Hidden in the back of the Gothic-style campus of the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, bright orange and white speckled koi fish dart around the Cluett Memorial Garden’s upper pond.
They’re not the koi returning residents may remember. These ornamental fish were brought to the garden in mid-September as the finishing touches to a parishioner-funded renovation project that began in July after the death of the church’s three largest koi because of the upper pond’s faulty aeration pump.
At that time, the church didn’t have the budget to fund the project. That led the church’s rector, the Rev. Tim Schenk, to publish a notice July 20 in the church newsletter, inviting parishioners to donate to a koi pond repair fund.
Just a few days later, the church on the corner of South County Road and Barton Avenue surpassed its $25,000 goal.
“That was just a tremendous blessing,” parish administrator Joseph Sanelli told the Daily News in August.
Not only was the church able to fix the aeration pump, but also fund a slew of other much needed repairs and improvements to the koi ponds. Those included sealing cracks along the koi ponds’ walls, replacing the electrical box feeding power to the two ponds and installing an ultraviolet filtration system.