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Sad Café asks area towns for operational funding
January 14, 2005

By Adam Leech
aleech@seacoastonline.com

The Sad Café, a nonprofit organization in Plaistow, will take a new approach to collect funding from area towns this year and have petitioned warrant articles appear on five town ballots in March.

Voters in the towns of Danville, Hampstead, Kingston, Newton and Sandown will be asked to give $5,000 toward The Sad Café, which is a facility on Route 125 that holds substance-free events and activities, primarily involving music, for local youth.

The towns of Atkinson and Plaistow have included their $5,000 contribution within their budgets, according to Dick Gerrish, vice president of The Sad Café.

The past two elections, Gerrish asked the seven towns to donate $5,000 to keep the organization up and running. But only Atkinson, Plaistow and Kingston donated the entire amount, and Danville cut the amount to $500.

This year, Gerrish received enough signatures in each of the towns for a $5,000 petitioned warrant article on the ballots so "the voters will have a chance to decide," said Gerrish.

Most of the money would go toward paying the grant-writer The Sad Café currently employs, Andrea Bonner, who helped raise $169,501 last year from county, state and federal sources. Most of that grant money went toward programs, events and initiatives put forth by the Sanborn/Timberlane Safe and Drug Free Community Coalition, which was created by Gerrish and Bonner to gather community leaders and organize their efforts to enhance the lives of young people.

The Sad Cafe holds substance-free events and activities, primarily involving music, for local youth. In March, facility organizers will be asking for financial support from voters in Danville, Hampstead, Kingston, Newton and Sandown.
Photo by Jay Reiter

The Sad Cafe holds substance-free events and activities, primarily involving music, for local youth. In March, facility organizers will be asking for financial support from voters in Danville, Hampstead, Kingston, Newton and Sandown. Photo by Jay Reiter

Operational costs include $3,400 per month for rent, plus the costs of insurance, heat and electricity. Gerrish said the services The Sad Cafe and the coalition have been able to provide is a direct result, as it always been, of the amount of money they have.

"We’ve been operating under a shoe stringsince we opened," said Gerrish. "If the string breaks, we tie a knot."

The coalition has several subgroups made up of local clergymen and women, police departments and school districts of all seven communities. Gerrish said they are working to create another subgroup made up of the 25 state representatives and four state senators in the towns.

Gerrish said he hopes to get the recommendation of each towns’ boards of selectmen and budget committees because it would be difficult for it to pass without it.

"That way I can tell these funders I have seven communities willing to contribute to the mission," said Gerrish.

Gerrish said he has spent 25 hours a week for the past seven years dedicating his time to the Sad Cafe for no pay, but he says it’s all been worth it.

"My reward is I’ve seen the difference it’s made in the lives of the kids that go in," said Gerrish. "You can see the transformation take place."

Republished from The Rockingham News which is owned and operated by Seacoast Newspapers.
Copyright © 2005 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved.

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