New Easterseals Campus is a victory for veterans

Easterseals celebrated the official opening of its Military & Veterans Campus on Sept. 18, but the 15-acre center in Franklin has been HQ for weeks for its new residents — all 29 units of permanent affordable housing for veterans and military members are occupied.

They can expect plenty of visitors. The campus includes a conference center with 22 hotel-style rooms and a hub for veterans services organizations. A second phase will add aquatics and equine therapy and a fitness center.

On a late summer day, nearly a thousand invited guests — including veterans, military members and first responders — gathered to listen to a parade of speakers talk about the project’s four-year gestation. An Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter buzzed by and landed in a nearby field. A veteran vocal band played military songs. Barbecue was served under giant tents.

Allen Aldenberg, chief military and veterans service officer for Easterseals, joined the campus in November 2024 shortly after construction began. The retired police chief for the City of Manchester is a brigadier general in the New Hampshire Army National Guard.

Maureen Beauregard, president and CEO of Easterseals NH & Vt., addresses a crowd of about 1,000 people during the dedication of the Easterseals Military & Veterans Campus on Sept. 18. (Courtesy of Easterseals NH & Vt.)

“My primary role is overseeing day-to-day operations of the campus, as well as overseeing our Veterans Count program,” Aldenberg said during an interview shortly before the program began. The “chief” was dressed casually in a blue-checked long-sleeve shirt and tan khakis.

He talked about the housing across the road, which already has a waiting list, and the conference center and veterans services hub close to where he was standing, where nonprofits that assist veterans and first responders can congregate.

“They’ll have additional space to do their work and hopefully increase their outreach,” said Aldenberg, whose military career spans 32 years.

He considers it a privilege to serve at the campus.

“I’ve done my deployments, and I’m relatively intact physically, so to be able to help those that maybe aren’t … and this isn’t a handout. That’s how I’m looking at it,” he said. “Veterans aren’t looking for free things. We’re not looking for handouts. But, you know, war is ugly. And we were at it for 20 years, at least my generation. We’re touching the Vietnam veterans here, touching Desert Storm, every conflict back to Vietnam forward.”

Allen Aldenberg, chief military and veterans service officer for Easterseals, oversees day-to-day operations of the Franklin campus. (Courtesy of Easterseals NH & Vt.)

New Hampshire does a good job of taking care of veterans, Aldenberg said, but he worries about the next generation of veterans.

“We live in a pretty volatile world right now where a lot of soldiers that will be deploying or will be deploying four or five years from now, that will probably be their first time they ever deployed. I’m kind of the dying breed. Are we ready for that next generation of veterans? When they come back, maybe we can get our hands on them quicker, and their families.”

Setting the stage

Bryan Bouchard, an accounting professor at Southern New Hampshire University, has been on the Easterseals board for 10 years and currently serves as chair. One of his former students, who had been working at a local CPA firm, recently joined the veterans campus staff.

Bouchard recalled its origins, which began with a proposal by Phil Taub, the founder of the nonprofit Swim With A Mission, who wanted to build affordable housing for veterans. Taub soon would be teaming with Easterseals — it had property available in Franklin that had been used for its Farnum treatment center program, which closed in 2021.

“Maureen Beauregard, the CEO of Easterseals; Phil Taub; and Governor Sununu got together and they kind of came up with the whole plan here to try to make this work. And here we are four years later,” Bouchard said shortly before joining the group of speakers on the stage.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Swim With A Mission cofounder Phil Taub were among the dignitaries on stage for the dedication of the Easterseals Military & Veterans Campus. (Courtesy of Easterseals NH & Vt.)

The project received its biggest burst of funding from the state of New Hampshire, which earmarked $23 million of American Rescue Plan Act funds from the federal government to the campus.

“This is by far the biggest project that Easterseals has ever done, just for the size and scope of it,” said Bouchard, who would later joke on stage that he originally thought the plan was crazy.

It’s the kind of crazy that earned Beauregard a standing ovation when she stepped to the microphone.

“It’s amazing what can happen when people share a common love and mission. When we come together, magical things happen,” Beauregard told the crowd. The contingent on the stage behind her included Gov. Kelly Ayotte and Executive Councilor Joe Kenney, a Marine vet whose approval was needed to secure the $23 million.

Beauregard noted organizers leveraged that funding to increase it to $40 million.

“What we’re really talking about is people’s love of the veteran and military and first responder community,” she said.

Taub said the opening of the campus sends a clear message to New Hampshire veterans and active-duty military.

Easterseals NH & Vt. CEO Maureen Beauregard, right, embraces Julie Taub, executive director of Swim With A Mission.

“We understand that, for every person who is serving and has served in their families, there is sacrifice,” said Taub, an attorney with Nixon Peabody. “We send a message with this campus that we understand that our freedom is not free, and it comes at a heavy cost — physical wounds, invisible wounds — and that some of you need our help.”

Also on the stage with Beauregard and Taub were representatives from businesses and nonprofits that have been involved in the project, including PROCON, which designed and developed the campus, New Hampshire Housing, entreprenenur Ken Solinsky, who contributed funding to the project, and M&T Bank.

Tim Wade, New Hampshire regional president and executive vice president for M&T Bank, serves as treasurer on the Easterseals board.

Tim Wade, New Hampshire regional president for M&T Bank, talks about the bank’s role helping to finance the project.

“We’re proud to have worked with the New Hampshire Housing to secure the tax credit financing needed to get this project done, and support Easterseals of New Hampshire with a grant from our charitable foundation to turn this dream into a reality,” Wade said.

Kendra Davenport, national president and CEO of Easterseals, based in Chicago, confirmed Easterseals NH & Vermont is among the largest affiliates in the country.

“I’m especially proud of Easterseals of New Hampshire because this is a first — a first that I hope will be replicated,” said Davenport, a military brat whose father was in the Navy for 20 years and the wife of a Coast Guard veteran who served 36 years.

“This is very important to Easterseals, because Easterseals has been serving veterans and their families and caregivers since just after World War II, when they came home and they were making the transition into the private sector a transition,” she said. “I know firsthand how challenging that can be.”

For Beauregard, whose brother is a veteran who was in the audience, the mission is personal.

“Together, all of us are fulfilling our promise back to those who serve. And that’s what this campus is all about,” she said. “To you who serve or have served, we see you. We know you, and we are here for you. And we mean that with our whole heart and soul.”