Two great events are coming up this week that celebrate the arts in Amherst and support the Amherst Survival Center!
The Freedom Trails Gallery at 534 Main Street in Amherst will be exhibiting a Small Works group exhibition to benefit the Amherst Survival Center this holiday season. The show will be on display from December 6th through January 26th with an opening reception on December 6th from 5-8 pm, during the Amherst Arts Walk. 30% of sales benefit the ASC!
Then on Sunday December 9th, the Valley Festival Brass will present a concert of holiday favorites and carol sing-a-long. This event is at the First Congregational Church – 165 Main St. Amherst, MA. Admission is free, but they recommend a donation of $5-10 to support the ASC!
By NICK GRABBE Staff Writer, Daily Hampshire Gazette
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
AMHERST — The Amherst Survival Center has vacated the cramped basement on North Pleasant Street that has been its home for 33 years, and on Monday it will open its new building at 138 Sunderland Road.
While staff members felt eager this week to move to the new building, which was built to suit the center’s needs and has twice the space, they still felt nostalgic about leaving the old space.
“It feels like here is where the heart of it is,” said kitchen coordinator Linda Brooks. “This is where it started. I hope the new building won’t change that feeling. I hope everyone will bring that heart with them.”
The Survival Center provides about 4,000 low-income people a year with free lunches, groceries, housewares, clothes and medical care. The new $2 million building will eliminate most of the old building’s problems, such as inadequate parking, lack of privacy, and not enough space for the 80 people who eat lunch there daily. Read the Gazette article
From The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Friday, November 2, 2012
By NICK GRABBE, Staff Writer
The new Amherst Survival Center on Sunderland Rd. Photo by KEVIN GUTTING for The Daily Hampshire Gazette
AMHERST — On Nov. 27, the Amherst Survival Center will end its distribution of free food and clothes at the cramped basement on North Pleasant Street it has occupied for 33 years.
And on Dec. 3, it will reopen in a new, light-filled building at 138 Sunderland Road that will provide almost twice as much space.
The center has received $1.9 million in donations for construction of the building at the site of the former Rooster’s restaurant, said Jan Eidelson, president of the board of trustees. Though the construction cost $1.55 million, the center’s fundraising goal is $2.5 million, which includes money for furnishings, architects’ fees, campaign expenses and purchase of the land, she said. It has received pledges for just $125,000 short of that goal, she said.
“The community has been incredible,” Eidelson said. “It’s been wonderful to show people the building they’ve donated to so they can help our mission move smoothly.” [click to continue…]
