AMHERST, N.Y. (WIVB) — There’s a new space in the Town of Amherst that’s connecting the community one activity at a time.

“We’re going to have before-school after-school programming,” Sweet Home School Superintendent Dr. Mike Ginestre said. “There will be a playground here. There will be trails out back for people to use. And like I said, no idea is too big, no idea is too small. We’re going to bring it all to this community.”

Sweet Home schools, the Town of Amherst Department of Senior Services and
the Department of Youth and Recreation came up with the idea seven years ago to
have a new community center for all ages.

They say they found a perfect spot in an underserved area with neighbors of seniors and children. They took an old call center at 220 North Pointe Parkway and turned it into a whole new vision.

“We have a wide variety because we have a beautiful building,” Northwest Amherst Community Center Project Coordinator Heidi Nicklaus Lefebvre said. “We have classrooms, community rooms, we have a kitchen space, we have a gym space and of course, a youth center. So, we can have multiple groups in the building at the same time, all doing different things, all having a great time.”

From after-school activities to family nights, fitness classes, college preparation courses, to even popular sports like pickleball, the center holds multiple activities for multiple generations to connect.

The community center’s program leader, Jared Burns, says “It’s a cool thing for the older generation to give back and kind of help the next generation moving forward.”