The Salvation Army’s new community center, now under construction by the Army’s facility on Bank Street, promises to be an important resource for Suffolk, and especially for people in that part of the city.

The new building under construction beside the organization’s headquarters will include basketball courts, a computer room, three classrooms, a wellness center and more. It will be a place for the surrounding community, particularly young people and seniors, to access community programs, after-school resources and programs to promote physical and spiritual health. Salvation Army officials expect the facility to be especially important for people in that area who cannot get to the YMCA or the East Suffolk Recreation Center.

The new building also will give the organization a place to store toys and conduct its annual Toys for Tots distribution, thereby reducing the facilities for which volunteers or paid staff members must be responsible. And it’s likely that officials with the Salvation Army will find even more uses they had not previously contemplated for the new facility once it’s complete.

The Suffolk Unit of the Salvation Army relies largely on the generosity of the community it serves to be able to proceed with projects such as the new community center. A largely successful fundraising effort during the past year or so to find large donors to fund the project means the organization expects to move into the new space without any debt to pay.

That doesn’t mean, however, that there’s no need for the support of individual donors. Organizers would like to be able to raise enough money to furnish the new building appropriately, and they also had set a goal to have at least a year’s worth of operating costs for the new space in the bank when it opens.

One way Salvation Army officials are encouraging the community to support this effort is through the purchase of specially engraved bricks for the path that will lead to the front door of the new building. For $100 or $200, depending on the size of the brick, donors can recognize themselves, their families, local businesses or some other special person.

Buying a personalized brick is a great way to “immortalize” yourself or someone you love while showing support for a worthy cause. To order a brick, call the Salvation Army at 539-5201 or send an email to sarmybricks@gmail.com and request an order form. Online orders are also accepted at www.bricksrus.com/order/salvationarmysuffolk.