Avesta Housing presents Mission Champion Award to Kennebunk Savings

An Avesta Housing presentation has six people standing in a line.

Photo / Courtesy Avesta Housing From left, Avesta board vice chair and Kennebunk Savings board member Douglas Stockbridge, Avesta president and CEO Rebecca Hatfield, Kennebunk Savings CEO Bradford Paige, Kennebunk Savings vice president and social responsibility manager Liz Torrance, Kennebunk Savings senior executive vice president and COO Dennis Byrd, Avesta senior development officer Nate Howes.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Avesta Housing, the largest nonprofit affordable housing provider in northern New England, presented its Mission Champion Award to Kennebunk Savings for its work to provide safe, quality, affordable homes for older adults in Kennebunk.

The award is presented annually to an individual or organization who has made significant contributions to the promotion and provision of affordable housing.

Avesta President and CEO Rebecca Hatfield presented the award to Kennebunk Savings on May 29 at the Woodlands Club in Falmouth.

Motivated by the housing crisis, Kennebunk Savings donated 12 acres and more than $500,000 to Avesta Housing in 2023. The donation will facilitate development of a new 70-unit affordable housing community for ages 55 and older in Kennebunk and support future phases of affordable housing in the area.

In anticipation of a town-wide ballot measure to approve zoning, bank leadership solicited support by hosting and participating in community engagement and education. Kennebunk was the sole Maine community where an affordable housing ballot measure passed in the March election.

“The land and financial donation by Kennebunk Savings was unparalleled and represents the single largest philanthropic donation in Avesta’s 52-year history,” said Hatfield.

The zoning change was key to the development moving forward, she added.

“This represents a bold and creative solution to addressing the housing crisis, and we are hopeful that other businesses will be inspired by it,” Hatfield said.

“We knew from day one that we had found the right organization with the right creativity and, importantly, the right motivation to help make this project happen,” said the bank’s CEO, Bradford Paige. “We are proud to have collaborated so successfully with Avesta Housing to help facilitate the creation of much-needed affordable housing for older adults in our community, and we hope there are more partnership opportunities in the future.”

Avesta Housing is headquartered in Portland and operates more than 100 affordable properties, more than 3,000 apartments and two assisted living facilities, providing safe, affordable homes for more than 4,000 people. An additional 800 homes are in the development pipeline.