Looking for a new home: Survival Center outgrows site on North Pleasant

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on January 01, 2010

The Amherst Survival Center is looking to have a new home by 2015. Cheryl Zoll, executive director of the 1200 North Pleasant St. facility in North Amherst, says the center is providing services beyond what its 3,500 square feet can handle.

The plans are developing after a feasibility study completed a year ago by Kraus Fitch Architects Inc. demonstrated that the building the center shares with the Head Start program is not big enough.

"They concluded we would need 9,500 square feet of space to adequately house what we are doing," Zoll said.

First established in 1975, the Survival Center serves 3,000 Hampshire and Franklin county residents annually and an average of 113 people daily. The services these clients receive include a hot meal from noon to 1 p.m. four days a week, free medical clinics, brown bag groceries for families of four once a month, a free store where people can pick up clothes and other supplies, and family night events.

There are also on-site social workers available to visitors.

Though $260,000 in improvements were made to the building this summer using Community Development Block Grant money, these were primarily done to the exterior. Zoll said cosmetic changes don't change the center's space needs.

Zoll said a study committee will likely look at locations throughout town. "At this point, we're open to any possibility," Zoll said.

The Survival Center, however, will stipulate that a new or renovated building be on the PVTA bus line and that there also be adequate parking. The current facility meets both of those needs. "We want to be easy enough for people to get to," Zoll said.

The committee to find a new location will be co-chaired by Amherst residents John and Elizabeth Armstrong.

"It has become increasingly clear that the Amherst Survival Center has outgrown its space, and we are eager to help find a new home for the center where growing numbers of area residents can take advantage of a range of services with dignity," Elizabeth Armstrong said in a statement.

The committee is comprised of several other prominent people, including local developers William Gillen, Barry Roberts and David Williams, Realtor Tini Sawicki, and Niels LaCour, a former senior planner for Amherst.

Other members will include Lynn Griesemer, executive director of the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Carol Johnson, executive director of the Amherst Cinema, and past and current Survival Center presidents Ruth Wade and Jan Eidelson.

The committee will welcome feedback from the community, both during the investigatory stage, as well as after its report on where the center should move is complete.

Zoll said this report should be out in the early spring. Once it is finished, and a site has been identified, a financial plan will be developed that will include soliciting funding from the community, writing appeals for public and private grants and partnering with the town to obtain block grants.

"We're very committed to this process," Zoll said. "It's long overdue."