Just days before its opening its new space, the survival center met its $2.5 million fund-raising goal.
The Amherst Survival Center opened Monday in its new space at 138 Sunderland Road.
AMHERST — Nearly 200 people stopped in at the new Amherst Survival Center on Monday, its first day in its new space.
“It was a lot of people, it felt busy but not crowded,” said Tracey A. Levy, program director. “Nobody complained about bumping into each other.”
The new space at 138 Sunderland Road is nearly double of what the center had in the basement of the old North Amherst School, which had averaged 130 to 150 people per day.
Just days before it opened, the center reached its $2.5 million fundraising goal.
Executive Director Cheryl Zoll said the center was $10,000 shy of its goal last week when fund-raisers got on the phone and were able to raise the last bit from people who already contributed.
The Amherst Survival Center purchased the former Rooster's Restaurant in 2010, initially planning to renovate, but staff realized it would be less costly to tear the restaurant down and build a new center. With a fund-raising team, the center raised $2 million in the quiet phase of the campaign and turned to the public in January.
Standing in the dining area, Zoll looked around. “It’s literally unbelievable.” Zoll now has an office that she won’t have to give up for meetings.
Amherst Survival Center Program Director Tracey Levy works in her new office.
Jennifer Goldman from Easthampton has been coming here for meals and other services for a couple of years.
The new building “show’s there’s dignity when you come. There’s no shame or embarrassment. It doesn’t scream out poor people.”
Zoll said the center offered that respect through programming, but the old building didn’t necessarily echo that.
While the center provides services for Amherst and 11 other communities, including Hadley, Belchertown, South Hadley and Deerfield, people from all over come for meals and the services, like Goldman.
The center offers an on-site medical clinic, help with finding housing, medical insurance, and other services in addition to the free meals, food pantry and free store.
In the new building, computers will be hooked up in about two weeks and new meeting space will allow the center to offer workshops. The center also plans to provide help with fuel assistance and with income tax help early next year, Levy said.
Zoll said they are working with the PVTA and Amherst Town Manager John P. Musante to extend bus service to the new center, which is about a third of a mile from the former site. She expects that will be resolved soon.