JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — A church organ damaged in the 9/11 attacks on New York City and destined to be thrown away will find a new home in metro Atlanta.
Johns Creek United Methodist organist Randy Elkins' told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik that the church had been searching for a pipe organ to put in a new sanctuary the church plans to build.
Elkins contacted a clearing house where churches find organs and learned about one that was damaged in the Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church in Lower Manhattan when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.
"Trinity Wall Street wanted to let that organ go, but knew it needed a new home," he said. "They were about to throw it out."
Elkins told Petchenik he knew he had to save the treasured instrument.
"My teachers have played on it. All of the most famous organists around the world of the last half of the 20th century have played that organ," he said.
Church music pastor Beth Brown Shugart told Petchenik that Johns Creek UMC is honored to play a part in restoring and recycling the organ.
"Aeolian-Skinner is just a fabulous instrument," she said. "It's an American-made instrument, it survived 9/11, and it's coming here."
Elkins said the restoration project would cost the congregation between $1.5 million and $2 million, a fraction of what a new pipe organ would run. He said it could take up to four years for the organ to be restored and brought to Atlanta.