Neither had any experience with drawings, so they turned to another friend, Harold Prigozen, a retired mechanical engineer. Together, all three made Saidel’s vision a reality for the new temple.
Now, almost 20 years later, the trio forms the core of some 40 woodworking volunteers known locally as The God Squad. The group has built and donated more than 85 ceremonial pieces at local sites of worship — Jewish, Christian and Muslim — and more recently added the Dayton and Springfield symphonies to their long list of donees.
Word of mouth is their only, and best, advertising. “You can’t ask for more professional quality work,” said John Johns, administrator at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakwood, where the God Squad recently built a communion table, podium and music stand for the new altar and chancel.
“Their heart and soul is put into everything they do,” said Rabbi Nachum Mengel of the Chabad Center. “We are very fortunate to be the recipient of a lot of their work.”
Since August, the group has taken on perhaps its most daunting project yet — renovating the historic Deeds Barn in time for the opening of its new home next summer inside the innovation and entrepreneurship wing at Carillon Historical Park.
“It’s totally different from what we’ve done in the past because we are rehabilitating a very, very badly debilitated building,” Saidel said. “It’s not something where we’ve taken our vision and made something for a church or a synagogue or a school.”
Cummings, who is leading the barn renovation effort, and Saidel are both 78. Prigozen is 91. But the recent addition of Cumming’s 56-year-old son-in-law, Leonard Folz, and younger volunteers like him “make the next generation of The God Squad seem secure,” Saidel said.
That doesn’t mean the more senior members plan to step aside any time soon.
“Burt (Saidel) gets these bright idea and he comes to me and says, ‘How the hell are we going to make it?’ and we figure it out,” Prigozen said. “Dick (Cummings) is really great at finishing — painting, oiling and staining. Between the three of us, we come up with some pretty good stuff.”
A year and a half ago, Prigozen lost his wife of 68 years. “I need this kind of thing now more than ever,” he said.
So far, about a half-dozen volunteers have joined The God Squad to help with renovating Deeds Barn, including Cummings’ wife Dorothy, who quipped that it was the only way she could see her husband. The couple is no stranger to restoration. They spent 15 years renovating a home together in Richmond, Ind., she said.
The God Squad is looking for additional volunteers, at any skill level, to help with Deeds Barn. The century-old carriage house is where Charles F. Kettering, Col. Edward Deeds and other members of the Barn Gang invented the automotive electrical system and launched one of Dayton’s key industries.
Cummings can be reached at (937) 293-5150.
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