Amherst Survival Center ramps up its fundraising for a spacious new building
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The Amherst Survival Center's basement space on North Pleasant Street is so cramped that staff often have to decline donations of food because there's no place to store it.
The center provides about 4,000 people a year with hot lunches and groceries to take home, plus housewares, clothes and medical care, all for free. But the dining area is so crowded that some guests have to eat standing up or go outside.
Executive Director Cheryl Zoll's office also serves as medical clinic, conference room, coat closet and storage area. The door is propped open with a 25-pound barbell. When she needs to talk privately on the phone, she has to go out to her car.
But early next year, the Survival Center expects to move into a new building with almost twice the space at 138 Sunderland Road, the site of the former Roosters restaurant.
The center, working with Amherst fundraising consultant Ellen Leuchs, has quietly raised $2 million for the project over the last 15 months, and hopes to take in another $500,000 in the public phase of the campaign over the next few months. A groundbreaking could take place in the spring.
"This speaks to how much the center is valued by the community," said Sue Lowery, a member of the board of directors. "I'm humbled by the generosity of the business community and residents."
The center lined up five donations of more than $100,000 each from area residents, said Lynn Griesemer, who spearheaded the fundraising campaign. It also received money from local banks, foundations, and many individuals who donated smaller amounts, she said.
"A number of people have come to realize there is need in the Amherst area," Griesemer said. "They've come to visit the Survival Center and been astounded by what we can do in the present space, and this has led to very generous donations."
The next phase of the campaign will include a breakfast meeting for business owners Feb. 29 at the Lord Jeffery Inn and numerous fundraising parties in private homes. Donors can also contribute via the center's website, amherstsurvival.org.
Just 5 to 7 percent of the money raised is being spent on the campaign's expenses, which is low for a nonprofit organization, said Jan Eidelson, president of the board of directors.
Elaborate plans
The center, founded in 1975, bought the Rooster's property for $265,000 in June 2010. The board of directors considered renovating the old restaurant but decided to tear it down, in part because zoning restrictions would have required a greater setback from the property line, Eidelson said.
Architect Carol Vincze worked with the board of directors - and with guests and volunteers - on the layout of the 6,000 square feet of space in the new building. The dining area will have enough space to seat the 70 or more people who eat lunch there daily, and there will be space and new equipment to allow the distribution of more food.
There will be two private medical rooms for volunteer doctors Daniel Clapp and Paul Berman and nurse Trish Smallman. Children's areas, private counseling offices and an outdoor dining patio and community garden are also in the plans. The building is designed to be energy-efficient and could accommodate solar panels if the money is available, said Griesemer.
The new center also could provide space for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, GED test programs, nutrition workshops, yoga classes and other activities, according to board members.
The center is working with town officials to install sidewalks on Sunderland Road near the new building, Eidelson said. It is also talking with PVTA officials about having bus 31, which currently stops at the corner of North Pleasant and Pine streets before turning onto Meadow Street, make some runs up Sunderland Road, she said.
The cost of the new building is estimated at $1.55 million. The rest of the money raised will be used to pay for furnishings, architects' fees, campaign expenses, a 10 percent contingency fund, and to replace $200,000 that was borrowed from the center's reserves to purchase the Sunderland Road property, Griesemer said.
This year, the center has an operating budget of $378,000, which comes from donations and grants. There are two full-time and five part-time staff members.
Community crossroads
About 65 percent of the Survival Center's guests live in Amherst. There were 4,000 guests in 2011, 1,200 of whom were children, and this represents a 56 percent increase since 2007, Zoll said. The Food Pantry registered 500 new families in 2011, and the free medical clinic has seen 500 people since it opened in 2008.
The center served more than 11,000 hot lunches in 2011 and distributed 130 tons of donated food. The estimated value of the food and the volunteers' work is $1 million a year, Griesemer said.
There is no income test for guests who include single mothers receiving public assistance, residents with mental challenges and a person who lives in a tent given to him by the Survival Center. One visitor who needed a tuberculosis test to get a job got the test at the center's free clinic, and is now a chef at a local restaurant, Zoll said.
It's difficult to distinguish the center's visitors and volunteers from each other. But there are about 200 volunteers with some 150 working in any given week.
"It's the great crossroads of Amherst," Zoll said. "I feel like working here I've gotten to know everyone in Amherst. It's a place where a lot of people come together."
Volunteers say they have taken as much from the center as guests do.
"I've been so nourished by the Survival Center by being able to volunteer here," said Eidelson. "I've learned so much about myself and the community and about how giving is receiving."
Lowery cited the instance of a woman who asked her son to work at the Survival Center to make restitution for misusing her credit card. He wound up volunteering there for several more years than he needed to, she said.
"It gives people a sense of purpose, especially people who have lost their jobs or had cuts in their earning level," she said. "It really makes a big difference to have a good reason to get up in the morning."
At the Survival Center, it's common to see a retired professor, a single parent and a homeless person sitting next to one another, said Griesemer.
"Everyone is collaborating and everyone has something to teach," she said. "It's really awe-inspiring to see how well people come together with no pretense or airs, just doing work that needs to be done."
Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.
