Bastrop business painting historic church to help with massive renovation
The Bastrop Christian Church has stood for 127 years since its construction in 1895.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Bastrop Christian Church has been standing for 127 years since its construction in 1895.
Since the spring of 2022, the historic building has undergone a massive renovation. Yet, this project is pricy — estimated to cost around $675,000.
One business in Bastrop is lending a helping hand by offering to paint it for free.
That 1 Painter is a locally owned painting company serving Central Texas.
Each year, the business picks a participant for the Paint it Forward Program. This is when That 1 Painter offers to paint a home for free for a family in need.
This year, the local company is taking on their biggest project ever priming and painting the Bastrop Christian Church.
“I wasn't looking for much in return from this church other than happy faces, a happy congregation,” That 1 Painter's owner Jake Jimenez said.
It’s an all-hands-on-deck effort for him and his workers.
That 1 Painter will be offering all the labor for free while two additional sponsors — Sherwin Williams and Kelly-Moore — will be providing the paint and primer for the project.
“We scraped all the silicone in between the sidings, scraped all the surfaces,” Jimenez said. “Now we're in the priming and painting process.”
One of those that appreciate the helping hand is longtime churchgoer Douglas Benson.
“That's a lot of money that we would have had to come out of pocket with, he said. “So, that's cutting our overall expenses down quite a bit.”
Over the last year, the church has made repairs to the wood structure foundation and brick mortar. Recently, the stained glass windows on the east side of the building were restored.
Despite all this work, their church services haven’t stopped.
“This is Texas, it’s a wonderful state and this is a wonderful city,” Benson said. “The most important part is to secure the heritage that we have from the past.”
The congregation hopes to complete this restoration project late in 2024.
“Once we get our church completed, we are hoping that we can obviously go another 125-130 years,” Benson concluded.
Despite this huge help, the church is still trying to raise another $150,000 to restore the west, south, and northside windows.
With this in mind, church members started the Building Preservation Committee in hopes of getting help from the community and started a GoFundMe. As of 7 a.m. Wednesday $3,450 had been raised.