We recently approached longtime Monterey residents and Gould Farm supporters Marianne and Richard Jaffe, as owners of Richard Chevrolet in Cheshire, CT, regarding our vehicle fleet needs.
As we noted in our request to the Jaffes, while we have staff in-house who are amazing mechanics (and outsource for the more complex or time-consuming projects), our vehicles do tend to suffer the hard wear of lots of shorter stop-and-go driving around campus on our mixed gravel roads, decreasing their overall lifespan. Owning 12 vehicles at present, the stats average out to each being approximately 11-years old+/- with odometer readings of 105K+/-.; we also rely heavily on a few personal vehicles to accomplish our daily tasks. Vehicles are used for various purposes: shuttling guests to and from our therapeutic work programs on lower campus (and soon again to Roadside) and off-site to scheduled appointments, errands, and enriching community field trips; in service of maintaining the Farm's grounds and physical plant; for livestock related activities; etc.
A family owned and operated business since 1975, Richard Chevrolet is now one of the largest new and pre-owned car dealerships in New England and is deeply committed to supporting the community through the work of countless nonprofits—both national organizations and local area food banks, schools, festivals & music groups, first responders, etc. (www.richardchevy.com/our-community/)
The Jaffes responded to the Farm's approach with the incredibly generous offer to provide the funds to purchase a new 2024 Chevy Silverado 2500HD! “Richard Chevrolet and The Jaffes strongly believe in giving back to the local community, and we are proud to be able to extend our support to Gould Farm this year,” said Jill Silverman, Owner, Assistant General Manager, & Counsel.
The Silverado will be a shared-use vehicle for our farm, grounds, and maintenance teams—allowing us to shift around use of other fleet vehicles while looking toward the eventual retirement of a higher mileage, older vehicle. An extended cab model (great for guest work program transport), the robust towing and payload capability of the truck will provide an incredible amount of flexibility for on-Farm activity needs.
The chirp of the key fob brought a huge smile to Gould Farm Development Associate, Kelley Ellsworth's face on Monday. Accepting the donation on behalf of the Farm, she shared: "The donation couldn’t have come at a better time as we ready to reopen Roadside, putting additional stress on our fleet of vehicles with the transportation of guests and farm-fresh food items to the store and cafe. Thank you again to the Jaffes and to Richard Chevrolet for helping drive our work forward as the Farm and our Greater Boston Fellside program seek to help adults with mental health challenges navigate their individual journeys through recovery."
Executive Director, Lisanne Finston, echoed the sentiments: "Gould Farm's staff, volunteers, Board, and guests are so incredibly grateful for this generous donation to our therapeutic work program. The support of our individual and business partners is critical to the success of our work!"
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