Some Good News from New England: Resorts Step Up During Pandemic

The Madison Beach Hotel in Madison, Connecticut usually spends the spring and early summer greeting guests at its beautiful property on Long Island Sound. When COVID-19 caused many local businesses to close, hotel owners Ric and Dawn Duques decided to help by donating more than 300 pounds of fresh produce to the nearby Branford Community Dining Room.  The Community Dining Room served double the amount of food than usual during the quarantine, including an uptick in homebound deliveries. A new lunch-to-go in a disposable container quickly became a popular pick-up item at the side kitchen door during the quarantine, according to staff. 

For more than 100 years, Lake Morey Resort has welcomed families, groups and golfers to its country resort in the heart of the Green Mountains in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. Like most of New England, the pandemic forced everything to shut down for the better part of the spring. The resort’s third-generation family owners have always believed in paying it forward, and in today’s uncertain environment, that sentiment is not lost. Beginning in mid-April, the hotel partnered with a local organization – Northeast Kingdom Community Action – to help provide more than 100 meals daily to residents in the community that were experiencing housing and meal insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic.   “Our resort may be closed to our traditional guests, but our hands are hard at work supporting our local community,” the hotel posted on its Facebook page. “We've been able to donate approximately 1,100 meals so far thanks to our chefs, kitchen and resort staff plus discounts and donations from our food suppliers Upper Valley Produce, LLC and Sysco Northern New England.”

Mary Anne Lewis, the owner and innkeeper at the Brass Lantern Inn in Stowe, Vermont has dedicated her quarantine downtime by teaming with an army of local volunteers within the Stowe community to make non-hospital grade cloth face masks.  So far, Mary Anne has made more than 231 cloth masks. Recently she has been asked to shift to making masks that are a bit smaller than standard to accommodate the need for children to use in our community.

A staple at the Golden Stage Inn prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was Michael’s signature “Saturday Night Chocolate Cake” every weekend for hotel guests. After the virus caused the hotel to temporarily close, the hotel decided to donate the scrumptious cake each week to someone in the community who performed a good deed. The hotel solicited nominations through its Facebook page or by asking one week’s recipient to tag the next week’s nominee. 

Community members have been honored and excited by the tradition and it has quickly become an excellent morale booster in the small town. The best part of the story is that another small nonprofit in Maine heard about the idea and began a similar promotion to honor a member of their community. 

The inn is known for its “bottomless cookie jar”. When a local restaurant implemented a “Feed a Friend for Five” program, the  boutique hotel donated homemade cookies to meal to add a little cheer.

The staff at the Common Man Inn went above and beyond during the pandemic by helping distribute more than 60,000 free face masks as part of a partnership with the Rotary Club of Plymouth.  

Scoring that many masks during the pandemic was no small task. Alex Ray and Steve Rand of the Plymouth Rotary Club had to pick up the masks at the Port of Miami that had come in from Honduras. After receiving them, the duo drove straight to New Hampshire to deliver them. At home, they were greeted with a police escort into the town of Plymouth with the Ashland, Plymouth and Plymouth State University police sirens blaring.

The trolley at the Common Man Inn that is usually used to transport guests was converted into a MaskMobile to deliver the masks to needy members of the community. The trolley even had a replica mask on the front grill. The promotion was called “Mask Up, New Hampshire!”

While other resorts were closing their doors, the Sun & Ski Inn and Suites in Stowe, Vermont was opening its doors to frontline workers across New England who needed a place to stay during the quarantine.

As a thank-you to nurses, doctors, cleaning staff, grocery store workers, postal workers and delivery drivers for their sacrifice, Sun & Ski Inn donated 100 room nights to random workers in these categories. The inn also donated 100 games of bowling or miniature golf to the surrounding community.

“We want to thank all our guests for their on-going support over the years,” said the owners of the inn. “When it is safe for our businesses to open and travel is permitted, we look forward to welcoming these heroes to our property for rest, fun and family memories.”

The hospitality industry was the first and one of the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic. To help its employees, the resort donated all Stowe Bowl gift card sales to staff members from April 1 to May 15.

The Atlantic Oceanside Hotel in Bar Harbor, Maine worked to provide free lunch for the needy during the weekdays during the pandemic. Meals were available from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Willows Circle at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel through the Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund. The fund was created in 2017 to carry on the philanthropic legacy of hotelier David J. Witham.

The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund is dedicated to supporting local and regional organizations that provide valuable charitable services to the community. The fund believes it can have the greatest impact when it focuses on funding in areas consistent with its experience in the hospitality industry. Since the hotel’s restaurant is a local favorite, the tasty meals were a natural fit and much appreciated.