College founder funds charity

UNITY – Bert Clifford just can’t do enough for his adopted hometown.

As the owner of Unitel Telephone and former owner of Unicel, Clifford has for decades donated his time and money to the betterment of the town his family settled in when he was 3 years old.

Clifford was one of the founding fathers of Unity College, the benefactor of the town’s sweeping Field of Dreams recreation and picnic grounds, developed the Clifford Commons shopping village and, most recently, the Unity Centre for the Performing Arts.

And as if that was not enough, on Friday Bert and Coral Clifford will participate in groundbreaking ceremonies and a formal announcement of the creation of the Unity Foundation.

With an asset base of $5 million, the Unity Foundation will instantly become one of the top public charitable foundations in the state.

The mission of the Unity Foundation is to promote nonprofit organizations that focus on education, young people, community and economic development, the arts and the environment.

The Unity Foundation will offer grant opportunities to three designated organizations: Unity College, Good Will-Hinckley School and the Four Square Foundation. Other nonprofit organizations whose missions focus on education, the arts, youth services, community development and the environment will also be eligible for foundation support.

State Sen. Susan Longley, D-Liberty, is scheduled to give the keynote address at the groundbreaking, which will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, Dec. 1, at Unity Centre for the Performing Arts on Depot Street.

During the ceremony, foundation founder and Chairman Bert G. Clifford and his wife, Cora, will unveil architectural plans for the foundation’s 17,000-square-foot headquarters. The two-story, brick building will house offices, meeting rooms and a foundation library to assist applicants with filing and compiling their grant proposals. The building is scheduled to be completed in June.

The Unity Foundation can be reached by telephone at 94-UNITY or on the Web at www.unityfoundation.net.