Community Activities

The people at Finard Properties are deeply involved in their communities.  Beyond improving and beautifying the areas of our properties, we participate in our communities by providing scholarships, contributing donations, and directing fundraising events for charitable organizations. Furthermore, Finard Properties has a scholarship program for local high school seniors in Burlington, MA, Burlington, VT, Portland, ME, and Memphis, TN.  Brief descriptions appear below, and if you have interest in finding out more about any of the community events or scholarship programs then please contact us.

Finard Properties offers two additional days off annually to encourage their employees to “give back to the community.”  One day is individualized, in that each person can volunteer or assist with a cause that may be one of importance to the individual employee.  The other day is often a group effort whereby each office closes for the day and organizes a collaborative community-driven project.  Below are a few examples of office community days.

Portland, ME - Community Days

The members of our Portland, maine office volunteered at The Root Cellar, an interdenominational organization with the goal of satisfying the physical and spiritual needs of inner city youth and their families.

Please click here to view photos

Portland, ME - Wall of Fame, part 2

One Monument Square’s lobby “Wall of Fame” features the work of various local artists each month.  The current “artist of the month” is Richard Guillemand Sandifer.  Richard travels internationally and maintains a studio in Portland, as he says the stark beauty of Maine’s rocky coast and vast wilderness continue to inspire his creative spirit.  Richard tells us “My photographs are about light and its powerful effect on the human psyche.  The light in my photographs defines and brings life to my subjects.  It is the illumination of history in the making.”  Peek at some of his work; click here to view his photos.

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Burlington, MA—Company Wide Annual Community Service Day

Twenty six members of the Finard Properties team participated in a day-long cleanup at Ross Field in Hyde Park, Massachusetts in August.  The playground area was weeded and new mulch was installed, trees around the field were pruned of sucker growth, and baseball fields and equipment were weeded and cleaned.

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Portland, ME—Wall of Fame

One Monument Square has installed a “Wall of Fame” in the lobby as a program allowing a local artist to display his/her work for a period of approximately four weeks.  Community enthusiasm for this project was expected, but the breadth of interest has been surprising.
The first local artist to participate is a photographer, Jack Kennealy from Cape Elizabeth, Maine (http://www.kennealy.com).  His work has been purchased for display in large offices in downtown Portland (Maine Medical Center and Mercy Hospital).  Jack’s work emphasizes the natural hues of dawn and sunset, with a large focus on the forms and shapes of coastal Maine and will be displayed from June 24 to mid-July.

Burlington, VT—Community Days

The five-person office staff spent the day volunteering at the Vermont Foodbank in Barre, VT.  A food bank is not a food shelf.  A food bank secures large quantities of food and food-related products from commercial suppliers, concerned citizens, and other sources.  After the product is examined and sorted, it is then offered to the Foodbank’s member agencies.  Food banks do not give food directly to low income people.  There is only one food bank in Vermont – the Vermont Foodbank.  A food shelf, on the other hand, is a local, non-profit community agency that directly provides bags or boxes of food to low income people in its area for home preparation and consumption.  A food shelf may obtain food from a food bank, from individual donations in its community, and through wholesale and/or retail purchase.  There are many ways to pitch in at the Foodbank including preparing food in their community kitchen, stuffing envelopes for a mailing, sorting and/or packing food for eventual delivery, and other essential tasks and projects.  It was a wonderful day, lots of work, and the Foodbank very much appreciated our efforts.

Burlington, MA—Community Days

The Burlington, MA office participated in Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s year-round neighborhood clean up and community service program.  Boston Shines 365 provides the tools and materials to help volunteers successfully complete projects in every neighborhood in Boston.

Portland, ME—Community Days

The Portland, ME office is working to inaugurate a community-based day in 2010.  Please contact us for details.

Memphis, TN—Community Days

The Memphis, TN office is working to inaugurate a community-based day in Summer 2010.  Please contact us for details.

Scholarship of Excellence—South Burlington, VT—University Mall

University Mall has given away over $250,000 in scholarships to area students since 2001 and is pleased to announce that it is awarding another $25,000 in scholarships in 2010 ($5,000 each to five (5) area high school seniors).  University Mall’s Scholarship of Excellence is designed to be awarded to students who embody excellence in academics, leadership, and community service.  The recipients and their families attend a luncheon and awards ceremony held at the Mall on Tuesday, May 25, 2010.

The 2010 recipients are AUBREY BRUECKNER, South Burlington High School, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; ALLISON BRULEY, Missisquoi Valley Union High School, University of Vermont; BROOKE CONNOR, Middlebury High School, St. Michael’s College; RIEL GOODMAN, Harwood Union High School, Oberlin College; KRISTY THYGESEN, Spaulding High School, University of Vermont.

The 2009 recipients were SARAH GUILLOT, Peoples Academy, Williams College; JULIA HAYER, Harwood Union High School, Whitman College; JUSTIN LALUMIERE, Vergennes Union High School, University of New Hampshire; AMY MALINOWSKI, Mount Mansfield Union High School, Babson College; SAMUEL PHELPS, South Burlington High School, Brown University.

The 2008 recipients were LINDSEY BESSETTE, South Burlington High School, St. Michael’s College; PHILIP BURGIN-YOUNG, Champlain Valley Union High School, Dartmouth College; JESSICA GUTER, Colchester High School, Middlebury College; REBECCA LEE, South Burlington High School, Princeton University; CLIO SMURRO, BFA St. Albans, Harvard College.

The 2007 recipients were MARY GAGNE, Missiquoi Valley Union High School, Lyndon State College; SHANNON JACKSON, Essex High School, University of Maryland-College Park; KYLIE McLANE, South Burlington High School, Stonehill College; EVAN MASSEAU, Champlain Valley Union High School, Middlebury College; BENJAMIN PHELPS, South Burlington High School, Tufts University.

Scholarship of Excellence—Memphis, TN—Poplar Plaza and Whitehaven Plaza

The Memphis office began the Scholarship of Excellence program in 2008.  It awards $25,000 annually—$5,000 each to five (5) local high school seniors who excel in areas of academics and community involvement.

Please click here to view article and click here to view photo. 

The 2010 recipients are NICHOLAS LUCKEY, Hillcrest High School, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; DARIUS HANKINS, East High School, University of Memphis; SHELBY McKINLEY, Melrose High School, Middle Tennessee State University; HEATHER RICE, Whitehaven High School, University of Memphis; CEDRIC HUNT, II, Melrose High School, Middle Tennessee State University.  An awards luncheon will be held on June 3, 2010.

The 2009 recipients were FEENALIE PATEL, White Station High School, University of Chicago; BRONSON WORTHY, Whitehaven High School, Vanderbilt University; JEREMY JONES, Whitehaven High School, University of Tennessee at Martin; DELYRRIA JACKSON, Whitehaven High School, Spellman University; VICTORIA YOUNG, Whitehaven High School, Duke University.

The 2008 recipients were RICKEY MOORE, JR., Kingsbury High School, University of Tennessee at Knoxville; ELIZABETH BURNETT, White Station High School, University of Memphis; CHRISTOPHER NASH, Melrose High School, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; AMBER BERRY, East High School, Southwest Tennessee Community College; JAMIE FINCH, Kingsbury High School, Crichton College.

Burlington High School Scholarship Program—Burlington, MA—Corporate Office

The Burlington, MA office began the scholarship program over twenty years ago.  It supplies $750 scholarships each to two (2) hard-working Burlington High School seniors who have been unrecognized or under-recognized for their persistent efforts to achieve.  The 2010 recipients will be notified at the Awards Night to be held on June 3, 2010.

The 2009 recipients were KATHARINE HARRIGAN, Burlington High School, Drexel University and ANKIT GANDHI, Burlington High School, University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

The 2008 recipients were LINDSAY GARSIDE, Burlington High School, Goucher College and SHEA HAMMOND, Burlington High School, Merrimack College.

The 2007 recipients were LAUREN WETZONIS, Burlington High School, University of Massachusetts-Lowell and Gregory Chludzinski, Burlington High School, Roger Williams University.

Scholarship Program—Portland, ME—Corporate Office

Finard Properties is expanding the scholarship program to the Portland, ME region in 2011.  Please contact us for more information.