Latest News - August 2020

Mainstay Technologies Supports LRCD's Green Efforts

From L to R: Erin Mealey, Information Security Program Manager; Ryan Barton, CEO; and Eric Shanley, Systems Administrator

We highlighted the Pine Hill Solar Project in our May newsletter http://www.lrcommunitydevelopers.org/latestnews/archives/05-2020. This month, we wanted to highlight one of the funders of that project, Mainstay Technologies.
 
Mainstay Technologies supported the project via their donor advised fund at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Mainstay created its donor advised fund to make its corporate giving more intentional. To make an even bigger impact, Mainstay matches employee contributions into the fund and makes additional corporate contributions.

Mainstay's “charity team” is composed of the CEO and five team members from various aspects of Mainstay’s operation. CEO Ryan Barton shared, "Giving is an incredible opportunity to invest in our communities. As a team, we see it as stewardship – we choose a focus and then look (with our friends at the NH Charitable Foundation) for wonderful nonprofits to partner with. We give in a focused way, expecting clear results. Seeing lives changed as a result of our collective giving is inspiring to us all! For each of us should measure our true success by our impact on people."

Over the last few years, Mainstay has focused its charitable giving on projects that help children and families in the Granite State and promote environmental sustainability. The Pine Hill Solar project aligned with this focus by eliminating electricity costs for families and reducing carbon emissions.
 
To learn more about Mainstay's charitable efforts please read this feature in the New Hampshire Business Review.

LRCD Begins Pre-Development on Gale School

Crowd gathers to watch Gale School move to its new home on Concord St, Belmont.

As you may have seen in the news, in late July, the Save Our Gale School group (SOGS) successfully moved the 1894 Gale School building onto a new site on Concord Street in Belmont Village. It was a massive community effort over many decades to save this beautiful historic building. We congratulate SOGS and their many partners, funders, and supporters in achieving this amazing feat!
 
We are honored and excited that SOGS asked us to redevelop this beloved historic building. Our initial concept is that the Gale School will be a community facility housing a daycare and other services needed in the region. We are in the very early stages of our process. Right now, we are forming our design team and applying for grants to help pay for pre-development work, including architecture, engineering, and historic consultant services.
 
Our goal is to complete initial plans for redevelopment this winter, and then to assemble the financing necessary for construction, ideally by the end of 2021. If all goes well, we may be able to start construction in 2022.
 
We will post periodic updates on our website and include them in our newsletter so that you can follow our progress.

Check out this drone video of the building being moved captured by Bruce Atkinson.

NH Housing Relief Fund

If you know someone struggling to pay their mortgage or rent because of Covid-19, please tell them about the NH Housing Relief Fund, which can provide one-time grants and ongoing assistance to help keep NH families housed.

Support LRCD with Tax Credits Purchase

                   $185,000 in NH Business Tax Credits Available
 
We moved into 193 Court Street, Laconia last summer, but the renovations are not done! Last, year, we did all the work we could afford to do to convert the vacant building into our headquarters and the hub of our community building & engagement work in Laconia. The items still left to do include: more insulation, new siding on the north and west walls, parking lot improvements, and landscaping. If your business pays NH business enterprise or business profits taxes in NH, you can redirect a significant portion of your tax liability to a local project like this. Please contact Carmen at [email protected] if you are interested in supporting the 193 Court Street Project.