Samaritan buys new building

Samaritan Ministries International has purchased a 66,000-square-foot, three-story building that will provide office space to accommodate more staff to serve Samaritan’s growing membership.

The purchase of the north Peoria building was completed on Friday, December 3.

Rapid membership growth in the past 15 months has both created the need for more staff and made the purchase of the larger facility possible.

“The additional space gives us an opportunity to be prepared for the growth before we’re bursting at the seams in our current facility,” said Ted Pittenger, president and founder of Samaritan Ministries.

Samaritan membership has exceeded growth projections for 2010 by more than 50 percent. The ministry serves more than 15,700 member households from its current location at 2400 W. Altorfer Drive, Peoria. The new building should accommodate enough staff to serve up to 50,000 households, Pittenger said.

Purchase of the building was mainly made possible by increased income from additional new memberships and by generous giving from current members, who have already given more than $150,000 to help in the effort.

The move will be the ministry’s third in its 16 years of service. Samaritan’s original offices were in a renovated chicken coop on the Pittenger property. The ministry later expanded to a remodeled garage just feet away from the coop. The ministry then moved to a former church building in Marquette Heights in 2000 before relocating to its Pioneer Park address in 2005.