There was a story this week about how Liberty Church wants to sell the:

  1. New England Dream Center,bilde pictured here, on Chestnut Street
  2. GAR Hall across the street on Pearl Street.
  3. Office building at 101 Pleasant Street
  4. Fine Arts Building on lower Pleasant Street is also owned by them

Some of the comments that I have read on Facebook have been baffling. Ranging from how the City of Worcester needs to get their act together to what a loss this beautiful building will be.    The City of Worcester did nothing wrong and this building is being sold not torn down?

This past January when I read Reverand Will Bard was resigning, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.  That shoe was named Patricia Lanza, a New York philantranthropist, who contributed between 800,000 to 900,000 per year to the organization.    On April 4th, she passed away.

 

 

This story is merely about an organization that has just lost a major source of their funding and does not have the money to cover their expenses and needs to consolidate.   From the Telegram story:

According to the IRS Form 990 for organizations exempt from income tax, the New England Dream Center had an operating deficit of $292,013 for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2013, the most recent financial information filed with regulators.

This was before they lost the 800,000 to 900,000 per year from their major benefactor.