Local realtor and volunteer Kevin Hampsey, of Hampsey & Grenier Associates in Jaffrey, received the New Hampshire Association of Realtors Good Neighbor Award on Thursday, for his long-time work in the community.
The award comes with a $3,000 prize, to be awarded to the recipient’s nonprofit of choice; Hampsey chose to donate his prize to the Jaffrey Park Theatre, where he has been a board member for years.
“There’s no question the moniker ‘good neighbor’ fits him like a glove,” Park Theatre CEO Steve Jackson said at Hampsey’s award ceremony, which took place on the Jaffrey common with the theater standing as a backdrop. “Whenever I have a need, I call Kevin, whether it’s something as mundane as arranging trash removal, or helping underwrite a movie. He’s there for it. It’s always, ‘What do you need?’”
“We are so lucky to have him in the community, and on the Park Theatre Board,” said Park Theatre Board President Caroline Hollister.
While the Park Theatre was the recipient of Hampsey’s award prize, it’s not the only organization he’s involved with.
“He is seemingly everywhere in the community,” Marc Drapeau, president of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors, while presenting Hampsey with his award. “Kevin has truly been a good neighbor.”
In addition to his work with the Park Theatre, Hampsey also manages the local Adopt-A-Highway program, sponsors and coaches a local AAU basketball team, manages the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and supports the Monadnock Kitty Rescue & Adoption.
Hampsey admits it’s a hectic schedule, and said he’s often asked when he has time to be a realtor.
“I don’t,” he joked, giving accolades to his team at Hampsey & Grenier Associates and work partner Mike Grenier for their support.
He also said that work ethic and care for the community is an inherited trait, saying his father, Bernie Hampsey, instilled those values in him since he was young and leading by example.
“I do it because I like doing it,” Hampsey said. “It’s my way of giving back. I think that’s what we’re here to do,” Hampsey said. Plus, he said, he gets to experience moments like his basketball team’s second-half comebacks when his boys tell him not to worry and go out and rally, or watching the St. Patrick’s Day parade come together despite shivering in the cold.
“Stuff like that, you don’t forget,” Hampsey said.
In addition to the donation to the Park Theatre, Hampsey received a crystal trophy and free registration to the NHAR annual conference in September.