News & Events : News : $34k Gift to Help Fix Up Child Care Facility (Donated by Lonza)
December 1, 2008
By BILL O'CONNOR
boconnor@fosters.com
Monday, December 1, 2008
ROCHESTER — Last winter, the Rochester Child Care Center went through over 10,000 gallons of oil heating the old St. Mary's parochial school on Charles Street that it calls home, according to Executive Director Chris Casserly.
Built in the 1950s, the building had received little in the way of structural improvements over the last half-century, and the old, leaky windows were not only dangerous, but extremely energy inefficient, she said.
The center, which provides comprehensive child care and early education programs for children ages 12 months to 12 years, was losing money because of the windows, but didn't have the funding to do anything about it, Casserly said — until a local business took notice and decided to help, that is.
This fall, the center was able to replace all 79 of the building's windows, thanks in large part to news that it had been chosen as one of three nonprofit beneficiaries of the Harvest Open Charity Golf Tournament, an annual event put together by the employees at Lonza Biologics Inc. of Portsmouth.
"We never could have done this without the support of the people at Lonza," Casserly said Wednesday after Lonza employees presented the center with a check for $34,425.
Each year, Lonza receives a slew of applications from local nonprofits requesting to become beneficiaries at the event, said Randall Spayd, the utilities maintenance manager at Lonza. According to Spayd, the Child Care Center was chosen because of its increasing energy costs and because of the immediate impact a donation could have for the center.
"The center had earmarked a capital campaign for the windows, and we realized we could help," he said.
The total cost of the window replacement was somewhere in the ballpark of $80,000, Casserly said, the large remainder of which was paid for with a $40,000 contribution from the city's Community Development Block Grant.
The four Lonza employees who made a visit to the center to present Casserly with the check were treated with a tour of the facility their donation had helped to improve and numerous "thank yous" from the center's staff and students.
The other two nonprofits Lonza chose as beneficiaries this year were Cross Roads House in Portsmouth and Our House for Girls in Dover, both of which received checks of equal value to that donated to the Child Care Center, Spayd said. Altogether, Lonza raised over $100,000 for charity during the tournament, which took place back in September.
Casserly couldn't give an estimate as to how much the Child Care Center stands to save because of the new windows, but said she expects to be using a fair deal less than 10,000 gallons of oil this winter.
Bill O'Connor/Democrat photo Four Lonza Biologics Inc. employees received warm "thank yous" from staff and students at the Rochester Child Care Center after presenting the organization with a check for $34,325 on Wednesday, Nov. 26. The money will go toward paying for 79 replacement windows at the center — windows Executive Director Chris Casserly said will save the center a good deal of money on heating expenses. Pictured from back left are Lonza employees Panos Argiras, Randall Spayd, Roger Hayford and Lori Wyble; and Child Care Center board member Lynda Morgan and Executive Director Chris Casserly. Holding the check, from left, are Alexia Morse, 5, of Rochester; Ethan Burgard, 5, of Barrington; Jackson McCoy, 6, of Dover; Kyle Powers, 5, of Milton; Ryan Spayd, 5, of Rochester; and Sarah Martineau, 5, of Milton.
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