St. Martha: Same P.O. Box, but a New Street Address?

We don’t even get our St. Martha Parish mail at the street address – we have been using Post Office Box 1745 for a long time and will continue to use that for all postal mail - so why do we need a new street address? And why am I bothering to write about it in a column?

Effective immediately, to facilitate efficient 911 processing of requests for emergency services for people in the church, we will now use 221 South Street in Plainville to refer to the location of St. Martha Church. According to town officials, 221 has been the address of that portion of our property all along (which is logical since our parish residence next door is 219). It was only recently brought to our attention due to some confusion with the e-911 system that processes calls for many towns in our area. While our Plainville first responders certainly know where to find St. Martha church, regional e-911 services require the caller provide a street address to insure they communicate the proper location to first responders. We will be putting signs near the main entrances to remind anyone who calls 911 to use the 221 South Street address. But do not use the street address for mail - please continue to use P.O. Box 1745!
 

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P.S. - Curious where the old street address (227) we used for many decades came from? While I can’t say for certain, here is our understanding… Some of you have been in the parish long enough to remember the building that used to be on the field in front of the parking lot garage. It was known as the “C.C.D. building,” based on an old name for what became Religious Education, and is now called Faith Formation. Before that building was torn down, it was probably known as 227 South Street. Since we only needed one address for all the parish mail, that was the address that was used for the whole parish property. It was much more recently that 911 services were regionalized, which is the only reason it became an issue.