By Sean Gossard

For 125 years, Takoma Park Presbyterian Church has grown alongside the community, giving back and striving to speak out against social injustice and be a place of inclusion.

The church celebrated its 125th anniversary with a gala in late October, and each month this year has focused on a different decade in the church’s history. The church’s organist also composed a special anthem for the milestone that premiered during a Sunday service after the gala.

The church’s roots can be traced back to the founding of Takoma Park when congregations originally met in a tent on the site. “Someone would bring an organ in a wheelbarrow,” said Elder Jill Feasley, who joined the church with her husband 25 years ago during its 100th anniversary. “And in winter they would meet in people’s homes.”

“From the 1890s through the 1950s the church mission was very outward. They sponsored refugees and missionaries in other countries.”

In 1888, a few years after the creation of Takoma Park, the city’s founder Benjamin Franklin Gilbert donated land on what is now Maple Avenue for the congregation’s original church building. Several years after the original wooden church was built for non-denominational worship and the congregation began having trouble pay bills, the Presbyterians took over the mortgage and provided a minister.

By 1922, the congregation had moved the church down the road to the stone building that’s there now on the corner of Tulip and Willow avenues. “From the earliest days it was a place for people to go for lectures and plays and where the town council held its first meetings,” Feasley said. “And when the stone sanctuary was built that tradition continued on.”

The high-point of the church came in the early 1950s in terms of membership, when the congregation was around 1,500 people. And by the 1960s, the church began to change its focus and direction. “From the 1890s through the 1950s the church mission was very outward,” Feasley said. “They sponsored refugees and missionaries in other countries.”

But in the 1960s under Minister John Patterson, whose wife Katherine Paterson wrote the children’s book “Bridge to Terabithia,” the congregation took steps to integrate and become more diverse. The congregation now includes families and individuals from all over the globe, including Cameroon, the Congo, India, Jamaica, Russia and South Korea to name just a few.

And that level of social awareness and diversity has continued through the years at TPPC. When CASA de Maryland, a Latino and immigrant advocacy organization, was founded in 1985 the basement of the church served as its original headquarters.

“CASA may no longer be housed at the church, but we always describe our origin story as one in which North American and Central American activists came together in a church basement at Takoma Park Presbyterian to provide sanctuary and support to those fleeing oppression,” said CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres.

“We always describe our origin story as one in which North American and Central American activists came together in a church basement at Takoma Park Presbyterian to provide sanctuary and support to those fleeing oppression.”

The building is currently the headquarters of Community Mediation Maryland, which advances conflict resolution through education, training and research. And the Takoma Park Child Development Center, the county’s first day-care center, started there in the early 1980s.

The church also has a “Black Lives Matter” banner that it hangs prominently upfront, carrying on a tradition of speaking out on social injustice that dates back to the 1970s when the church spoke out on apartheid policies and racial discrimination. “We’ve been using the space to speak out on issues,” Feasley said. “Before that in the 1960s, the sign just read ‘Welcome.’ “

They’ve also hosted several Girl Scout troops and for nearly 100 years have been the home and sponsor of Boy Scout Troop 33.

In the past few years, the church renovated its kitchen area and is now working with Takoma Park Silver Spring Community Kitchen to support and empower low-income food entrepreneurs. Now those starting a food business can get training and work out of the kitchen to help cut start-up costs.

“Without the partnership between the church and Crossroads Community Food Network, we wouldn’t be able to offer this critical infrastructure, and many of the food entrepreneurs we serve would need to defer their dreams,” said Christie Balch, executive director of Crossroads, which helps run the kitchen.

Balch says that 11 businesses are now using the kitchen, with many sourcing their produce from farms in Maryland and neighboring states. “They produce food for farmers markets and catering gigs, and many users are low-income, so the space is made available for free,” Feasley said.

The church is also open to Buddhist and Jewish groups as well as meditation classes and Masons. The church’s gym is used by soccer and basketball teams in the winter and as a home court for a couple of nearby schools. “There’s something going on there every day,” Feasley said.

And what’s in store for the next 125 years for Takoma Park Presbyterian Church and its roughly 200 members?

The church currently has an interim pastor, and Feasley says part of that involves revisioning and thinking about what they want to do next.

“We need to think about what kind of church we want to be,” Feasley said. But it seems like its goals for social justice and inclusion will always remain, much like the spirit of Takoma Park itself. And like its mission says, it is a “Church for ALL People.”

This article appeared in the November 2018 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

By Claudine Schweber, Co-Chair, Emergency Preparedness Committee

What do you call someone who lives on the 12th floor and gets up at 5 a.m. each day? A high-riser. All kidding aside, what makes a building a high-rise? That’s the designation for buildings with seven floors or more. According to the U.S. the National Fire Protection Association, a high-rise building is higher than 75 feet (23 meters) or about 7 stories (www.fireline.com).

Do you live on the 8th floor of a building or know someone who does? What would you do if there’s a fire? Where would you go if you needed to get out of the apartment or if you are ill and need to call for help? Do you have flashlights nearby in case the electricity is out? NOTE: Most firetruck ladders only reach to the 7th floor.

Basic safety

• Whether you just moved in or have lived in a high-rise for years, make sure you have and read the emergency plan for your building.
• Learn about your building’s safety features, including smoke alarms, sprinklers, voice communication, and carbon monoxide detectors.
• Identify all the exits near your apartment, since the one closest to you may be blocked. Make sure you can open them. Find the special fire doors.
• Know the evacuation plan. If you will need help, tell management in advance. Plan and practice two ways out of the building. Get on the stay-in-place list if you are not mobile.
• In cases of evacuation, go outside away from the building. Do not return until the firefighters say it’s ok. If you think someone is still inside, tell the firefighters or other emergency personnel.
• Stay away from windows, glass, exterior walls, or things that might fall, such as file cabinets or book shelves.
• Have emergency contact and medical information posted in plain sight.
• Don’t use the elevators!

Fire safety

• Unattended cooking is the #1 cause of home fires. Surprised? Stay in the cooking area until you’ve turned the heat off completely. If a fire does start, get out, close the door, and call 911.
• If you need to test heated doors, use the back-of-hand technique. Instead of touching a door with your palm, gently use the back of your hand to test for heat.
• Check if your apartment has sprinklers. New building codes require all residential buildings above 100 feet to have working sprinklers by 2019.
• “Close before you doze.” Keep bedroom doors closed when you are inside. This could prevent smoke from entering the room and give you time to call 911.
• When calling 911, be sure to clearly give the apartment number. If you cannot get out, make sure to tell the 911 operator immediately.

If you cannot evacuate, go to a window if possible, wave a white sheet/towel to alert the firefighters. If you can open the window a bit, hang the white item on the window sill, and close the window. Do not keep window open since that may feed the fire. Thank you to Adam Bearne of the Takoma Park Volunteer Fire Department and Jacqueline Davison at Victory Tower for your help with this article. And to the entire TPVFD for always being ready!

Join EPC on WOWD radio for Dear Bea(trice) Prepared at 1 p.m. on the first Sunday of each month.

This article appeared in the November 2018 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.

An Owner Occupied Group House is a single-family home:

• Occupied by the owners or a family members as their primary residence; and
• One or more unrelated individuals who pay rent or share the costs of utilities.

The ability to rent out a private bedroom and then share common space in single-family homes creates affordable housing opportunities in our terrific Takoma Park neighborhoods as well as providing income for homeowners.

These houses are not considered rental properties by the City, although they are required to be registered. This is the same registration that is required for homeowners who rent rooms in the homes they live in through short-term services, such as Airbnb. Registration lasts for three years, expiring December 31 of the third year.

Register in three easy steps

1. Complete a brief application, on the City website.
2. Pay the $50 registration fee.
3. Pass an inspection conducted by City staff to ensure the home meets health and safety standards.

The inspector will test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, both of which need to be either hard-wired or the ten-year, tamper-proof type. They will verify that each bedroom has a key- operated lock on the exterior and a thumb turn on the interior and as well as a window that provides safe exit in case of a fire or other emergency. The inspector will also check that the cooking and sanitation facilities are in good working order. This inspection is repeated at the time the registration is renewed, every three years.

Do you have questions about the registration process or want to verify that your group house is already registered? Contact Housing and Community Development at 301-891-7119 or housing@ takomaparkmd.gov.

This article appeared in the November 2018 edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. The Takoma Park Newsletter is available for download here.