Mount Zion Update, part 2: No Bell, But a Calling
Appeals to help Mount Zion go out
By David Cohea (savemtzionchurch@gmail.com)
Note: 2016 comes to a close with Mount Zion Primitive Baptist Church with renewed hope for a future in the Mount Dora-Tangerine community. Originally reported on last September, this series provides an update on the work done so far.
For the year previous I had written in my off-hours for the Mount Dora Citizen, the local news site run by former mayor Mel DeMarco. (I work full-time in Orlando for a newspaper production company.) I loved getting to know my adopted city at last through the subjects I researched — everything from city council to government departments like Parks and Recreation and Public Works, its trees and cemeteries, its holiday events, its economic development and outreach to the less fortunate through places like Lake Cares Food Pantry.
Along the way I learned about the city’s history, from numerous vantages — how the downtown was founded, what it was like to play school football in the ’50s or participate in one of the Yacht Club motorboat races in the 1920s — plus, underserved histories in what was once East Town and in Pistolville (which has almost completely disappeared). I learned about historic preservation, its strengths and challenges. Helping Gilbert King research his next book, I delved into the microfilm archives of the Mount Dora Topic — Mount Dora’s weekly newspaper which folded in 2009 — and saw ample proof that historic preservation was for the white and privileged.
When the Citizen suspended publication last summer, I turned my attention to Mount Zion. One thing from my research became clear: Mount Zion had always been a mission church, serving a small community and surviving on the edges of it. Helping hands from elsewhere had always helped keep it going. Pastoral duties had long been handled by ministers from sister churches in Delray Beach, Sanford and Deland.
Then another thing came forward: there was a larger community who felt they had a stake in Mount Zion — all of those who passed it for years on their journey to and from Mount Dora. Something about it said, “Welcome Home.”
Twice in its past — in 1966 and again in 1974 — the white community came out to Mount Zion to give it a fresh coat of paint. Something about this hearkened back to the earliest days of Mount Dora, when the white and black community lived and worked side by side. But Reconstruction ended and Jim Crow rode into the South, and the distance grew between the city’s citizens.
The last painting of Mount Zion might have been forty years ago, but it seemed clear that no one wanted to see this little old church continue to degrade into a state in which demolition was the only alternative. Only it would take more than a fresh coat of paint to prevent that.
On September 25, I published a 4-part series on the church at my blog Mount Dora Topics. The series looked at the present arrears of Mount Zion, a history of the African American community around and in the church, alternatives for preservation and a few observations about the danger of failing to preserve Mount Dora’s less-significant histories.
Unequal histories result in divided communities: That remains in Mount Dora, and the division grows even as disenfranchised communities empty out. We’re still left with the stain, and will do so until it’s addressed or it drives us away, too. Mount Dora’s festivals are white as snow, its new development is even whiter, its politics are white and its downtown is white. It can make you feel that Someplace Special is someplace white, and that’s a very dangerous assumption to foster.
The series was read with interest by the local community. Many commented that they wished something could be done.
One of those readers was Cal Rolfson, Mount Dora’s second district representative, who was then headed for a breezy win of a second council term. (He had no opponents.) Cal contacted me sometime the week after, saying he thought Mount Zion was one of a number of desperately-needed preservation efforts in and around Mount Dora. (Next to the Mount Country Club of Mount Dora, the development where Cal lives, there is an abandoned African-American cemetery dating to the early 1900s or older which has almost disappeared under years of forest litter.) We met for frappacinos at McDonald’s on September 27 to discuss the idea, and as a result I began working on a proposal for what would become the Live Oak Collective, the fundraising entity for Mount Zion which rolls out in 2017.
While the fate of Mount Zion was unclear — could it continue as a church? be restored as a historic landmark? should it be moved into the city where it could be cared for by government? and how to raise the $100-$150,000 it would take to preserve it right? — it was certain that none of that could happen without attending to the building’s immediate needs. With that in mind I formed an ad-hoc group called Save Mount Zion and looked to raise enough money to cover the broken windows, get a decent lock on the front door and tent for termites.
Just as I was trying to figure out how to get started with fundraising, I was approached by Tom Benitez, a photographer and videographer who had recently taken a buyout package from the Orlando Sentinel after nearly 20 years of service. He had read my series and wanted to help.
So on a hot Saturday in early October we met at the church with Beaulah. He filmed Beaulah telling the story and plight of Mount Zion. Beaulah was nervous — she certainly wasn’t accustomed to this sort of media attention — but she performed wonderfully, getting to the heart of the need as she talked of the years she had been waiting for something good to happen to her church. Tom also filmed me on the rock-strewn steps of the church making the pitch for donations. We were covered with stickers and sweaty by the time he was finished, but the result — a three-minute fundraising video — was masterful, topped off by drone footage approaching the church and adding the sound of ghostly church voices. (You can “The Last Parishioner” here.)
While we were filming, another of Mount Zion’s angels drove up. Wayne Hetzel was headed for Mass at St. Patrick’s just down the road and saw Mount Zion’s door open. Curious, he pulled over. He had seen the little old church for years and had also been worried about what was happening there. He introduced himself and I showed him around. Turns out Wayne did repairs following termite treatment and was looking for a volunteer opportunity. I’m no carpenter, and Wayne’s pickup was loaded with tools. Typical with this project, the right volunteers have shown up at the right time.
I had spoken with the Mount Dora Community Trust about starting up a fundraiser for the church; working through the Trust, a 501(c)-3 charitable entity, donations would to be tax-deductible. But the mechanics of donation through the Trust are a little slow — mailing in a check — so for the short-term goal of addressing Mount Zion’s immediate needs, I opted for the online platform of GoFundMe, which I knew could reach a wide audience through social media channels. The upside was speed; the downside was that donations are considered personal gifts and are not tax-deductible. I created a Facebook Page called Friends of Mount Zion, established the GoFundMe campaign, and with Tom’s video leading things off, began the campaign to secure Mount Zion on Oct. 16 with a goal of $5,000.
As expected but ever surprisingly, the community responded immediately — $425 the first day, $175 the second day, $1,500 the third, $950 the fourth.
With the campaign underway, I addressed city council during public comment of their Oct. 18 meeting. Holding an enlarged picture of the 1974 church painting by the community, I said it was time for the community to rally again around Mount Zion, and asking council to begin a conversation about the importance of this historic church on its eastern gateway, one otherwise unremarkable for visitors and residents alike. To this date, there has been no response from council as a body, though a number of members have contributed and participated.
Save Mount Zion got some wind in its sails from the media — Roxanne Brown of the Leesburg Daily Commercial did a piece, as did Jason Ruiter of the Lake Sentinel, which appeared on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel.
As contributions were adding up, I got a quote from a termite exterminator of $5,500 for tenting of the church for drywood termites and treating the ground for subterranean subterraneans. Accordingly, I raised the fundraising goal to $6,000, crossing my fingers that other expenses would not bite so deeply.
Wayne Hetzel secured the building at no cost to us, getting plywood donated by Ro-Mac lumber, boarding up the three eastern windows, fixing the front door and latching it with a padlock. Mount Zion would see no more two- and four-legged vagrants.
Donations ranging from $10 to $1,000 kept coming in daily. Two weeks into the campaign, an Oct. 27 fundraiser at Magical Meat Boutique featuring the music of David Willis Oliver and Friends raised $406, taking us over the goal.
With tenting scheduled for late November, I planned a community work day at the church on Nov. 12. Foremost we needed to cut back all the shrubs next to the building for tenting, but there was a lot of other things on the list.
About then Angela Jacobs of WFTV-Channel 9 news contacted me about doing a story on Mount Zion and did a segment on the project filming Beaulah at the church.
While they were filming, Zellwood resident Dr. David McMillan was driving back from Mount Dora. Seeing the Channel 9 van and the film crew around Beulah, he stopped to watch. He’d always been curious about the old church and wanted to find out more about its story. He ended up getting filmed in the story. He said, “This should be used as a church or community facility and not allowed to disappear.”
On that chance encounter, McMillan became another of Mount Zion’s angels. David got in touch with me after the segment ran, offering his help. One of the biggest problems we faced in the Nov. 12 work day were the formidable growth of weeds all around the building. David fixed that in one fell sweep around the church with his industrial mower. Now we could work in and around the church without getting infested with stickers.
David also recommended a different exterminator for the tenting, and we saved $1,500 by going with them instead. He came through in many other ways.
Since we were looking at work days at the church in the coming months, I took out a minimal three-month insurance policy from Hillcrest Insurance (thanks to Iris Dobbs). It wasn’t much, so everyone coming to the church had to sign off on a waiver saying they understood they were working there at their own risk.
It had been more than 40 years since the community last came out to help Mount Zion. I put a call out for volunteers through the Save Mount Zion Facebook page, and waited.
Tomorrow: Work Days at the Church
This series began with A Church In Need with a Yearning Pedigree
David Cohea is executive director of the Mount Dora-based Live Oak Collective
