In 2015, Chase Home in Portsmouth suffered extensive damage to its building, which serves as home to youth from across the Seacoast and state. With insurance to cover most of the repairs, which would eventually exceed $250,000, Chase Home Executive Director Meme Wheeler said they turned to Insurcomm.
“Mike LaLime, one of our Board of Directors and a former employee of Insurcomm, called them and they were on-site in 30 minutes with a team,” she said. “It was pretty incredible.”
Due to the complexity and scope of the work, the project took more than a year to complete. Initial damage resulted from ice dams in the winter followed by issues related to a water sprinkler. In addition to effecting repairs, code updates were necessary, too.
According to Doug Indelicato, Director of Sales and Marketing at Insurcomm, the real challenge was “to honor the children who reside at Chase Home.”
“We wanted to make sure their daily lives were not inconvenienced too much,” he said. “Each employee of ours that worked at Chase Home was completely committed to their job and 100 percent happy to help these children.”
Noting Insurcomm always tries to go “above and beyond” with any job, he said Chase Home was a special case.
“We have always supported Chase Home and the great work that Meme and the staff provide,” he said. “This Home and these children are an important part of the Seacoast community.”
LaLime, who now owns his own restoration company—TRE Cleaning & Restoration—expressed gratitude at the work performed by Insurcomm.
“They even made some repairs that were not covered by insurance,” he said. “Between their work and the $50,000 grant award from the City of Portsmouth last year, the Chase Home structure is not only sound, it feels like a real home…We are all so thankful.”
According to Wheeler, all restoration and upgrade work is now completed at Chase Home, which took approximately 2 years.
“So much has taken place over the last two years—and more work was recently done by Portsmouth Rotary to help finish off our 3rd floor for staff,” she said. “We are really so fortunate at all the caring people that have come through here these last 2 years. The result is that we have a beautiful home for kids who deserve to feel welcome.”
Founded in 1877 as an orphanage, Chase Home has evolved through the years to meet needs in the greater Seacoast community related to children and youth. To learn more about Chase Home, visit www.chasehome.org.