A familiar building on the Gladstone Park campus is getting a much needed renovation this spring! The Treasury Building, is one of the oldest buildings on the Gladstone campus and dates back to when the property served as a Chautauqua park. Located at the intersection near the InfoCenter, Cafeteria, and Zull Hall, it has served various functions over the years, most recently as the hub of the Treasury department during camp meeting weeks. Due to its many years of service and poor original building techniques, it now needs some major TLC and this spring it’s getting just that! Soon it will be a safe, usable base of operations for more than just the Treasury department!

“After camp meeting last year we continued looking at more ways we could increase our efficiency,” Jonathan Russell, assistant to the president shared recently. “We kept looking at how to take a meaningful event like camp meeting and put it together with the lowest financial footprint we responsibly could. One of the areas we identified was mobile infrastructure, which we’ve brought in each year and set up as our Locations building. There’s a lot that goes into something like that – building the stairs, wiring the unit, outfitting offices and networking, bringing a truck to deliver it and haul it off campus at the end – and altogether it’s been costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. With costs continuing to rise, we looked at our options and asked, ‘Are there other spaces we could use for this?’ The Treasury Building came to mind, but there was the issue of safety.”

The convenient location of the Treasury Building at the heart of campus made it a compelling option for Locations to set up shop as well, and it was just the right size to meet a number of needs at a lower cost – if it were safe to continue using. “The building has three or four offices inside, and it’s right at the heartbeat of where everyone is always coming and going,” continued Russell. “It felt like a win-win if we could preserve one of our historic buildings and also bring the business functions closer to the heart of campus. Long term this would also save us $10,000 a year in camp meeting costs by using a space we already have.”

The Treasury Building restoration project is expected to be complete in time for camp meeting this year. It will serve as the spot to stop in for RV renewals, questions about campsites, a transportation hub, Locations, ID card pickups, and a variety of other campground administration services. As Jonathan shared, “By investing in our Treasury Building this year, we believe this will pay off as we look toward getting together for camp meetings in the future.”

We so appreciate the Gladstone Park crew for their hard work and care for this project!

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