On Wednesday, May 17, 2023, Hope on Haven Hill (HHH) hosted a double ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the new Center for Hope and Wellness and Camilla’s Place in Rochester. A crowd of about 75 people gathered outside 40 Charles Street in Rochester for a brief speaking program, followed by a reception and tours of both buildings.

“We are so grateful to everyone who made this amazing day possible,” said Daigle. “For over a year, Hope on Haven Hill worked to raise the $3.25 million in funds needed build the Center for Hope and Wellness. It was only a year ago we hosted our groundbreaking, and now we are opening our doors. It is truly a remarkable day.”

The Center for Hope and Wellness will now become a hub for families in recovery, offering treatment and wellness programs, workplace training, childcare for parents in agency programs, and community space for a range of health and learning programs. Additionally, it will house HHH’s administrative offices. Camilla’s Place, named in memory of late HHH donor George Vanderheiden’s mother, will provide permanent, affordable housing for HHH program participants.

New Hampshire Executive Councilor Joe Kenney reflected, “I remember attending the Catholic Church here. It is only fitting that this Center for Hope and Wellness, a new place for healing, be built here.”

“I am so grateful for those who have continued to believe in this important work and who, right in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, filled with so much uncertainty, gave to this Capital Campaign,” said Kerry Norton, HHH Executive Director. “Thank you so much to Tom Haas who was the first to step up with an incredible gift that was then matched by George Vanderheiden and the Vanderheiden Family. Those gifts will be life-changing for the hundreds of families that we will serve at our new center. There will never be the right way for me to say thank you enough, and I hope that by showing you each year the hundreds of lives improved, you will know how impactful your gifts were.”

The ribbon for the Center for Hope and Wellness was cut by Tom Haas, and the ribbon for Camilla’s Place was cut by the late George Vanderheiden’s brother, Philip Kelley.

“I could never have imagined seven years ago as a small group of founding stakeholders got together to raise the funds to open our first program, that in just seven years we would not only have our high-intensity residential program on Rochester Hill, but also a full continuum of care that is now our campus here today, with Abi’s Place right behind me, the new Center for Hope and Wellness and Camilla’s Place,” said Norton.

The Center for Hope and Wellness will officially open for client services on Monday, May 22, 2023. Camilla’s Place opened in mid-June.