CHURCH MODERNIZES EDUCATION BUILDING

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 2, 1992                   TAG: 9201030239
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
CHURCH MODERNIZES EDUCATION BUILDING
When the education building at Grandin Court Baptist Church was occupied about 35 years ago, Sunday school children were grouped closely and taught by a lecture method in small classrooms.
Anyone in wheel chairs who wanted to come to the big building on Brambleton Avenue Southwest couldn't get into many areas, either, including the upper floors and restrooms.
Times have changed, observed Margaret Tyree, education director. Open classrooms where children can have hands-on experience in learning have replaced the small areas. And, as in newer homes, churches also are going in for full carpeting.
With a weekday preschool for about 35 young children, Grandin Court also needed more and better playground equipment, Tyree noted.
More than a year ago, leaders brought in a building consultant for churches and developed a plan to renovate. For about $100,000, plus the labor of more than 100 volunteers, the whole education building has been updated.
Just installed is an elevator, one of several placed over the past year in Roanoke Valley churches, to make the upper floors available to those who cannot climb stairs. A restroom for the handicapped also now is in place.
The new project, now complete after being in process for several months, includes the elevator and restroom, full carpeting, playground equipment, remodeling of the childrens' department with addition of partitions and a relocated music department office.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB