On July 1st, nearly 100 donors and volunteers for Squamscott Community Commons gathered at the beautifully refurbished Exeter Inn to celebrate the acquisition of the Exeter AREA Junior High School property. The land purchase represents a milestone in the organization’s progress to build a community center for Seacoast NH. The center will house six nonprofit agencies, including a full-service YMCA facility.
Squamscott Community Commons was born nearly ten years ago as the brainchild of several area nonprofit agencies. Realizing the need to expand their outreach to families, youth and seniors throughout the region, they conceived the idea of creating a community-oriented facility, serving as their home and allowing them to work together to deliver important and much-needed services to the community. Affordable childcare, health and wellness programs, creative arts classes, walking trails and opportunities for education about the environment and the Exeter River Watershed – these are just of few of the services that will be available at The Commons. The high-performance facility will be sustainably built to LEED certification standards. “After ten years of great ideas, ten years of vision, ten years of good hard work . . . we stand here together with the most tangible proof yet that this vision is real and realizable,” said Farmer, as he congratulated the project’s supporters on their land purchase achievement.
Squamscott Community Commons continues to make strides toward the development and construction of the community center that is so eagerly anticipated by the community. Just a few days ago, on the site of the old junior high building, a boy named Lucas stopped one of The Commons’ staff members to ask, “What are you doing here?” She explained that Squamscott Community Commons was working hard to build a community center and YMCA right over where the empty school building sat. “Wow!” said Lucas, “That will really change my life!”
Indeed, Lucas. Indeed.
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