Exeter Car Dealers to Donate $250K to YMCA

The Exeter Area New Car Dealers Association announced this week that it will donate a quarter of a million dollars to the Southern District YMCA to help build a new community center.

This is the largest single contribution the association has made in its more than 40-year history.The funds will be presented at a special ceremony on Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Portsmouth Country Club.

The new Exeter YMCA, located on the site of the old junior high school, will serve as a home for individual and community wellness, expanding programs for all ages to include after school activities, teen programming, adult and senior fitness classes, and increased art education programs.

The $250,000 donation leads the YMCA’s fundraising effort to raise the $3.5 million needed for the second phase of the project. The first phase of the project was fully funded by the Southern District YMCA and included the purchase and demolition of the old Exeter Area Junior High School at a cost of $500,000.

Gov. Maggie Hassan, who lives in Exeter, will be on hand for Aug. 20 presentation. Ground-breaking on the new YMCA is scheduled for the spring of 2014. 

"This relationship will change lives in our community," said Rob McGregor, executive director of the YMCA. "Whether it’s providing a place to go for a latch-key child who has no one home after school, or giving a chance for one of our older residents to get out of the house and come socialize with other people in the community, our YMCA will play a real and significant role in the lives area residents. With this award, the Exeter Area New Car Dealers Association will have an enduring impact on the health and wellness of this community for generations to come."

"We are honored to be able to kick-start this fundraising effort," said Larry Foss of the Exeter Area New Car Dealers. "To us, this is an investment in the people of our community. Our association carefully weighed a variety of projects around the Exeter community. Once we saw the final plans for the new YMCA and the business and fundraising models, our members felt this was the right fit for us. As local business owners, we have an interest in the well-being of local residents. We all benefit from a project like this one."

For more than 20 years, Exeter area dealers have gathered for good causes, raising nearly a million dollars for various charity and nonprofit groups. Past donations include $45,000 in equipment to the Seacoast School of Technology, thousands of dollars for a scoreboard and ropes course at the Exeter Regional High School, $57,000 to the New Outlook teen center over six years, new computers for the Greenland Elementary School, $25,000 for the Exeter Chamber of Commerce's Keep Kids Warm program, and $12,500 to Seacare, an Exeter-based nonprofit health care clinic which provides services to those who cannot afford health insurance. 

"Despite the economic challenges we all continue to face, this donation says a lot about the men and women of these local auto dealers," says Michael Schidlovsky, President of the Exeter Area Chamber of Commerce. "We are enormously proud of the relationship between residents and Exeter’s businesses, and this gift is a terrific example of the connection we all share. The men and women of these local businesses go out of their way to support the causes that benefit our residents and our business community."