LEWISTON —Nearly 200 staff, volunteers, and supporters of New Beginnings gathered in Lewiston on April 29 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the opening of the agency’s emergency shelter for youth, and to dedicate the agency’s new facility at 134 College St. as “The Ann Geiger Center for New Beginnings.” The new building includes an expanded Youth Drop-In Center, which opened on May 1, to serve youth at risk of homelessness.

In honor of the 35th anniversary, the New Beginnings board of directors awarded one of the agency’s founders, Dorothy “Dot” Larrabee, a lifetime service award in recognition of her dedication to New Beginnings and her lifetime of service to children and teens in need.

Dot, who is nearly 93 and lives in Auburn, was the first master’s-level social worker in Maine who worked in the state child welfare department until her retirement in the late 1970s. She was among the group of community volunteers that established New Beginnings’ emergency youth shelter in Greene in 1980; the program moved to its current location at 491 Main St. in Lewiston in 1985.

Dot served on the New Beginnings’ Board of Directors for more than 20 years, and remains a board adviser to this day. In 2000 she helped create a scholarship fund to provide “seed money for dreams” for New Beginnings’ youth to use to pursue their educational goals. The endowment was subsequently named the “The Dot Larrabee Youth Development Fund” in her honor.

The program concluded with the dedication of the building in honor of Ann Geiger, matriarch of the Geiger family who passed away at age 92 last year. The Geiger family chose to name the new center, which will be used to expand New Beginnings’ programs for youths at risk of homelessness, to commemorate the ways that Ann Geiger spent her life quietly helping those in need.

Sen. Susan Collins sent her congratulations via video.

The gift from the Geiger family has brought New Beginnings within $100,000 of the $1.25 million goal for the Ann Geiger Center renovation campaign. On a radio show the morning following the event, Peter Geiger announced that he will match any new gifts made to New Beginnings in the month of May, up to $20,000.

FMI: www.newbeginmaine.org/building-campaign, 207-795-4077.