Cleanup begins after blaze at Downers Grove church, school

Glancing at crews from Illinois Construction Company tear debris from the building, Steve Danekas smiled.

More than two months after a devastating fire at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and Academy in Downers Grove, work finally had begun on the cleanup.

“They’re taking the old roof out. We’re still a long way from reconstruction,” said Danekas, the church’s property coordinator.

“We sort of have been on hold because of the fire investigation,” said Danekas, 75, of Naperville.

Workers filled a large container that a crane operator then carried to a dumpster where it was dumped time after time.

An allegedly drunken driver hit a utility pole on 63rd Street a block or so away about 6 a.m. July 29. That sent a surge of electricity toward the church and sparked a fire, Danekas said.

“The little fire compromised the gas line, which led to the big fire,” he said.

Thankfully, the sanctuary was spared devastation.

The same can’t be said for the school.

The fire has resulted in an outpouring of support from the Downers Grove community and others who have donated $9,024 as of Oct. 15 in a GoFundMe page.

Fifty-nine donations have been made. They range from $20 to three donations of $1,000. The goal is $100,000. The page was put together by Joe Abegg of the church’s ministry support.

It’s more than money and good wishes. Downers Grove Grade School District 58 has offered space in Kingsley Elementary School for Sunday worship. The Avenue Christian Church in Clarendon Hills invited the academy to hold classes there.

Paul Schoenbeck, a Good Shepherd Lutheran Academy board member, is impressed with how others stepped up.

“You couldn’t ask for nicer people,” Schoenbeck said. “The churches in the Downers Grove area have offered their facilities or items to help our school.

“It’s been so overwhelming. There hasn’t been a church or school that we have not heard from in Downers Grove.”

Rebuilding is on Schoenbeck’s mind.

“We are working in conjunction with the insurance. At the same time trying to work with securing an architect. It’s a multitude of things,” he said.

Fingers crossed that a year from now the rebuild will be completed, he said.

Longtime church member Laurel Bowen heard sirens that fateful morning when church board chair Bill Merchantz called and said the church was on fire.

At first, she thought he was joking. He wasn’t. She soon was on the scene.

Like others in the church, Bowen has been wowed by the support.

Bowen said church services held at Kingsley have been very popular and often result in overflowing turnouts.

Funerals for congregation members have been held at other churches that offered the space, she said.

The worst damage was to the preschool rooms, Bowen said. The rest of the building has smoke and water damage.

“It’s interesting what’s still there that didn’t go up (in flames),” Bowen said. “But there’s a big hole (in the roof) going up to heaven.”