St. John's United Church of Christ Board of Trustees awaiting the insurance process to play out
A Teslacam captured a Range Rover rear-ending a pickup truck and then crashing into the stone steps out front of St. John's United Church of Christ in Lansdale Borough the afternoon of March 15.
The video was in a weekly compilation of Teslacam accident recordings and other incidents on the "Wham Baam Teslacam" YouTube channel.
The submitter, Ovarodd, told the YouTube channel that he and his wife were headed to a new yarn store in Lansdale - The Longest Yarn at 325 Madison St. - and turned left onto Richardson Avenue.
The crash was reported at 1:12 p.m. at 500 W. Main St., involving the Range Rover and a silver GMC Sierra pickup, and sending three people to the hospital for treatment of injuries.
According to VMSC Emergency Medical Services dispatch, one patient was taken to Grand View Hospital with potentially life-threatening injuries, and two patients were taken to Lansdale Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
As they turned, their rear-facing camera captured the Range Rover rear-end the pickup and careen into the steps of the church.
St. John's UCC Board of Trustees is hopeful that the Range Rover owner's insurance will cover the repairs and restoration. Otherwise, the trustees face a hefty insurance deductible and a signifcant financial strain on the church's coffers.
"Right now, it is tied up with insurance," said Board of Trustees Chairman Alan Malachowski. "They are getting adjustments and the insurance company had an appraiser come out. We don't have any idea what the insurance will pay. We know the driver was at fault and according to police were charged with careless driving."
Malachowski said the intention is to restore the steps to their former beauty. He said an engineer is assessing the soundness of the church's architecture, and everything seems intact.
"We have plenty of other ways to get in and out of the church. It's business as usual," he said.
The church's congregation helps fund the maintenance, upkeep and restoration of the historical Lansdale Borough church.
"There's a lot of upkeep. As old as St. John's is, there is always something to do," Malachowski said. "The congregation is very generous. They are a good group and take a lot of pride in the fact that it is a historic building in downtown Lansdale and know how important it is."
It is not just the congregation that is throwing its support behind St. John's UCC and its steps refurbishment; the community has come forward in a big way, and may even bring new opportunities for the congregation to grow its numbers.
One day, a few weeks ago, as Malachowski and other trustees were assessing the damage, an older man who lives at the end of Richardson Avenue toward Third Street approached Malachowski and told him how the church is a beacon of hope to him every morning.
"He said, 'I come out every morning and see the church and it gives me hope. Now I'm devastated: I look down the road and it looks like a bomb went off.' He asked if we were going to rebuild it and if we needed any money for it and asked if he could help," Malachowski said. "That's the type of neighborhood that we have in Lansdale. They care about us and we care about them."
Malachowski, a member of the church for three decades, assured the neighbor that the church would fix the steps and that they appreciated what he had to say to them. When the gentleman told the group he had never been inside to marvel at the stained glass, Malachowski welcomed him inside, gave him a tour, and introduced him to the pastor.
"I asked him to join us on Sunday morning and he said, 'I might just do that,'" he said.
"We love Lansdale and we know how important the building is to the Lansdale community and the committee to restore it to its former glory," Malachowski said.
