The Center gets vital and essential support from local businesses, civic organizations, faith communities and individuals who donate their time and resources.
Learn about the Amherst Survival Center
Since 1976, the Amherst Survival Center has promoted the health and well being of residents of Franklin and Hampshire counties with a wide variety of programs designed to help people meet their basic needs.
The Amherst Survival Center provides a welcoming community where families and individuals can come for food and access to other resources. People are here to share their material resources, their expertise, and frustrations. No one is turned away.
The Amherst Survival Center serves more than 6,000 people each year. Our services, all of which are free, include a food pantry, to go community meals, fresh food distribution, a warming center with computers for those experiencing homelessness, information & referral, as well as a variety of other support services.
Showers, laundry, and lockers are available for people experiencing homelessness. Additionally, our resource center hosts representatives from other area service organizations making the Amherst Survival Center a one-stop-shop for accessing resources. Finally, all of this is provided in a warm community center environment, with activities ranging from live music to sewing workshops to office hours with elected officials. There is no eligibility or requirements to come to the Amherst Survival Center. All are welcome.
Volunteers are the backbone of the Amherst Survival Center. The Center’s 250-plus weekly volunteers do everything from cooking and cleaning to providing medical care and stocking pantry shelves.
Our Mission
The Amherst Survival Center connects residents of Hampshire and Franklin Counties to food, clothing, healthcare, wellness, and community, primarily through volunteer efforts.
Our Vision Statement
The Amherst Survival Center is a welcoming community. Families and individuals can come for food, clothing, health care, and companionship, and to share their resources, information, concerns, experiences, and expertise. We create an environment where people move beyond a condition of need and where everyone can rely on, support, and accept each other.
Our Core Values
The Amherst Survival Center is committed to the following core values. These values apply on both the individual and organizational level and inform and guide all practices.
Approved by the Amherst Survival Center Board of Directors, June 8, 2015
Our Shared Impact
Our impact reaches people and communities throughout Hampshire and Franklin Counties. Thanks to staff, volunteers, and supporters, our neighbors can depend on the Amherst Survival Center to provide a welcoming community where families and individuals can come for food, clothing, health care, community, and for companionship and relief from isolation. You can join us and become part of our daily efforts to reduce the effects of food insecurity in our neighbors.
Please take a look at our Annual Impact Report from May 2021 – April 2022:
We look forward to reopening our building to our community! Under normal circumstances, this is what you would find in the Amherst Survival Center. Currently lunches and fresh food distribution are being distibuted outside and the store and clinic are closed so that we can focus on getting more food to more people during the Covid crisis.
