SAUGUS — The halls of the 1892 former school on Essex Street have been decked for a good cause.
A decade ago, the Marleah Elizabeth Graves Foundation restored the building, which closed its doors after about 100 years as an elementary school, and renamed it the MEG Building, after a first grade teacher who left a lasting impression on the school’s graduates.
For the past seven years, the foundation has been hosting a Christmas tree stroll, raffling off the decorated trees, and raising money to put back into the historic brick structure.
“The school closed in 1981 and sat idle,” said said Janice Jarosz, president of the foundation. “When I first went in, it was full of pigeons. A lot of people didn’t think we could do it. But, the people on my board are phenomenal.”
The foundation received a $50,00 Good Neighbor grant from General Electric that covered a new gas system for heat, new windows, and new electrical. Money for the remainder of the work, about $250,000, was raised by Saugus residents, said Jarosz.
Board member Bill McAdoo attended the elementary school from 1937 to 1941, and said it’s still surreal to see the building restored.
“Yesterday I was walking up those stairs and I could remember following my teacher up there and holding on to the railing,” he said.
But ten years after the major rehab project, there are additional tasks on the to-do list. Most importantly, Jarosz said the foundation’s board wants to make the building handicap accessible.
“That would help a lot and would let a lot more people come in,” she said. “We consider this a community cultural center. We have Slightly Off Broadway plays, the Girl Scouts meet here, we have a healing room upstairs.”
Grasp, a national organization that provides services for people who have lost a loved one to substance abuse-related deaths, holds meetings in the building. A support group for military families formerly called the school home, she said.
This year, the MEG Building is filled with four dozen trees, which line each of the former classrooms on the first floor. Each was purchased and decorated by a local business or family and will be raffled off on Sunday morning. Proceeds from the raffle will help the MEG Foundation pay the building’s annual electricity bill.
The trees will be on display Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 3 to 8 p.m. Visitors can follow the sounds of the Christmas Choir up the sprawling, restored staircase to see a live nativity set by New Hope Assembly of God from 6 to 8 p.m. each day.
The Gingerbread Man and Frosty the Snowman will greet guests outside. Admission is free and visitors will be treated to hot chocolate and cookies.
