Nonprofit Heroes: There's Nothing Common About Alex Ray's Support

Business NH Magazine, Apr 01, 2007

When the Common Man Family of Restaurants celebrated its 35th anniversary this year, it did so with a philanthropic flourish-and $54,000. Owner Alex Ray and his management team hand-delivered checks to 14 nonprofits across the state in one day to help mark the company's milestone.

The company solicited nominations from customers at 13 of the company's restaurants as to which charities received the $3,500 donations, as well as a $5,000 grand prize. Approximately 7,000 ballots were cast. "It's been hugely well received," Ray says. "I got thank you letters not just about the money, but about the awareness it brought about them."

It's but one of many examples of Ray putting his philosophy about giving back into action. "I'm not a philanthropist. I'm trying to build a business model that says you can grow a selfsustaining business and do it by giving back," Ray says.

Each of his restaurants is in charge of selecting the charities they want to support and how to support them. In the past year alone, the Common Man Family of Restaurants has undertaken more than 40 community service projects. The Common Man has also raised $50,000 for Easter Seals over the years. Ray, who serves on the board of Pemi-Bridge House, a homeless shelter in Plymouth, holds an annual fundraiser for the nonprofit by donating facilities, food, beverages, and employee volunteers for a night. The first year the event raised $36,000. The next year it raised $56,000. For more than 15 years, the Ashland restaurant has opened on Christmas Day with volunteers serving free meals to those in need. "It's grown to serving 200 people," Ray says. During the past 35 years, the company has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for nonprofit organizations.

"We don't just write checks. We make sure we're giving of ourselves-our staff and our time," Ray says. "If we see something we want to help, we go there and do it. I want my employees to think, 'I work for a place that makes a difference.' I want my staff to feel good with their individual projects and individual restaurants."

Ray's latest venture is renovating the Daniel Webster Farm in Franklin into a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center The Trust for Public Land acquired the land for conservation, but did not know what to do with the buildings on the site and requested ideas. It chose Ray's idea to open a rehabilitation center there. His plan also calls for transitional housing for those who have completed rehabilitation and a hospitality school that would feed the clients of the center.

Ray will invest millions into the property "There's a lot of middle America that cannot afford a place that treats drug abuse and alcoholism in a dignified way," Ray says, adding he has the time, knowledge and motivation to see the project to fruition. He plans to open the first phase of the project by the fall.