BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Vive Shelter in Buffalo houses refugees who are waiting for appointments or interviews with the Canadian Border Services Agency and those seeking asylum in the U.S.

The shelter, which is a part of the Jericho Road Community Health Center, is expanding.

Shelter organizers are hoping to raise more than $3 million to complete a new building, and Spectrum News 1 got to see the work done so far.

The building at 1500 Main Street was built in 1840 and purchased by Jericho Road last spring.

The new shelter will have 56 rooms, 34 of which will be residential. The rest will be turned into offices.

The shelter is expected to house 120 people at any given time.

"People are forced with the decision to either stay or to flee. Their lives are in turmoil. It's not safe,” Dr. Myron Click, CEO and founder of Jericho Road Community Health Center, said. “So this place stands as a beacon, as a lighthouse, from folks from all over the world on their journey to find a new home.”

"Vive took us in, created a family, created a union, despite the fact that we come from all over the world, different cultures, different everything,” Cecil Mongo, who previously lived in Zimbabwe, said. “Vive made us as if we were one. And we all need to be one and they also made sure that we restart our lives, rejuvenate our lives in America.”

The shelter is expected to be finished by next spring.