The Mary Gale Foundation
The Mary Gale Foundation is a private, grantmaking foundation that supports housing, health and other in-home services and programs for low-income women age 65 and older living in the Greater Manchester area.
In 2023, leadership at the Mary Gale Foundation and Granite United Way announced a three-year partnership where they would invest in the elderly female population across the City of Manchester. Each of these legacy organizations recognize that working together would strengthen their efforts in the community.
“The Board of the Mary Gale Foundation is excited to embark on this partnership with the Granite United Way, which has a superb record of accomplishment in working with charities in the City of Manchester and elevating the performance of many nonprofit organizations,” said Alison Perrella, Board Chair for the Mary Gale Foundation. “Mary Gale started this organization in 1876 to support elderly, indigent women of Greater Manchester, and we are looking forward to continuing and expanding our reach in the community with the guidance of Granite United Way.”
The Mary Gale Foundation was established in 1876 to support elderly, indigent women of Greater Manchester. Their mission is outlined:
The Corporation shall exist to provide needy and aged women over the age of 65 in the City of Manchester, New Hampshire and in the Greater Manchester, New Hampshire area, with housing and in-home services, including transportation, deliveries, in-home nursing care, and home visits. Need shall be determined by reference to a national or state standard of poverty, or as reasonably determined by the Corporation’s Board. The Corporation shall fulfill its charitable purpose primarily by awarding grants, making program related investments, and providing other financial assistance to health and housing related programs, organizations and projects benefiting such aged and needy women of Greater Manchester, New Hampshire.
The Foundation has a rich history of investing in local programs and services. Some of the cornerstone projects include the Mary Gale Apartments, which is named for Mary Green Ayer Gale, the wife of Dr. Amos G. Gale, a prominent Manchester doctor. Dr. Gale died 20 years before Mary; their only daughter died when she was only 20. Mary Gale suffered from a chronic illness, possibly tuberculosis. She was also a very lonely person. Because of this, she was sympathetic to other women who suffered a similar fate, and so she provided in her will for an endowment that would be used for the creation of a "home for aged and destitute females." This became the Gale Home, which opened its doors in 1893 in a wooden building. The original building was demolished, and a large Colonial Revival brick building was built in 1906, a two and a half story brick structure of over 16,000 square feet.
Between 2003 and 2005 the Gale Home was redeveloped as the Gale Home Apartments by the Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority, adding two wings and doubling the building's size to provide 37 new congregate living apartments and various other senior services. This project received a Preservation Award by Manchester Historic Association and an Excellence in Construction Award from the Associated Builders and Contractors.
The Mary Gale Foundation continues to provide support for many local projects and services that improve the lives of low-income women including providing funding to the following partners:
Amoskeag Health
Community Action Program Belknap Merrimack Counties, Inc.
Community Caregivers of Greater Derry
Easter Seals New Hampshire
Future in Sight (NH Association for the Blind)
Manchester Housing and Redevelopment Authority
Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester
Catholic Charities of New Hampshire
St. Joseph Community Services
Victory Women of Vision
Waypoint
The Mary Gale Foundation Board of Trustees- 2023
Alison S. Perrella, CPA, MST
Retired
Chair
Colleen Barbarita, CPA
CPA
Treasurer
Sarah S. Ambrogi, Esq.
Devine Millimet
Moriah A. Billups
Concord Hospital
Steve Dalton, CFP®
Cambridge Investment Research
Lauren Johnson, DMD
New Boston Dental Care
Claira P. Monier
Retired
Ken Snow
Retired
Bernadette P. Seifert
NAMI NH
Meredith Young
University of New Hampshire