Greater Nashua Chamber Of Commerce: LGN Class Of 2026: Non-Profits By Brian Chambers And Paloma Serena

Press release from Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce:

We began our Nonprofits Day by visiting the YMCA of Greater Nashua, where we heard from CEO Mike LeChance. Mike has been with the YMCA for over 40 years, starting as a camp counselor. We learned that there are currently over 13,000 nonprofits registered in New Hampshire, with 39% focused on health and human services. Mike’s advice to the cohort on joining a nonprofit board was to pick something you are passionate about. This will keep you more involved and more excited about the mission.

Next, we broke up into three groups to tour the incredible Nashua YMCA facilities. We learned that it has a full gym with handicap-accessible machines, free weights, and trainers. It also has multiple rooms for dance and spin classes, as well as a full-sized basketball court and walking track. Even more impressive are the on-site daycare facilities for children as young as six weeks old that are included with your membership.

After a short break, we reconvened for the first panel of the day, which focused on unique missions. The first panelist we heard from was Jennifer LeBlanc, Director of Partnerships and Corporate Gifts at the Humane Society for Greater Nashua. She spoke about the great impact the Humane Society has had in Nashua and the importance of spreading the word that the organization offers much more than adoptions such as affordable care, education, and training. Next, we heard from Liz Fitzgerald, Director of Community Impact at United Way of Greater Nashua, who spoke about their mission to “find the gaps in the community and fill them through volunteering.” Lastly, we spoke with Gray Somers, Executive Director at the Addiction Recovery Coalition of NH, who works tirelessly to “help people find their path to recovery” while helping to change the stigma and shame often associated with addiction.

The next panel focused on Adult Services, where we heard from Max Morelli, Director of Program Services at Opportunity Networks, Inc.; Mindy Huckins, Vice President of Gateways Adult Day Services; and Kim Shottes, Executive Director at The Plus Company, Inc. Collectively, they spoke about the rising healthcare costs and limited coverage that make it difficult for adults to get the care they need and for the organizations themselves to get the funding they need to run certain programs. Mindy shared some creative approaches, such as their location inside a local high school, which allows students to engage with the seniors they serve which is a setup that benefits everyone involved.

The final panel of the morning was about serving on a nonprofit board. We heard from Carol Baldwin, Executive Director at the Adult Learning Center; Christa Tsechrintzis, Executive Director at Greater Nashua Habitat for Humanity; and Amir Toosi, Dean of Business and Security Studies at Rivier University. They stressed the importance of choosing a board “whose mission speaks to you” and reminded us that you’ll only get as much out of it as you’re willing to put in. They also took the opportunity to explain the difference between a working board and a governance board.

To wrap up the morning, we headed over to the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua, where we were greeted by Meghan Fitzgerald, Senior Director of Advancement. She gave us a tour of the facility including the art room, teen center, pool area and STEM room and also updated us on their current projects, including a new street hockey court out front.

Written by: Brian Chambers

While still at The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Nashua we were joined by Aletta Brown, LGN ‘23, Senior Development Manager, Girls Inc of New Hampshire, Meghan Fitzgerald, Senior Director of Advancement, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Nashua, Shaun Nelson, LGN ‘13, Executive Director, Nashua PAL and our very own Matthew Fentross, LGN ‘26, Executive Director, Nashua Children’s Home – which each spoke about Young Services here in Nashua. This was Moderated by Maddie Craig, who warmly welcomed them and allowed each to introduce themselves. Once this was done, they all echoed the same statement of the impactful nature of early positive intervention with the youth. Though programs provided with their amazing organization, or people like you and me volunteer even just an hour or our time; we never know what small moment will click and have a lasting effect in a young person’s path to success. Their passion for their mission within their organizations radiated during this panel, and it was a treat to witness.

After this, we as a group got to travel over to Family promise of Southern NH – where we would end our day with a stacked afternoon in our non-profit day. Parked, and welcomed into a conference room with fall sweets and treats we kicked off the first panel with Food Insecurity – a pointed and sensitive topic with today’s climate. This panel feared Jane Goodman, Executive Director, Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter, Jenn Morton, Program Coordinator, End 68 Hours of Hunger, Jon Eriquezzo, President, Meals on Wheels of Hillsborough County and Laura Milliken, Executive Director, NH Hunger Solutions. Our Moderator, Sarah Lemley seemed to have a in depth understanding of this panel due to her own professional history as we took a dive into the current situation with the SNAP benefits, food crisis, and other food related insecurities happening here in NH – it was evident though all four of these individual supported different organizations with different tiers of food insecurity support they still worked in some sort of tandem capacity to ensure families and those who need food – receive everything and anything they can to get them through this difficult period where benefits have since been frozen, and this time period is grey sand unknown. We learned the process of what donation intake looks like for food, and other items – and what can we best support them? “Money.” Jon Eriquezzo said with a small smile and chuckled. But to his point it was a “ah-ha” moment for us all, where we learned from the panel that they truly know how to spend the money to stretch to serve the community – so donations of monetary simply made the most sense. But that aside, any donations would be welcomed and provided to those in need.

Our final panel was Family Supportive Housing with guest Doug Howard, Housing Stability Program Manager, Front Door Agency, Hannah Stohler, Executive Director, Marguerite’s Place, Jessica Blanchette, Housing Coordinator, Bridges: Domestic & Sexual Violence Support, Melissa Johnstone, Director of Family Services, Family Promise of Southern New Hampshire; our moderator was Julia Stryzhenko. After Julia lead introductions we were informed of each organization process for placement, and services offered, and the sensitive nature of work. It goes without saying each of us in the room could feel the weight of the work they do each day to try and provide safe stability for those in need in these emergency situations. Doug Howard said it best, that what made this work the most impactful was the connection and relationships you build within the network of other organizations and nonprofits in the area- and knowing that they all share the same drive to serve the community and support those in need. Each of them nodded their head, and the warmth in their eyes and smiles indicated one thing: they loved their work and stood in solidarity of one another’s equally important role in this.

After a wonderful tour of Family Promise of Southern NH, and another quick bite of those amazing cinnamon cake donuts, we were greeted by Mike Apfelberg, LGN ‘10, President, United Way of Greater Nashua who waited for us back in the same conference room we started in. He ended our day with fiery discussion on what United Way of Greater Nashua provides, as well as supports within the community – what is currently happening, and what’s coming on the horizon as well as ways we can contribute. He helped us understand how he himself went from the world of for profit to nonprofit, thanks to the LGN program and welcomed any of us who felt the need to do the same shift to stay back and discuss with him as he would be a welcomed resource at anytime for us. He was an absolute delight, and someone I think many of us will tap into later in our professional careers for some needed insight during our Class Project.

Our day concluded, and many of us walked to our cars wishing one another well- and already saying how we couldn’t wait to see one another again next month. Please enjoy some photos below!

Written by: Paloma Serena

This press release was produced by Greater Nashua Chamber of Commerce. The views expressed here are the author’s own.