After 21 years of giving, North Hills Community Outreach is on the receiving end.

The nonprofit agency has received $240,000 to help pay for the renovation and expansion of the Millvale Community Center, which was completed about a year ago.

The outreach group has a new Millvale satellite office in the expanded community center on Lincoln Avenue. The group led the fund raising in exchange for a $1-a-year lease for the space for 33 years.

North Hills Community Outreach qualified for the $240,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation, of Troy, Mich., by meeting a deadline to raise $588,314 locally by Sept. 30.

It met the requirements of the challenge grant by conducting a campaign-within-a-campaign, drawing support from foundations such as the Richard King Mellon Foundation, government agencies and 633 individuals, including board members and staff.

The Kresge grant brought the total raised for the community center expansion to $2.45 million since fund raising began in February 2004.

The renovated community center, completed in November 2006, provides 4,080 square feet of space for the outreach group's Millvale satellite, which serves 23 communities in the Allegheny Valley to the Westmoreland County line.

The satellite had been in a smaller storefront on North Avenue, which was damaged in the 2004 floods along with much of the rest of the borough.

"We needed a good satellite site to serve the Allegheny River corridor," said Fay Morgan, executive director of North Hills Community Outreach.

The flooding in August of this year affected about 300 families, but the outreach satellite stayed safe and dry on hilly Lincoln Avenue, Mrs. Morgan said.

That was a benefit to those who needed help.

"We could immediately start helping rather than recover ourselves. We're still working on the flood relief, and 35 families need furnaces. If it's not one challenge, it's another," she said. "With the help of this generous community, we are equal to the task."

Millvale owns and maintains the building, which was part of the closed St. Ann Church property. The building contains a community room and rental space.

Community Loan Fund, a nonprofit agency, provided what President Mark Peterson called a bridge grant, enabling the $2.3 million project to move forward while fund raising continued. The outreach group borrowed $661,500 of the $750,000 the loan fund agency had approved.

Community Loan Fund was formed in 1990 to help finance development projects to increase employment and expand economic opportunities. Its funding comes from banks, foundations, churches and government sources, Mr. Peterson said.

"The vast majority of the 42 loans we've given have been to businesses for job creation, but we liked the unique approach North Hills Community Outreach took, with borough ownership and management of the building. ... It's a good example of a solution to the problems of nonprofit ownership of buildings," he said.

North Hills Community Outreach incorporated in 1987, a year after floods devastated the area and a coalition of religious leaders and businesses came together to meet the needs of flood victims.

Its headquarters are in Hampton and another satellite is located in Bellevue. Among the services it provides are food pantries, utility assistance, employment help and transportation.

Last year, the North Hills Community Outreach helped 5,228 families from 51 communities.