arson investigation from the Bellingham Police Department, but was told it would take approximately 20 weeks to fulfill the public records request, according to the records manager.
Walking through the now partially rebuilt structure, Gamdysey pointed to what once was a wall in the classroom side of the church.
“There was an organ on the other side of the wall,” he said. “All that was left from the organ was just a pile of ash. It was really bad here.”
Since the fire, it’s been a waiting game of permits and paperwork. Gamdysey said they received their permit in December 2022 to start rebuilding. They’re now waiting for a permit to install heat.
Financial constraints due to a lower-than-expected insurance payout means that congregation members are doing the labor themselves, so they can just spend money on material.
“We just come here on Saturdays and just do as much as we can, “ Gamdysey said. “Sometimes it’s only four or five people, sometimes it’s 20 people.”
He said people from other Slavic churches around the Pacific Northwest have also chipped in some weekends.
Gamdysey said the rebuild was quoted at around $2.5 million.
“Now we got a million and we’re trying to stretch as much as we can. We’ll see how far it will get us,” he said, adding that they’ll take out a loan if they run out of money.
There are now lights in some of the rooms, and skeletons of classrooms. The original bricks, most of the outside of the church and the original sanctuary survived.
Gamdysey said he’s not sure when the church will reopen. Hopefully, next year, he said.
He said the congregation is excited to be able to have their own space and use it again. Currently, the 80-member congregation rents from Immanuel Lutheran Church in Everson on Sundays, and rents from First Christian Church on East Bakerview Road on Thursday and Friday nights.
Gamdysey said neighbors told him they were happy the church is being rebuilt “because it’s been here for so long.”
“It’s a historical thing for them that the church is still going to exist because they were really afraid that after the fire, we might just knock it down and sell the land,” he said. “Our goal … is when the church is done, it can do as much as it can to just serve the community.”
He also is looking forward to the church becoming a community space again. Before the fire, the church was used by many groups, including Coffee and Sandwiches Together (CAST).
He hopes to get all the programs back that were using it before once it’s open, and even more if possible.
“Hopefully, it’ll just be a big positive thing for the community. I don’t know what else we can do. As life goes on, we’ll see what it can do. But if at least does what it did before, it’ll be a great thing already,” he said.
