(Courtesy photo) The historic former Sacred Heart School building, in a photo taken before construction got underway in earnest, is being transformed by the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter into an emergency and temporary residential facility that will greatly expand the agency's current spaces. Its fundraising campaign just reached its fundraising goal.

NASHUA – Barring pesky supply chain issues that have become an unfortunate norm for so many manufacturers, businesses and consumers in the wake of the pandemic, the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter’s new emergency shelter and short-term residential program will be welcoming its first clients in early November.

Earlier this month, the NSKS team and its partners celebrated a major milestone along the project’s timeline when they received word that their capital campaign had reached its $8.6 million goal – and even surpassed it by $100,000.

“We’d hoped to finish up the (capital) campaign by October,” Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter (NSKS) executive director Michael Reinke said of the fundraising goal for the project. “But we’re actually ending it three months early.”

Contributing to the capital campaign over the months were some 450 individuals, foundations, corporations and local businesses, along with grants from a variety of agencies and programs, according to June Lemen, NSKS community outreach coordinator.

Reinke expressed gratitude to the benefactors large and small.

(NSKS graphic) A progress chart on the Spring Street Forward capital campaign page on the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter's website shows the status of the campaign, which was closing in on the $8.6 million goal that it reached three months early.

“We are thrilled to have reached this milestone, and we’re tremendously grateful to the Greater Nashua community for its incredible generosity,” Reinke said.

“Thanks to the communityís extraordinary support, this fall we will welcome our first clients to a shelter that will provide not just a bed for the night, but a place for them to rebuild their lives with dignity and hope.”

Now, with the necessary funding in place, officials have been taking a look at the progress of the major construction and renovations phase of the two-year project, and found it to be “proceeding on schedule,” according to Reinke.

The managing contractor for the project is the Laconia-based corporation Bonnette, Page & Stone, while Warrenstreet Architects, of Concord, is handling the architectural aspects.

The historic, red-brick structure was built in 1892 as a K-8 parochial school on what was then known as the Hosmer estate bordered by Spring, Eldridge and Main streets.

(Telegraph file photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) An October 2020 photo shows Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter executive director Mike Reinke describing some of the work going on in the basement of the former Sacred Heart School to "Spring Street Forward" campaign chairman Joe Bates, left, and treasurer Jerry Ryan. The project is on schedule for completion this October.

Named the Sacred Heart School, it was affiliated with St. Patrick’s Church, which was erected next to Sacred Heart and opened in the early 1900s.

More than a century later, the former Sacred Heart School, which held its final classes in 1971, stands ready to begin its new life of providing shelter and services to men, women and families needing emergency shelter and housing.

By the numbers, the 20,000 square-foot building will feature a 48-bed family shelter, an 18-bed shelter for single men, a 14-bed shelter for single women, and 11 studio apartment units for permanent, supported housing.

Two spacious, flexible classrooms will accommodate a wide range of supportive programs and meeting space for NSKS clients and community members.

The building will also include on-site medical care, a dedicated childrenís play area, and offer educational programs, job and housing search support, and parenting and financial literacy programs, according to Lemen, the NSKS community outreach coordinator.

She said the new shelter will be “fully ADA-compliant,” which is vital because “the organization frequently serves individuals with restricted mobility, and the current shelters are not fully accessible,” Lemen added.

Reinke, meanwhile, said that in repurposing the Sacred Heart School, NSKS “is preserving an historic building” adjacent to downtown Nashua.

He praised St. Patrick’s Church officials for being “a wonderful partner in this project,” and for generously agreeing to lease the building to NSKS for $1 per year through 2063.

The gesture shows that the church is “fully embracing our mission to provide housing to the most vulnerable members of our community,” Reinke added.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.