News & Events
SeniorCare Honors Longevity Bench Project
SeniorCare’s 50th Anniversary Celebration:
An Evening of Remembrance and Heart
During the 50th Anniversary Celebration of SeniorCare, Inc. held Thursday night, September 22, 2022 at the Beauport Hotel, Manchester’s Longevity Bench Project’s founder, Lisa Bonneville, was honored with the Board of Directors Community Service Award. Celebrating with Lisa were a number of Bench Project board members, sponsors, friends and family members. SeniorCare Director, George Nickless from Manchester personally shared his well wishes as a supporter of her nomination for this award. At the end of the evening, Lisa delivered her heartfelt thanks for this high honor.
Longevity Bench Project family, board members and sponsors (left to right): George Davis, Dominic Pang, Fleur Davis Pang, Linda Feuerbach, Sonne Bialy, Lisa Bonneville, Leigh Scharfe, John Filias, Paula Filias and Gillian Kellogg
Congratulations to the guests of honor (left to right): Jim Nentwig, Santa’s Magic, Rosemary F. Kerry Community Service Award; Posie Mansfield, Good Company, Myra L. Herrick Outstanding Older American Award; Felicia Webb, Cape Ann Transportation Authority, Board of Directors Community Impact Award; Lisa Bonneville, The Longevity Bench Project, Board of Directors Community Service Award; Not pictured: Darlene Prinz, Beverly Police Department, Board of Directors Community Impact Award
Twenty Installed and Six Benches More
A Bench Sponsor Highlights the Longevity Bench Project
Keystone Ridge Designs Highlights the Longevity Bench Project
”Summer is the ideal time to get outdoors and appreciate how something as simple as a walk can improve our health and well-being. Manchester-By-The-Sea, MA is one town where strides are being made to not only recognize that but also to support and encourage it through the Longevity Bench Project, Inc. With the use of our Everett bench and product customizations, this project has been near and dear to our hearts since its inception in 2017.”
Parade News Coverage
Click on the image below to read the news coverage of the parade:
The Select Board of Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA approved three new Longevity Bench sites in their meeting on July 5, 2022. The generous donors of these benches will be published and added to the website Site Map upon installation; one in September and two more will be installed in the first quarter of 2023. And we are very excited to report that three additional benches are currently in the works. As these benches are installed, they will be added to the Town Loop Map.
Click the video below for 1623 Studios’ Cape Ann Today interview with Project Founder, Lisa Bonneville:
Manchester-by-the-Sea’s 375th Anniversary Parade
The Longevity Bench Project hit the road on Saturday, September 25, 2021 with a float in Manchester’s 375th Anniversary parade. What a fun ride it was! Proudly won the float award for “Most Ecological”, as we celebrated our milestone 20th bench. Thanks to Chapman’s Greenhouse for their colorful flowers that created a garden around the bench and banners and to Jeffrey’s Creek Land Contractors for the extra large float bed we shared with the town’s Anniversary Planning Committee chairs, Sue Thorne and Tom Kehoe. It is our set-up team that deserves the most gratitude. That’s you, Linda, Sonne, Sue, Louisa, Mary Ellen, Ann, and the magnificent George Davis. And our special guest riders and walkers; Joan Snow, Dorothy Anderson and Michelle Langille and Sonne Baily, and board members Ann Noble-Kiley, Sue Harrington and Louisa Mackintosh. We had so much fun!!
Twentieth Longevity Bench Installed in 2021
Our Brochure
Click on the image below to view a printable PDF:
Congratulating donors at the future site of Longevity Bench #20 are (left to right): Susan Harrington, Louisa Mackintosh, donors Gene and Nina Doggett, Lisa Bonneville (holding map), Gillian Kellogg, Ann Noble-Kiley and Paula Filias (Jeffreys Creek Land Contractors).
“Good things come to those who wait”, was Nina Doggett’s patient attitude as the months since August passed before the final approval arrived from the MassDOT to place the Doggett Longevity Bench in Manchester.
“We have reached a milestone with the twentieth bench so generously donated by Eugene and Nina Doggett, and it is the first to be located on state land”, exclaimed Lisa Bonneville, founder of the Longevity Bench Project. Located along the sidewalk on Bridge Street across from the entrance to Norton’s Point, this bench will be a welcome resting place for the hundreds of walkers who walk between Manchester and Beverly Farms each week.
Donor, Nina Doggett expressed her thoughts in this way, “Gene and I moved to Manchester four and a half years ago. We wanted to contribute to the Longevity Bench Project because its mission is so constructive and community based. Enabling and encouraging folks to get outside and enjoy the beauty of the natural world is very consistent with our values. We are thrilled to play a small part in this project!”
The road to this installation was longer than is typical for Longevity Benches, due to the application process with the MassDOT, but community minded individuals with the expertise needed to complete the input required by the Commonwealth chipped in and made it happen. “We cannot thank this team enough”, said Bonneville, “starting with the donors and including board members, John Filias, Jay Jaroz, Greg Federspiel, and Chuck Dam”.
The Bench Project continues to look for new bench and location donors to complete the goal of a bench every half mile along walking paths through Manchester-by-the-Sea.
