For 90 years, St. John Berchmans Parish in the city's Logan Square neighborhood has been without a bell in its tower. That could change through a GoFundMe campaign organized by the neighborhood's preservation society. It started when Andrew Schneider, a member of the community group Logan Square Preservation, went poking around the church looking at its architecture. Because of his role in the organization, Schneider had accumulated an archive related to the neighborhood's buildings, including several items about St. John Berchmans. "As I started to acquire this archival material I had some questions about how the church grew and expanded and changed over the years," said Schneider, who grew up in Logan Square but now is a member of St. Andrew Parish in Lakeview. While looking around the church building, he asked the parish business manager if the parish ever had plans to add a bell tower. "What I was asking him was the tower component, the belfry, where there was a bell, looks a little truncated. I always wondered if there were plans to expand and build a big spire," Schneider said. It turned out there was a bell at one time but it broke in the 1930s. Since Logan Square Preservation previously organized a drive to restore windows at Norwegian Lutheran Church on the square, and since many members of the group also attended St. John Berchmans, 2511 W. Logan Blvd., the group decided to help the parish purchase and install a new bell. But when they went up into the belfry to check things out, they got a surprise. "We climbed down in there," Schneider said, "and there's this bell sitting there in the corner along with its A-frame and its wheel." (Watch video) The cast-iron bell wasn't broken after all. The mechanism that attaches the yoke to the wheel that rings the bell sheared off and needed repair. "The bell was in good condition. It was totally taken apart and was in good condition,” he said. "We realized that the project went from being a $25,000 project to a $15,000 project because we just have to bring in a big lift and a haul a 600- or 700-pound bell into position in the belfry." As of Aug. 4, the GoFundMe campaign had raised almost $10,000 of its $15,000 goal. Several donors have left messages on the page in support of the project. Roseanne Dennler donated, saying, "I have great memories of the five years I taught at St. John Berchmans, but I never knew about the bell! Hope to hear it ringing soon!" Peter Morowski donated, saying, "2nd generation grad of SJB, baptized there, both my parents and my wife and I married there ... special place." Larry Szubart wrote with his donation, "I want my 1½ yr old granddaughter Olivia to hear church bells on Sunday mornings." It’s been a wonderful response, Schneider said. “The community has been galvanized around the effort to restore the parish’s voice in the bell.” To donate to the fund, visit www.gofundme.com/restore-st-john-berchmans-bell.