ALTAMONT -- The Community Caregivers hope to have a new home next spring, thanks to local philanthropist and developer Jeff Thomas.

Caregivers representative Donald Stauffer told The Enterprise that the organization will move into the former Helderberg Bible Chapel on Gun Club Road, after both interior and exterior renovations are complete. He did not have a set date for completion, but he said that "very roughly," the move would take place in the spring of 2006.

Thomas told The Enterprise that he entered a contract over the last six months, and that he hopes to buy the property by the end of the year.
"I set up a foundation to purchase the church," he said.

Thomas, who lives in Knox, is the owner of WeatherGuard Roofing. He will be recognized with the Caregivers’ first Founders Award on Nov. 18 at the organization’s annual gala.

Thomas had offered space before to the Caregivers’ organization, which started in Altamont in 1994, and now serves 450 people in Guilderland, Bethlehem, New Scotland, Knox, and Berne.

The not-for-profit organization has occupied two rent-free locations — first in St. John’s Lutheran Church in Altamont and currently at Fountain View Senior Assisted Living Center in Slingerlands.

Stauffer said that the current space has a small office for the full-time director, and two small ones for the rest of the part-time staff. Stauffer said that the offices do not have enough storage space.

The organization uses volunteers to offer services to those in need, ranging from child-care for an ailing single mother to car rides for medical treatment needed by an elderly man.

Thomas first offered the Caregivers space at his proposed Brandle Meadows senior housing complex, to be build just outside of Altamont, but delays in approvals and water access have pushed back the construction schedule.
"Their needs are now," Thomas told The Enterprise. He said that the Caregivers had long before approached him about using commercial space he owned. He said that the church has about 2,500 square feet of usable space on about an acre. It is located near the village’s Bozenkill Park on Gun Club Road.
"It was a nice fit for them," Thomas said.
Stauffer said that the move to the chapel will be permanent. "We will not be moving to Brandle Meadows. One of the senior citizens told Thomas [about the site] and suggested getting the Bible chapel"because we’re so desperate for space," Stauffer said.
Thomas said that the proposed offices will be "rent-free as long as they’re the Caregivers and dedicated to helping the elderly, disabled, and homebound. As permanent as permanent can be," he said.
In addition to new offices, the former church has a gathering room with a fireplace and stage, as well as a kitchen, Thomas said. The space could be open to any non-profits who help other people, Thomas said. "We don’t want to limit that gathering area," he said.
"Everything is contingent on the town of Guilderland approving the use," Thomas said.

The chapel building on Gun Club Road started as a dance hall called Pat’s Ranch and then was owned by the YMCA before the church bought it.

The Helderberg Bible Chapel closed its doors last November after 17 years when its minister, John Roberts, moved south to marry. Roberts said at the time that the building would be sold and the funds given to the Christian Missionary Alliance, the chapel’s denomination that has a goal of promoting the Kingdom of God.
The small working-class congregation was largely from the Hilltowns, never really attracting people from the village of Altamont, Roberts said. "We were really a rural, blue-collar church," he said.
"We have a lot of needy people here in our own community, surrounded by all these lovely houses," Thomas concluded. "Thank God, thank God for the Caregivers."