AMHERST — Started in 2009 as a resource center for unhoused and unemployed individuals, a downtown agency that has continued to do outreach and advocacy for vulnerable people is marking its 16th birthday with an open house and community arts showcase at its new site on Saturday.
“This open house is a chance to celebrate 16 years of free community service helping
our neighbors to access affordable housing, prevent eviction, pay rent and utility arrears, and obtain public benefits, while also shining a spotlight on the creativity and resilience of our members,” says Hwei-Ling Greeney, founder and executive director of
Amherst Community Connections.
Running from 1 to 4 p.m. at 256 North Pleasant St., Greeney said the “Sweet 16” open house is a chance to showcase the building it has called home since May, just across Hallock Street from its previous location. Light refreshments will be served.
The new, multi-tenant building has significantly more space, with five rooms that offer privacy where individuals can talk about their hardships.
“Privacy is important for our participants, and counselors,” Greeney said. “Now, we can get a lot more done.”
Amherst Community Connections began in a room in the former Amherst Carriage Shops, a converted motor lodge demolished several years ago, before moving to the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Society.
Throughout the years, it has been part of the safety net in the community that has become increasingly more elaborate, with Craig’s Doors: A Home Association now running two year-round shelters and the Amherst Survival Center, Not Bread Alone and the Amherst Mobile Market providing food and other services.
Even with the growing support, Greeney said more needs to be done, observing that one participant has an apartment, but his monthly paycheck only covers the rent, with no money to spare for food or anything else.
“Things are getting harder for people,” Greeney said, noting she has coordinated a rental subsidy program funding for 12 families for the past five years, supported through town funding.
Part of the open house will include displays of art that already line the walls, including quilts and afghans crocheted by Sharon Carty, a local artist who began this project during cancer treatments.
The rooms are also decorated with Cards by Coleman, a Native American’s art and an artist who specializes in drawing animals. He will be showing visitors how to do similar illustrations.
Other artists will be present to showcase their work.
“They are people who we worked with and are able to make a difference in their lives or in other people’s lives,” Greeney said.
There will be a 12-by-12 art exhibit and silent auction that day, modeled after a similar initiative in Pronvincetown, and like at the recent Block Party, Greeney said there will be a jar filled with candy that someone will win, if they can guess how many pieces are in it.
