If you have 4,000 to 6,000 square feet of somewhat heated space to donate to the SHAREcenter, call Director Diane Doe at 713-4204 or call the center at 795-0972.

AUBURN — Jack Strong of Sam’s Italian Foods stopped by the SHAREcenter Wednesday. His company donates tomato boxes used by teachers and nonprofits.

“I’d rather bring them in here than break it down and throw them away,” he said.

Many businesses share that attitude.

A lot of teachers use supplies donated by businesses that otherwise would be thrown out.

The SHAREcenter provides pens, paper, cloth, cardboard tubes and containers, among other supplies to 55 area schools and 30 nonprofits for an annual fee of $1.25 per student, about $27 per classroom.

It’s a popular place.

But the center has a problem. It’s losing space.

“We’d like a new home, that’s our goal,” Director Diane Doe said. “We need 4,000 to 6,000 square feet. We’d love to do a collaborative, rent-free partnership” such as it now has with the Auburn School Department. Auburn schools don’t pay the annual membership fee, and the department provides a rent-free, heated space.

The center is housed in the former Great Falls School on Academy Street, the same building that houses Community Little Theatre.

Strapped for cash, the city of Auburn must rent six rooms now used by the theater. And the theater needs two-thirds of SHAREcenter’s space. That means the center, and the available supplies it practically gives away, will shrink. The center’s space will go from 6,200 to 2,100 square feet at the end of July, Doe said.

If no space is found, the center will stay open but in a reduced capacity. Losing two-thirds of the space means fewer donated items and less to provide to teachers and nonprofits.

It’s easier for many businesses to throw away stuff than to give it to the center, but banks, insurance companies, and one of the larger contributors, Geiger, don’t want to do that, Doe said.

“There’s a lot of Yankee thrift here still,” she said. “People would rather something go to use than not.” But companies often need the donations gone fast. “Often I get calls: ‘If you can pick it up tomorrow by 12, that’s great. Otherwise, we have to throw it out.’”

Standing in front of bins that held paper bags, canvas bags, pens and small plastic containers (“great for holding glue or paint”), Doe explained how the center works: Teachers visit, sign up and take what they need.

“It’s a huge cost savings,” Doe said. Typically, for every $1 spent on memberships they get $10 in products. Often the school pays for the membership through the PTO or the school budget.

Teachers visit the center on their own time, Doe said. “They’re saving their school money, keeping things out of the landfill and getting their kids educated.”

Memberships cover most of the center’s annual operating costs of $40,000. “We’re responsible to find the rest of the money,” Doe said.

The SHAREcenter has been at the Great Falls building for the past 12 years, Doe said as she led a tour. “This is what we call the paper room.” It held reams of art paper, poster board paper, contact paper, maps, binders, rulers. In one section, a table and chairs sat where special education students from local schools, the John Murphy Center and clients of Pathways and other nonprofits, volunteer and pick up job skills.

If any organization or individual has 4,000 to 6,000 square feet of somewhat heated, available space they would donate, Doe can be reached on her cell phone at 713-4204, or through the center, 795-0972.

She’d like the center to remain in the Lewiston-Auburn area.

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