Survival Center's new catalog offers chance for giving

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on December 04, 2009

For people who think the holidays have become too commercial, the Amherst Survival Center provides an opportunity to give gifts that help neighbors who need food, clothes and medical care.

The center just mailed out 2,000 copies of a 12-page full-color "gift catalog," and is distributing another 2,000 through local churches, libraries and other sites. The gifts include a "homeless care package" for $75, a "daily bread basket" for $100, and 14 other options.

"People give gifts for different reasons, and every gift is an expression of love," said Cheryl Zoll, the center's executive director. "For some, it feels necessary to tie a gift to a physical thing. For others, both givers and receivers see it as a higher love to go beyond purchasing some object."

The gift catalog, now in its third year, has proven successful at raising money at a time when demand for the center's services is increasing and state support has been cut.

The catalog, which costs $2,000 to print and mail, raised $60,000 last year. That's almost a fifth of the Survival Center's annual budget, which lost $30,000 in state funding this year, Zoll said.

An average of 113 people come to the Survival Center every day, and an estimated 3,000 individuals used its services last year, Zoll said. About 65 percent of them live in Amherst and 20 percent in Franklin County, she said. About 170 people came to a Thanksgiving dinner last week.

The catalog includes an envelope that enables donors to specify their gifts and recipients. Donors then receive specially designed cards suitable for placement under Christmas trees. All gifts are tax-deductible.

The catalog also provides details of the needs of people who come to the center.

"A single father who just lost his job rushes in looking for food for himself and his 10-year-old daughter," it reads. "An unemployed woman arrives, in search of help to pay for her diabetes medication. A homeless man seeks an affordable place to stay where he can be safe and warm. Every day we meet people who say, ‘I never thought that it could happen to me.'"

The catalog has a new section this year called "Moving Forward." It includes "Back to School" for $25, which provides supplies to needy children, "House Warmer" for $75, which provides food to people who have just found a home, and "Back on Your Feet" for $50, which pays for pre-employment physicals.

"People who take this option find it a meaningful way to express that they care and want to use their resources to support something that goes beyond individual needs," Zoll said.

Another option for donors is to support the Survival Center's free clinic, at which Dr. Susan Lowery and Dr. Daniel Clapp monitor the health of more than 250 people.

"What holiday present could be more meaningful than bringing warmth, comfort, food and hope to those struggling through the season and beyond?" said Jan Eidelson, president of the center's board of directors.