By ALEXIS MURPHY
Contributing Writer
The new addition at St. Andrews Episcopal Church on 10 N. Main Ave will be the new home to the church’s thrift shop. The grand re-opening of the shop was held Saturday, April 30. The shop has been a part of the neighborhood for 41 years.
There was a ribbon cutting at 9:45 a.m. that day and those who spent $10 received a free hot dog, chips and soda, said Renate Reeves-Ellington, a thrift shop worker.
The money that is raised in profits from the shop is donated outside of the parish center within the local city.
The previous thrift shop, housed in the basement of the church, was displaced after construction issues.
The church installed an elevator allowing handicap accessibility, but during the process the basement started to flood.
They needed a new place to house the shop, which was when the idea to build a two floor addition to the side of the church was presented.
The thrift shop occupies the first floor of the building. The second floor will be used as a multi-purpose room for events, fellowship and classes. In order to use the space to hold events, the church will need to obtain an occupancy count certificate from Albany City Buildings & Codes.
“They have to call, and it takes 24 hours for the occupancy count to be issued,” said Ron Preville, a building inspector.
After the controversy over the house that St. Andrews Episcopal Church owned, they were able to decide what to do with the space.
“We did not want to spend money on it and demolish it,” Marth Iannacone, a vestry member at the church, said. The house was deteriorating and something needed to be done with the building. The renovation took a couple years and a loan of $450,000 was taken out to cover the cost of the renovation.
“We wanted a peace garden, but the city said it could not be a vacant lot,” Iannacone said of one of the many ideas that were considered for the new addition.
With the new attention that the church is getting, it will be able to host events that will cater to the public. Their outreach to the community will also be helped by the availability to use the space on the second floor of the new addition.
“This would be a good opportunity to be able to invite people to worship and experience who we are,” said Cindy Schwartz, a church member at St. Andrews.
The shop is open two days a week – Tuesday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and is completely run by volunteers.
Right now they’re looking for more volunteers so the thrift shop can have extended hours, and they are interested in having Saint Rose students volunteer.
