For many of our Parish Family, the church is the singular part of our campus they interact with, aside from the parking lots and walkways. We are much more than the church, which will always be the core of our community and our faith. As part of our continuing illustration of Saint John as an enlivening, inviting place for our parish and our community, I wanted to showcase some lesser-known areas of our facilities and grounds. Hopefully, you will get a chance to visit them the next time you come.
When someone asks me just how do we handle over 4,000 events, meetings and programs here at Saint John (aside from our Masses), I usually start the response with our amazing staff, who are dedicated to ensuring all the programs are served in the best way possible. But, our buildings are a core reason we can provide so many services to the Parish Family and community as well. The single most utilized space at Saint John, aside from our Church, of course, is our Ballroom. If you have never been in the Ballroom, it is directly behind the church, a short walk past the Prayer Garden. Walking through the two double doors, you will see the largest interior space we have (the fire department states that it can hold more people than our sanctuary).
This large multi-purpose, multi-configuration room has hosted intimate dinner parties for 20, and huge presentations, packing 750+ people to hear the Naples Council of World Affairs. We use it for church-specific events, like our Super Bowl Party and the Easter Egg Hunt. The Men’s Club hosts Big Band Dances for the area and Faith and Wine provide dinner and engaging discussion there. The Ballroom is used for revelry like the Saint Patrick’s Day Party, honoring our soldiers for the Knights of Columbus Independence Day Dinner, and for somber occasions like bereavements and memorials. With a built-in dance floor, stage for entertainment, an industrial kitchen, advanced sound and video displays, and dividers for room sizing, it is a “jack-of-all-trades” room. Most recently, we had a dinner for Vacation Bible School, with over 450 individuals viewing the pictures from our week, listening to the singing of the children and feasting on pizza and salad.
That is not to say the room is not showing its nearly 20-year age. In fact, as part of our Capital Campaign, a major renovations are planned, including expanding the dance floor, new windows and coverings, new doors, updating the kitchen, and other functions, we want this Ballroom to serve our Parish Family for years to come.
We have updated the rental pricing and options to make it easy and affordable for parishioners to take advantage of our space for their personal needs and for our groups here at Saint John. Those prices can now be found on our website at: https://legacysite.sjecc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Facilities-and-Room-Rental-Pricing.pdf