We were thrilled to attend the "Blessing of the Boilers" event at St. Suzanne Our Lady Gate of Heaven on Sunday, January 5, 2025. This event celebrated the installation of two 98% efficient boilers at the church, made possible through our Sacred Spaces Clean Energy Grant Program. Thanks to this program, St. Suzanne’s has taken a major step toward reducing their extremely high utility costs, which last winter topped $15,000 a month on several occasions.

St. Suzanne's Cody Rouge Community Resource Center, an arm of the parish, is the heart of the neighborhood, offering programs and support for everyone from infants to seniors. Rooted in the parish’s mission to serve both faith and local communities, the center's director, Steve Wasko, explains that the center empowers children, families, and youth with hope through education, social services, and development programs. Last year alone, over 67,000 people came through its doors to access these vital resources.

Pictured from left: Deacon Chris Remus, Fr. Marko Djonovic, and Steve Wasko, Program Director

"[Our congregation] is energized by the desire to save energy and to reduce our carbon footprint and to appreciate God's creation and the environment." - Steve Wasko

Clean energy grant helps St. Suzanne’s cut costs and boost community impact.

St. Suzanne's extremely high energy costs were unsustainable and pulled valuable resources away from programs that directly benefit their community. With the grant’s support, they implemented energy-saving projects expected to reduce their energy use by 25% or more—allowing them to reinvest those savings into the services and outreach that matter most.

St. Suzanne installed two redundant boilers in their church building that simultaneously heat the building, adding efficiency and providing better solutions for different seasonal conditions. One can function independently from the other should either be down for service, ensuring continuous heat generation even during maintenance or unexpected breakdowns. Prior to the upgrade, a single boiler located at the community center provided heat to both buildings.

Director at St. Suzanne Cody Rouge Community Resource Center, Steve Wasko, in front of community food distribution. In April 2025, 300 individuals received food services at St. Suzanne. 

In addition, the church to "decoupled" its church building's heating system from the community center's heating system, which is significant because the church and the community center operate on opposing schedules, says Steve Wasko. Decoupling the two buildings reduces the load on the older, less efficient boiler in the center and, with functioning controls on both sides, prevents unnecessary operation of the large old boiler at the center. The new controls improve efficiency by enabling zone-specific heating in the center and allowing systems to cycle on and off rather than running continuously.

"We're in a neighborhood that's prone to everything from flooding to pollution to poor infrastructure to power outages to all these sort of things. By participating in energy savings or any of the green programs that we've been involved with, we're directly contributing to improvements in quality of life and conditions." Steve Wasko says that the energy savings will, "in fact directly divert funding that right now is being diverted from services to go back to services."  

Spreading sustainable practices beyond the center and into the community

"There's not a meeting that goes by with the other houses of worship that I'm not taking some note down about something I want to follow up on, whether it's another energy savings opportunity or program or just some tools or tactics," explains Steve about the cohort meetings that took place during the program. Being part of the network has been a game-changer—learning about grants and reimbursement programs has made it possible to fast-track projects that would’ve been out of reach for a smaller organization such as St. Suzanne's Community Resource Center if they had to cover the upfront costs of the program themselves, even with the long-term savings.

Steve and others at the center are excited to build on their history of community education by sharing what they've learned about sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental responsibility with the community. Their goal is not just to create a greener campus, but to help community members apply these practices in their own homes, workplaces, and places of worship.