In the Media
Article from November 2006 Upper Valley Life in PDF format
From the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center 2006 Annual Report
Children’s Fund of the Upper Valley
Eight years ago, David Leatherwood’s son stopped breathing a few minutes after he was born, but DHMC intensive care nurses were there to save him. Leatherwood wanted to find a way to show his gratitude. “My family doesn’t really have the capability to write a $1 million check in one day, not a lot of people do. So we drew on our skills. I know how to build hotels, profitable hotels.” He approached John Baldwin (the previous Medical School dean) with the idea of developing a hotel to use as a fundraising vehicle for the Medical School and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD).
Leatherwood entered into negotiations with Dartmouth to purchase some land in Centerra to build the Courtyard by Marriott (opening in the fall of 2006). During the negotiation period, The Residence Inn, also in Centerra, unexpectedly became available, and he decided to put together a group to purchase it. Jenny Williams, DC’85, was part of that group. “Jenny does a lot of terrific philanthropic things in the community. I approached her about taking on a greater role as a partner in the Residence Inn and Courtyard properties, and explained my idea for this philanthropic twist. She jumped on it.”
The philanthropic twist is now The Children’s Fund of the Upper Valley (CFUV). Leatherwood and Williams established the fund in 2004, and using proceeds from the two hotels, as well as their own personal donations, have pledged to give away a minimum of $1 million over ten years to charities in the Upper Valley that in some way benefit children. Half of that money will go to CHaD to use in any way that supports its mission, since they believe CHaD deserves all the support it can get.
While Williams and her husband Stan have never had to undergo anything as traumatic with any of their three children—Hans, Ella, and Noah—as David and Loretta Leatherwood did with Chapin, her family is grateful for the care they have received at CHaD. Williams is delighted to support CHaD and other local charities—they are established and know what they are doing—that work on behalf of children who are “often the least able to help themselves.”
“Stan and I were fortunate that he was successful early in his career, and we’re grateful and want to give back,” says Williams.“We get more enjoyment out of making gifts than we do out of almost any other place we might spend our money.”
Leatherwood hopes that The Children’s Fund of the Upper Valley will serve as a philanthropic model to other businesses in the community. He owns properties in several other states and he is establishing a philanthropic component in each of them as well.
“Our nurses were working 12-hour shifts, but they’d go home and call two hours later to check on our son,” says Leatherwood, recalling Chapin’s harrowing 17-day stay in the intensive care nursery. The Leatherwoods have four children: Chapin, Olivia, Rhyan, and Maggie Sue.“We felt like our son was the only patient there, but there were probably 15 other babies. The nurses cared for every one of them the same way. They’re very special people.”