6, 667 People wanted for help

October 25, 2010

ARC looking to finish renovation  

By Paula J. Owen TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

FITCHBURG —  ARC Community Services is looking for 6,667 people to help finish renovating its building at 564 Main St. — one square foot at a time.

The nonprofit organization provides services to more than 600 mentally disabled people and their families in the area.

When ARC moved into the 35,000-square-foot, 100-year-old vacant building in the 1970s — formerly the Sears & Roebuck store and an old pool hall — few improvements had been done over the years.

Its renovation project has been at a standstill since 2008, said the organization’s Executive Director Mary Heafy, owing to the cost of renovations jumping from $3.5 million to $5.3 million since the project’s inception in 2002.

ARC raised $2.3 million in private donations and received a $200,000 grant for the project, she said. Roughly $800,000 in renovations paid for by ARC were completed in 2003 for its day programs, which occupy one area of the building. Other completed renovations include upgrades to the electrical, heating, plumbing and air-conditioning systems. But the production floor where some of ARC’s clients work and the upper floors of training and conference space still need work.  

READ MORE AT:  http://www.telegram.com/article/20101024/NEWS/10240614