ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The Sisters of St. Joseph are restoring a historic schoolhouse in St. Augustine. The job is a daunting one.
They hired a professional contractor, and his perspective of the project is interesting.
Jon Benoit is with Behst Builders.
His latest project is restoring the St. Benedict the Moor Schoolhouse which was built in the 1890s.
"It’s a great challenge," he said, speaking about the technical aspects of the project.
"The sisters are an unusual customer. They come with so much positive energy," he smiled and nodded.
For decades, the sisters taught black children in the school on Martin Luther King Avenue. When integration of schools took place in the 1960s, the school shut down. The building sat empty, rotting away, with trees literally growing through it.
Now, the Sisters of St. Joseph plan to turn the building into the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center that will house a program aimed at helping single mothers get steady, good-paying jobs.
"Really the only thing we are keeping are the brick walls," Benoit said, "the brick shell of the building."
Braces held the exterior walls in place for years. Then Benoit’s team came in within the last year-and-a-half and they basically built a new building inside of the brick shell. They connected the new wall to the old wall with giant screws.
Holding one of those screws, he said, "This gets drilled in all the way into the wall and so we have these every two feet. They are tying the brick wall to our new wood frame wall."
Along the way, Benoit kept running into snags with government offices during the permitting process. So he found himself telling people, "We're on a mission from God."
"I told people, 'You can either deal with me or we’ll have a meeting with Sister Kathleen and Sister Stephanie. But it would be easier if you just deal with me.'' Benoit noted. "So we started using that mantra often to sort of encourage people to just get out of the way. 'We’re on a mission from God' I don’t know if it necessarily worked, but eventually we got the permits!"
He made t-shirts that has the phase "We’re on a mission from God" written on them. And instead of the Blues Brothers pictured on the shirts, there is a silhouette of the sisters with hats and sunglasses on.
The image of the sisters is taken right from their first interview with First Coast News when they started the project in January 2022.
T-shirts can be purchased by contacting pcroucher@sjncfl.org Money raised from the sale of the shirts will go toward the building and the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center.
During the demolition of the interior, when a crane remove some of the rotten floor beams, some of the pieces looked like a cross, dangling above the building.
A sign… or confirmation… that they are indeed on a mission.
"This is certainly a special mission," Benoit said, "and will really help a lot of people."
The Sisters of St. Joseph continue to fundraise for the building's restoration and the Neighborhood Center.
T-shirts can be purchased by contacting pcroucher@sjncfl.org Money raised from the sale of the shirts will go toward the building and the St. Joseph Neighborhood Center.