While I was blogging about the Hot Metal Faith Community, something from the Post-Gazette article caught my eye.
After communion, as they held candles and sang “Silent Night,” tears streamed down many faces among 450 people at the last worship service that Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community will hold in the South Side's Goodwill cafeteria.
The building will be sold and, despite months of searching, the church of college students and tattooed countercultural folk has been unable to find an affordable location.
A scant few weeks ago, word hit the LGBT community that OUTrageous Bingo, a ten year community staple, was no longer able to use the Goodwill facilities. However, there was no mention of the building being sold.
*Dear Friends! After December 31, 2007, Goodwill Industries will no
longer be leasing their hall during non-business hours. This means that
OUTrageous Bingo must find a new home for January (after our December 1stBingo which is our 10 th Anniversary Celebration).
The good news is that GLCC has found a new home for Bingo … Rodef Shalom in Oakland. Apparently, the Hot Metal Faith Community has not been so fortunate. And even though I'm skeptical about their ideology, I still hope they find a home.
So, what's going on with the Goodwill Building? Has it been sold or has the organization merely changed their policies about hosting external events? I searched the archives of the local papers and found nary a reference to the sale. Goodwill is a huge organization that does a tremendous amount of good. Their current site is readily accessible by bus, but does have some drawbacks.
Such as the elevator in which yours truly was stuck for 20 minutes after attending an event in late October. With five other woman. Two were pregnant. New location = new elevator = happy lesbian.
Parking used to be an issue until the Southside Works put up some garages right across the street.
I'm sure the building has other limitations.
However, where is Goodwill going? And does it have anything to do with the Southside Works? I'm completing speculating about a connection. Does that fact that a gay event and a non-traditional faith community were both given the boot mean anything? Or it simply a reflection that Goodwill is a good community partner and ally to all vulnerable people meaning a disproportionate number of these types of groups lose out with the sale of the building?
If they move, why can't Goodwill accomodate the groups in their new facilities?
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I was told by my partner who is involved with the SSLDC that Goodwill is selling because they can now get several million for the building now that property values have risen. I asked him the same thing, “where are they moving?” He hadn't heard but he did hear that they had a viable buyer.