In 1966, a group of parish women led by Stacia Hall Davis, converted the Sloan residence into a used clothing store and named it The Little Red House. Since that time, it has continued as a parish ministry providing inexpensive and free clothing for community families. Mrs. Davis’ countless hours of volunteering for this and many other charitable projects at Blessed Sacrament Church helped to earn her a Benemerenti Medal Papal Award from Pope Paul VI in 1977. In 1992, men from the Knights of Columbus helped remodel the Little Red House to make it more energy efficient and useable as a clothing store. In 2009-2010, the LRH storage area (original Sloan house garage), was expanded and an addition to it became the Blessed Sacrament food pantry, which was formerly housed in the church basement. The food pantry is open two days a week year round for distribution to needy individuals and families.
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By 1970, the parish had outgrown using the church basement for dinners, receptions and other parish gatherings. A new church hall was built that year and attached to the original four CCD classrooms. Since it was on ground level, parishioners did not have to negotiate stairs in order to attend parish events. The hall had a large, modern kitchen, which replaced the much smaller kitchen in the church basement. The Knights of Columbus council raised money and donated to the parish hall building fund for a separate meeting room. The room, which was carpeted and paneled, featured a large fireplace. The room served as the Knight’s official meeting room and hosted other parish group meetings as well.
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In 1979, St. Peter Catholic School was begun through the efforts of several parish families, and families from the nearby Payette parish as well. Due to limited space and budget, the school started with primary students only. In 1982, four additional classrooms were built on site. A portable classroom building, that sits just north of the permanent building, eventually augmented these. The school also utilized the parish hall as an activity space, lunch and music room. The Knight’s meeting room also had double duty as the school library. The school remains a vibrant part of the parish and has students ranging from pre-kindergarten through 6th grade.
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Some additional church renovation was done in 1983-1984. The original confessionals were removed with the one on the east side of the church converted into an Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine. The other confessional on the west side was combined with an existing storage area into a reconciliation room. The interior of the church was painted, and the altar was moved closer to the congregation by removing some of the front pews and moving others to each side to surround the altar. Further construction took place in 1995 under the direction of Father Ray Jarboe from funding raised through the Vision to Grow program. The entry to the church was moved approximately ten feet to the south which gave space for a restroom (up to this point, the only restroom in the church was located in the basement). A wheelchair lift was installed on the east side of the vestibule. A concrete ramp was placed outside the church leading to the east entrance and an interior doorway to the wheelchair lift.
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Parish History
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