The Lyons Elevating All Fund — a nonprofit group that has a food pantry, Meals on Wheels deliveries and offers help with other basic needs — is embarking on a new chapter in a former community bank building.

LEAF workers have operated out of the basement of the Lyons Community Church on Main Street since starting the nonprofit in 2013. LEAF rents out the church’s basement, converting it into a food pantry one afternoon each week. Now, the group has a new home: the former site of Valley Bank and Trust at 304 Second Ave. Workers bought the property in the summer of 2023.

Lory Barton, executive director of LEAF, said the nonprofit serves around 30% of the population of the greater Lyons area. Some Lyons residents, Barton said, get help from LEAF workers weekly, and even daily.“It’s not like an agency where you see somebody one time, you help them, and then they’re gone,” Barton said. “We have a real relationship with people, and we need a place to serve them better.”

Whether it’s providing overnight shelter to firefighters or giving Lyons Middle/Senior High School students a place to spend their lunch breaks, the new LEAF headquarters aims to be a community hub.

“It normalizes coming to LEAF,” Barton said of the new building. “You might be coming for therapy, you might be coming for food, you might be coming to volunteer. You might be coming because we have a dog and a cappuccino maker. You can come for any number of reasons, and no matter what that reason is, it’s normal.”

Renovations have included adding a kitchen, a food pantry and fire-safe landscaping. The building’s old bank vault will also get a second life as a storage area for shelf-stable food.

The building’s first floor will serve as LEAF’s behavioral health center, which will also have a small clinic for a visiting medical professional.

“There’s not a doctor in Lyons,” Barton explained. “We’ve got a doctor who’s willing to come and see our clients, at no cost, if we can give him a place to work.”

Barton said LEAF workers should be able to move in during the first week of January.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “It’s time for the community in Lyons to be able to have equitable access to services.”

Workers organized a capital campaign for the $1.9 million project to buy and renovate the space. Contributions were made through a $575,000 federal grant from U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, and $400,000 from the Boulder County Worthy Cause Fund. Around $130,000 was raised through local donations.

The group is around $225,000 short of its goal for the capital campaign. Barton said there’s one outstanding grant application that could help close the gap, and members also hope to raise around $150,000 more from the community.

The move to a new building follows a recent rebrand for LEAF’s name, too. The acronym previously stood for the “Lyons Emergency and Assistance Fund,” but the nonprofit became the “Lyons Elevating All Fund” over the summer to reflect its wider range of services.

Cherie Maureaux, clinical program director of LEAF’s mental wellness and addiction recovery program, is looking forward to hosting services in the new space.

“I think once we have it up and running, it’s going to be something that grows and blossoms,” Maureaux said. “Because it’s something we’ve never had before.”

The group had $1.7 million in revenue in 2023, based on its most recent filing with the Internal Revenue Service. To donated to LEAF’s capital campaign, visit leaflyons.org/capital-campaign.