(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Some of the roughly 100 people who attended Thursday's grand opening of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter's Spring Street shelter file into the building for tours and refreshments following the ceremony.

“I asked Father Kerper if we could store our leftover backpacks in the building,” the executive director, Mike Reinke, said of the Rev. Michael Kerper, the senior priest of St. Patrick’s Church, referring to the church’s long-vacant former elementary school next door to the church at 35 Spring St.

It was late summer 2017, and a generous community had donated way more backpacks than were needed for the Soup Kitchen & Shelter’s annual back-to-school backpack drive.

“We had something like 200 of them left over, but we didn’t have the space to store them,” Reinke said. “Father Kerper said, ‘sure,’ use whatever you need.’ ”

Reinke thanked Kerper, then asked him the question. “So, what are your long-term plans for this building?”

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Krishna Mangipudi, president elect of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter board of directors, speaks to the roughly 100 people who attended Thursday's grand opening of the agency's Spring Street emergency shelter.

“Well, I’d like to turn it into a homeless shelter,” Kerper answered.

Reinke was intrigued, but not terribly optimistic. “I remember walking across that parking lot thinking about so many things that could go wrong” should the NSKS board eventually decide to undertake a monumental renovation project necessary to turn the old Sacred Heart School, built in 1892 and well on its way into decline, into an emergency shelter.

This past Thursday comes just over five years after Reinke’s brief conversation with Kerper, and both were on hand, with nearly 100 other attendees, for the celebratory grand opening of the new shelter, which, Reinke said, could welcome its first clients as early as next week.

Looking out over the semi-circle of attendees bundled up to ward off the chill of a steady breeze wafting through the parking lot the church and shelter share, Reinke said a major reason the project came to fruition was the “hundreds, if not thousands, of small gifts from the community that made this possible. You made this happen,” he said to applause.

Reinke noted also that the agency plans to dedicate space in the new shelter to longtime executive director Lisa Christie, who retired at the end of 2016 after 27 years of service.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter executive director Mike Reinke welcomes the 100 or so people who attended Thursday's grand opening celebration of the agency's new emergency shelter at 35 Spring St.

From the beginning, Reinke said, the St. Patrick’s Church community “has been a wonderful partner in this project,” and by agreeing to lease the building to NSKS “for $1 a year until 2063,” the church is “fully embracing our mission to provide housing to the most vulnerable members of our community.”

Krishna Mangipudi, president-elect of the NSKS board of directors, recalled board members “talking about 4 million dollars the first time we discussed this.” Although that figure nearly doubled over time, Reinke and the board never abandoned the idea.

“A skeptical board needed to be convinced,” Mangipudi told the large group, speaking from a temporary stage set up against the north side of the shelter. “It meant a huge investment for us.”

He recalled that the agency’s leadership “kept taking one step after the other, until we reached a point where the only way was the way forward,” Mangipudi said.

Kerper spoke briefly, recalling having “many memories about the beginning of this” project, adding, to laughs, “I was desperate to get rid of” the aging, unoccupied building.

(Telegraph photo by DEAN SHALHOUP) NSKS Board of Directors member Janet Polaneczky, left, presents floral arrangments to Erika MacDonald, project manager for the Spring Street emergency shelter, for her work in bringing the project to fruition.

“When I first came here we had more than 30 different proposals” for the building. “Had this not surfaced, next on the list was turning it into a columbarium for pets,” Kerper said, again to a round of laughter.

While he “had minimal involvement” in the NSKS project, Kerper said “the only thing I did was I didn’t say we’re not going to do this.”

Among the key figures cited for their deep involvement in seeing the project through was Erika MacDonald, the project manager for the Spring Street shelter.

Board member Janet Polaneczky called MacDonald to the stage and presented her with floral arrangements to a round of applause.

“From the very beginning, Erika has been instrumental in making this happen,” Polaneczky said. “I can’t say enough … all she’s done to make this successful, hurdle after hurdle.

“Erika was there for everyone,” she added.

Outgoing board president Mary Slocum and the Rev. Kerper each took one handle of the oversized scissors and sliced it in half to cheers.

By the numbers, the new shelter, which is fully ADA compliant, will more than double NSKS’s shelter beds, increasing the number of beds for families with children from 18 to 48.

The impact on families is particularly significant because NSKS is the only emergency shelter for families with children in Nashua, and the organization’s current family shelter is nearly always at capacity.

In addition to shelter space for single adult men, single adult women, and families with children, the Spring Street shelter will include 11 units of permanent supportive housing for individuals who experience chronic homelessness.

The building also includes space for on-site medical care, dedicated children’s play area, and educational programs, from job and housing search support to parenting and financial literacy.

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