Groundbreaking Held Despite Winds, Outage

Undeterred by strong winds and a power outage, the congregation of Mary Immaculate Church and School gathered Monday to break ground on a new school building, which will replace one torn down after it was damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

“As the earthquake taught us, in Southern California you have to be able to roll with the punches,” said Pastor Tom Rush, who was forced to move the ceremony indoors and cancel a morning Mass and slide presentation because of the high winds.

After the Northridge quake, St. Ferdinand’s parish in San Fernando absorbed most of the Mary Immaculate students temporarily at its school.

Four months later, Mary Immaculate brought in portable classrooms, and enrollment--which dropped sharply after the earthquake--has been climbing steadily ever since, said Principal Kathleen Damisch.

With capacity for 320 students and new computer and science labs, the new building is expected to be finished in October--a time students and faculty are looking forward to, she said.

City Councilman Richard Alarcon and representatives of Mayor Richard Riordan, Rep. Howard Berman (D-Panorama City), Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar) and the Los Angeles Archdiocese spoke at the dedication and braved the winds to join Rush in digging the first symbolic shovels full of dirt.

Several of the guests, including Alarcon, who once taught at the school, spoke of their personal connections to Mary Immaculate.

Fred Flores, an aide to Berman who attended Mary Immaculate as a child, said the people he encountered there had a profound impact on his life.

“When I was a teenager, they got me involved in all kinds of activities, planning fiestas, doing charity carwashes and even going to the [Mexican] border to deliver blankets and food,” he said.

“This place is very important to the community.”