CASE STATEMENT
For more than 100 years, One Cottage Street has been a cornerstone building in the heart of Easthampton. Today, the former mill is home to a vibrant and nationally recognized arts community, as well as to Riverside, a 43-year-old nonprofit, which opens the world to hundreds of individuals with developmental disabilities, enriching their lives through meaningful community membership.
One Cottage Street fosters the creativity and caring that are the enduring marks of our community’s character. Unfortunately, our building suffers from badly needed, long deferred maintenance. Since 1976, when One Cottage Street was donated to Riverside, we have made numerous renovations, but perhaps the most significant upgrade remains: the replacement of 912 aged, uninsulated and energy-inefficient windows.
Our windows are a source of inspiration and creativity to all. Look through one and you’ll see a renowned artist, intently translating her creative ideas into startlingly original work. Glance through another and notice a Riverside client in the Multi-Sensory Integration Room, improving his ability to combine sight, sound, touch and balance. Yet another window offers a view of busy clients in the building’s restaurant, cooking and serving customers.
Yet every year, these drafty windows drain more than $50,000 from Riverside’s operating budget. Many were installed more than 100 years ago, and these aged, single-paned, uninsulated windows leak heat in winter and cooled air in summer. By replacing these windows and greening the large One Cottage Street footprint, Riverside can secure this historic structure and reinvest the energy savings in our innovative client services.
To replace all of the building’s windows, Riverside is undertaking our first-ever capital campaign. Our goal is to raise $1,135,000. This renovation is an ambitious endeavor for Riverside, yet one that we recognize as critical to our future.
We reach out to our friends, neighbors, colleagues and partners to support the Windows of Opportunity campaign. We invite you to join us in this critical campaign to renovate One Cottage Street and seize the opportunity to amplify this single building’s tremendous positive impact throughout the region.