Search results matching tag 'community'

Communities gear up to help those in need

Bedford Editor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:45:00 GMT

BY SUZANNE D’AMATO

To those of us who live in the Granite State, it’s no surprise that small-town folks have big hearts. With the holiday season almost here, the familiar requests for monetary donations and drives for items of all kinds are being made.

The following are just a few examples of how generous donations of money, time and items from the kindness of strangers will touch the lives of friends and neighbors in need in our communities and provide them with some of the basic necessities of life, such as food, shelter, warmth and companionship.

The Rotary Club of Bedford is hosting its annual Senior Citizens Holiday Luncheon on Monday, Dec. 7, from 11:15 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Manchester Country Club.

The luncheon has been a longstanding annual Rotary tradition for the past 35 years.

The luncheon’s purpose is not to raise money, but, instead, to raise the spirits of the guests attending, all of whom reside in the nursing homes and senior residential communities in Bedford and west Manchester.

Rotary Club members – 47 in total – and their spouses volunteer their time to transport guests to and from the luncheon and help out during the event.

Tickets for all of the seniors are paid for by club members and the club’s treasury.

“We are expecting about 200 seniors to attend this year,” said Dick Bellerose, president of the Rotary Club of Bedford. The atmosphere at the luncheon is festive. The Rotary Club’s band plays music from the 1940s for dancing, Santa Claus makes an appearance, the ladies receive corsages, and the ballroom is decorated for Christmas.

“A lot of tears are shed by the luncheon guests. Many of them are invalids or shut-ins, so they don’t have many opportunities to leave their residences,” Bellerose said. “The luncheon is very important to a lot of us. It’s quite a tradition.”

Salvation Army bell ringing is another upcoming holiday tradition that has been sponsored by Rotary Club of Bedford for the past 40 years.

This year, club members will take turns ringing the iconic bell in front of Bedford’s Harvest Market supermarket at the corner of Route 101 and Wallace Road each day from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Nov. 27 through Dec. 26.

The familiar holiday sound hopefully will encourage shoppers and passers-by to drop spare change into the familiar Salvation Army red kettle.

Last year, the bell ringers raised $18,000 to help fund the Salvation Army’s many community- service programs.

“We even may surpass last year’s total,” Bellerose continued. “People who are able to tend to donate even more money during tough times.”

For more information, visit Rotary Club of Bedford’s Web site at www.clubrunner.ca/CPrg/home/homeA.asp?cid=2908.

Communities gear up to help those in need

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:15:00 GMT

BY SUZANNE D’AMATO

To those of us who live in the Granite State, it’s no surprise that small-town folks have big hearts.

With the holiday season almost here, the familiar requests for monetary donations and drives for items of all kinds are being made.

Located in the parish house of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, the Goffstown Network Food Pantry (see box) is one of many organizations helping the Goffstown community satisfy the most basic of human needs – hunger -- at holiday time and all year long.

“Our goal is to offer one week’s worth of groceries for each person in our clients’ households. We accept donations of just about anything that’s nonperishable,” said David Greiner, president of the pantry, which was established in 1990.

Cans of fruits, vegetables, soups and tuna fish; bags of dried beans; boxes of pasta and macaroni and cheese; paper goods; and other staples line the pantry’s shelves and are depleted almost as soon as they arrive.

“Right now, canned soups are our most-needed item. We also need donations of personal- care items, such as shampoo and toothpaste, because our clients cannot use food stamps to purchase nonfood items,” Greiner said.

Additionally, the pantry sponsors Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday programs for its clients. This year, on Nov. 20 and 21, in preparation for Thanksgiving, and on Dec. 17 and 18, in preparation for Christmas, the pantry’s volunteers prepare and distribute to its clients gift boxes that contain the food and other items necessary to make traditional holiday dinners and, hopefully, a little holiday cheer.

To help fund the pantry’s efforts, the pantry receives a percentage of the sales made next door at The Community Clothing Center, a used-clothing store. St. Matthew’s also uses some of the clothing-sales money to pay its bills. Any remaining funds are deposited into the Goffstown Clergy Association, a crisis fund set up by Goffstown’s pastors to help people in need.

Less than 5 miles away, the food pantry at the Goffstown Harvest Christian Church has been open to help feed the hungry for the past eight years.

A new customer who recently came to the pantry to ask for assistance particularly stands out in the memory of Gerry St. Jean, who is the administrator of the church and oversees the food pantry.

“One morning, a woman with five of her children showed up at the food pantry and said that she had three more children at home who were sick,” St. Jean said.

“She’d said she was in dire need of food but couldn’t come to the food pantry for the past two weeks because she had no money.”

The pantry buys and sells certain foods at discounted prices to customers to keep running the food pantry, and it also gives away food to those customers who can’t pay.

St. Jean told her that all she had to do to receive help was to notify the pantry of her needs, and then he gave the woman free of charge lots of pastries, breads, meats, vegetables and fruits for her family.

“We ended up blessing her and her family tremendously,” St. Jean said.

Where to find or give help

Goffstown Harvest Christian Church – 542 Mast Road, Goffstown; 641-5993; www.ghonline.org.
Hours: Saturdays, 9 to 11 a.m.
Items most needed: turkeys for Thanksgiving and hams for Christmas plus other nonperishable holiday – dinner staples, such as canned vegetables and cranberry sauce, stuffing mixes, pie crusts, etc. For monetary donations, make checks payable to “Goffstown Harvest Christian Church Food Pantry” and mail it to the church. Donations of food items can be made when the church is open each week from Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call the church to make arrangements for after-hours drop-off.

• Goffstown Network Food Pantry – Located in the St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church parish house, 7 North Mast St., Goffstown; 497-3433.
Hours: Wednesdays, 6 to 8 p.m.; and Saturdays, 10 a.m. to noon, all year long.
Items most needed: canned soups and personal-care items (shampoo, toothpaste, etc.) For monetary donations, checks payable to “Goffstown Network” can be mailed to the Goffstown Network at P.O. Box 603, Goffstown, NH 03045. When the pantry is open, donations of food and personal care items can be dropped off any time inside the front doors of the church or, when the pantry is open, at its location at St. Matthew’s parish house on 7 North Mast St.

• Weare Food Pantry – Located at Weare Middle School, 16 East St., Weare; 529-0320
Hours: Wednesdays, 5 to 7 p.m.
Monetary donations can be made out to Weare Food Pantry, c/o 39 Maplewold Road Weare, NH 03281.

• Wood for Warmth – Sean Powers Wood Bank, Hopkinton Transfer Station; 746-5729; www.woodforwarmth.com
Hours: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Fridays, 1 to 5 p.m.
Firewood for low-income families needing to keep warm. If you need access to firewood, contact the Hopkinton human services director at the number above. Donations of burnable hardwood in 16-inch lengths can be dropped off at the transfer station, or contact Mary at woodforwarmth@hotmail.com.

Bedford Church changes with the times

Bedford Editor — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:28:00 GMT

BY JILLIAN JORGENSEN

In his year at Bethany Covenant Church, Pastor Joel Kruggel said he has tried to meet the changing needs of the community while keeping the church connected to the world beyond Bedford.

“The world’s changing,” Kruggel said in his office this week. “Just managing change has been a priority.”

Kruggel began as senior pastor at the church last July, and in that time has worked with the leadership team to develop an “aggressive vision for the future.” That has included providing more worship opportunities, he said.

“A lot of people, they want to get to the church, but they can’t,” he said, due to commitments, such as student sports practices or games, scheduled Sunday mornings. “We’ve got to be out there meeting people when it works for their schedule.”

The church now offers services at 8:45 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and Kruggel said he has thought about the possibility adding service on Saturday evenings, as many Catholic churches do.

“We’ve tweaked the feel of the Sunday morning services,” he said. The early service is traditional, and the later service is more contemporary, with music that relies more on drums and guitars and sermons that involved youngsters.

“Our younger folks, our younger families, have been yearning for something more contemporary,” he said.

He said it has been important for the church to both catalyze change and stabilize old traditions, “so people feel like, ‘OK, there’s new directions, but not everything is up for grabs.’”

Kruggel comes to the church from western Michigan, and before that was a college campus chaplain at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif., he said.

“Living in the college world, you’re always in the world of new thoughts, new ideas, intellectual challenges,” he said.

That experience has helped in his attempt to “flex to the world around us without giving in on the essentials,” he said.

Kruggel said he has also tried to keep a “global focus” in the church, keeping people aware of issues such as the plight of Sudanese refugees or human trafficking.

“What are the issues of injustice, where the church needs to speak out?” he said. “We also live in the midst of a larger environment. A lot of people need to be healed with God’s love and grace.”

The church also plays very local roles, he said, within individual families.

“It’s a very family-oriented church,” he said.

Kruggel said he has spent much of the last year inviting people to his home and getting to know them. The church offers a marriage skills class, he said, and he and his wife have a small group that meets in his home.

“We really try to build into marriages,” he said.

The church is also hosting financial management courses, he said.

“I find a lot of people whose marriages are in trouble can trace it back to financial stress,” he said.

Kruggel had previously lived in New England, working at churches in Boston and Danvers, Mass., and said it was good to return. The church, set atop a hill on more than 50 acres of property in Bedford, has more than 500 members.

“Sometimes, we’ll actually come up here at night,” he said, when the pretty white building is lit up. “Sometimes we just find people in the parking lot. They’re just here to meditate or pray.”

He and his wife enjoy cross country skiing, he said, and have made New Hampshire their home over the past year.

“The natural beauty of the creation here is something we find very renewing,” he said. “I have that sense that this is God’s place for me and my wife right now.”

Geocaching catching on across nation

Salem Editor — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:22:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

Armed with little more than a couple of coordinates and a GPS device, Melanie Murray hits the trail with her miniature pinscher, Peanut Butter, every spare chance she gets, searching across New England for packages known as “geocaches.”

What began around 2000 as a hobby for GPS enthusiasts who hid and hunted for a handful of caches across the country has now grown into an online community with more than 800,000 active geocaches hidden world wide, according to Murray. The rules are simple: pull the coordinates off of the official geocaching Web site, locate the cache – which is a hidden item that can be as small as a fingernail or as large as an old army ammo box – record the find on a logbook kept inside the cache as well as online, and then move on to the next one.

Though they range in theme, content, location and ease of finding, Murray said tracking down the geocaches is all about the thrill of the hunt. To date, she has found more than 2,000 of them and spent countless hours over the past three years slogging through snow, wading through streams and crawling over boulders in the Northeast.

“You find all kinds of interesting things and meet different people. The only investment you have to make is buying a GPS,” said Murray. “(After you find a geocache) you go online and log the find and see what other people have written about it. I’m totally addicted. Anytime my husband is working or going fishing, I’m out geocaching, even in the rain, sleet and snow.”

Murray, who works in Salem’s finance department, first learned about geocaching from Fire Chief Kevin Breen in the fall of 2006. Breen, who has around 500 finds to his name, stumbled across the activity after he accidentally found a geocache while vacationing on Cape Cod. A few months later he convinced Murray to go along with him and try to find a geocache hidden at the town’s old fire station and hose house on Bridge Street.

“It takes a couple of times to catch on and comprehend it,” Murray said, recalling that she did not even have a GPS unit with her that first time. “It’s just something that you can do by yourself. You can do it anytime, day or night, and it’s good exercise.”

Geocaching has also helped Murray find public conservation land and hiking or walking trails close to home that she would have otherwise never known about, like the rail trail in nearby Windham or a wooded spot with a great view overlooking Moeckel Pond.

The online community that has built up around the activity – Murray described it as similar to Myspace or Facebook – has also kept her entertained.

Murray said the other geocaching enthusiasts who follow her trips know her for the wacky adventures she has while on the hunt – like the time she passed a naked man who had very clearly been skinny dipping in the abandoned quarry in the park she was hiking through.

“We’ve gotten some friends from geocaching. You’ll run into them on the trail and they’ll say, ‘Finally, I can put that profile name to a face,’” Murray said.

Murray and Breen have also put geocaching to work for the town. This past spring, recreation director Chris Dillon used geocaching to sponsor a cleanup event for the town’s Hedgehog Park. According to Breen, the geocachers who attended received credit for taking a couple of hours and clearing brush from the front of Hedgehog Pond.

“It’s a group of people who like the outdoors and who are into trail hiking and climbing. So one of the other things they promote is keeping the woods clean,” he said. “One of the things that interested me in geocaching is it doesn’t cost anything. If I go geocaching, I can preplan where I go. It’s getting out in the woods and seeing the sights. They’re located everywhere.”

For Murray, it’s all about that feeling she gets when she reaches up inside an oak tree and pulls out a hidden film canister or spots a camouflaged box sitting in the middle of an isolated stone wall.

“I’ve scraped a leg and been stung by bees. I was never used to that before,” she said. “It’s a challenge. I guess that’s what it is. It’s the challenge of finding them. I’m mostly interested in seeing how people hide them. I never tire of it.”

Community garden takes root in Salem

Salem Editor — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:53:00 GMT

BY DERRICK PERKINS

With community garden plots now ready and waiting for local families, Conservation Commission Chairman Bill Carter’s vision for Hawkins Farm has grown to fruition.

“We grew up in the city. I lived up on the hill and it was a paved hill,” said Carter. “If (other residents) grew up in the city, like I did, then before they migrated into the suburbs they didn’t have the opportunity to have this. A lot of these cities are starting to do this now, offering community gardens. When we bought the property, we had a long-term vision, and this is one of the four parts.”

Carter believes that the 30 individual plots that make up the town’s new community garden at Hawkins Farm will give residents the chance to spend some time outdoors and experience the joy of gardening all while saving some money at the supermarket.

According to Carter, the idea of carving up a portion of the 15-acre farm the town purchased last fall for community garden arose as the commission began discussing how to use the land.

Up until that point, there was not a parcel of townowned land large enough to support viable community gardening, Carter said.

Though the garden is only one aspect of the commission’s plans for the Hawkins Farm property, Carter is hoping to stir up some interest in gardening in the town as well as giving members of the community an opportunity to come closer together.

“It’s just something we want to do to allow the community to interact with Hawkins Farm,” he said.

“This is to allow the residents who don’t have room or space to go out there and try their hand at farming ... What we’re offering here is a little opportunity to do some planting and families get out there on the weekends or during the week.”

Joan Blondin, who spent a morning under the sun showing her granddaughter and a niece and nephew how to plant and water seeds on her 15-by-15-foot garden plot, said it was a chance to pass along her green thumb to the next generation.

“I want to get them out there to teach them how to grow their own food,” said Blondin, a member of the Conservation Commission. “I’m trying to teach them about gardening. Hopefully, it’ll keep them out of trouble.”

Her son, Vinny Drago, also a member of the commission, spent three days designing the garden and measuring out the plots. He stops by daily to refill a barrel of water for the prospective gardeners.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” he said. “We’re trying to protect what we got and we hope (the community garden) takes off.”

Carter is optimistic that the garden will draw in plenty of residents this year and is expecting to have a large enough demand for plots next year that the commission will have to organize a lottery to assign space.

For the time being, residents interested in starting their own garden at Hawkins Farm can contact either the Planning Department at 890- 2080 or by e-mailing Carter at bill_cart61@comcast.net.

“This was the vision for (Hawkins Farm). We wanted to take this property and make some use out of it,” Carter said. “We have never done this in Salem. Maybe people will look at this and say it’s a great idea.”

New Hampshire goes WILD to celebrate Earth Day

Bedford Editor — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:44:00 GMT

Celebrate Earth Day – April 22 – by bringing the family to Discover WILD New Hampshire Day, set for Saturday, April 18, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the grounds of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department on Hazen Drive in Concord.

Admission is free.

Lots of hands-on activities, including archery, crafts for the kids and exhibits representing more than 35 environmental, conservation and outdoor groups from around the state are planned. Hybrid vehicles and more energy-saving ideas, plus big fish, live animals and trained falcons await visitors.

The event is sponsored by Fish and Game and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, with support from the Wildlife Heritage Foundation of New Hampshire. For details, call 271-3211, or visit www.WildNH.com.

New Boston monthly dinners, presentations foster togetherness

Goffstown Editor — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:47:00 GMT

BY SALLY BRZOZOWSKI

Edward Everett has delivered his famous speech more than 137 times, but Friday was the first time that his speech followed a dinner of lasagna and chocolate truffle cake at the New Boston Community Church.

Everett, as portrayed by the actor Jim Cooke, visited New Hampshire on Friday to speak to a group of attendees who braved the cold for a chance to enrich their community and their minds. In his first incarnation, Edward Everett was known as one of the world’s most-famous orators, “the likes of Frank Sinatra,” according to Richard Katula, who just published a book on this friend of Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. Everett was “the other speaker at Gettysburg,” the one who spoke for almost two hours before President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address.

This is the fourth year that residents of New Boston have enjoyed presentations and dinners together at the New Boston Community Church in what Butch Locke calls “a magical marriage with the library.”

Locke is on the Community Church’s Stewardship Committee, and was one of the organizers of Friday’s dinner.

Gail Parker also serves on the committee and arranges speakers and presentations on behalf of the Whipple Free Library Perspectives program. The Perspectives program started 10 years ago, but has thrived since its union with the community dinners.

“Perspectives is a way to give adults in this small New England town a new perspective, a chance to broaden their horizons,” said Parker.

Jed Callen, who has supported the program since it began, says the program came about when some residents realized the town had many programs to offer its youth, but very few opportunities for adults to expand their horizons. Now, the program has seen many visitors speak on diverse topics.

“We’ve had a doctor who visited Antarctica,” said Parker, “and a talk about the Big Dig, and then the next month someone came and talked about all the antiques they found during that construction project.”

“There was someone who talked about the last days of Marilyn Monroe, and two of the players from A League of Their Own visited once. We’ve also had local people who have something to share,” added Callen.

“Just because the talk is in the church doesn’t mean that there’s a connection to religion. We’ve had people in to talk about UFOs and aliens; really, the connection between this dinner and the Perspectives program is about serving the community.”

The dining room at the church was filled with guests sitting at round tables, making new friends and catching up with regulars.

Among them was 11-year-old Alexia Gorton. She was joined by her mother, brother, classmates, and other Community Church members who made sure the rotating group of diners were well-outfitted with everything, including dressing, lasagna, coffee and lemonade.

Bib and Verna Elliott, longtime residents of New Boston, dined on lasagna before moving to the next room to hear about Edward Everett.

“We’ve attended quite a few of them,” said Verna of the dinners. “It’s interesting, and it gives me a chance to find out what’s going on.”

The next community dinner takes place March 20 at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by the annual library auction, both at the Community Church in New Boston.

For more information on Whipple Free Library Perspectives, visit www.whipplefreelibrary.org.

Bandstand -Whitefield's Centerpiece

Paul McFinn — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:22:00 GMT

Community service a focus at Cawley

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:11:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This piece was submitted by the Hooksett Cawley School Builder’s Club members.

When some think about community service, an image of an adult usually comes to mind. Many believe that today’s children are focused more on sports, video games, hanging out at the mall and similar activities. A growing segment of Hooksett’s children, however, are focused on performing community service in school and community. A shining example of this is the Kiwanis Builders Club at Cawley Middle School.

When a few members of Kiwanis approached former Principal Ron Pedro a few years ago at Hooksett Memorial School, he had his reservations about forming such an organization. After moving to the new Cawley Middle School, however, he agreed to give it a try.

Organized just three years ago, the Builders Club has grown from fewer than 50 members to 129 this year. It is now the largest Builders Club in New England. Pedro, who is now the principal at Auburn Village School, said the Builders Club had become the most active club at Cawley. Principal Stephen Harrises and Assistant Principal Matthew Benson echoed Pedro’s excitement about the club.

The organization even has its own Web site: http://carla gallivan.googlepages.com/buildersclub0809.

One of the Builder’s Club’s largest annual fundraisers is making pizzas from scratch and selling these to Hooksett families. This year, the club made and sold 176 pizzas.

Over the past three years, the club has performed a large number of community service projects, representing hundreds of hours of service. Some recent ones include:
• Caroling and hosting bingos for seniors.
• Recycling at Cawley Middle School.
• Raising over $1,000 every year for the Hooksett Emergency Relief Committee (HERC).
• Collecting money for UNICEF.
• Hosting “Hoops and Jumps for Heart,” a fundraiser for the American Heart Association.
• Producing a video to bring attention to genocide in Darfur.
• Hosting a welcoming dance and sports event for incoming sixth-graders.
• Assisting Kiwanis, the PTA, Salvation Army and the Hooksett Garden Club with their projects. The Builders Club is a student- run organization, somewhat modeled after Kiwanis, the parent organization. Hooksett Kiwanis provides both financial and human resources to support the club.

The main objective is for Builders Club members to learn leadership skills while performing community service. The club has a board of directors consisting of club officers and class directors.

Brenda Basinow serves as president, Meaghan McGilvray vice president, Delaney Roche treasurer, Jessica Wight secretary and Lauren Nickerson webmaster.

Class directors are Maggie McGovern (eighth grade) and Emily Duchesne (seventh grade). All officers and directors are elected by their fellow members. After each candidate gives a nominating speech, the members vote by secret ballot. Teachers Carla Gallivan and Kellie Martino are advisers, coaching and guiding the organization.

Gallivan and Martino said, “It has been impressive to watch the students grow from timid sixth-graders willing to help, into self-directed leaders by the time they leave eighth grade. The club has given the students the opportunity to discover that community service is and can be a rewarding part of their life.”

Volunteering thrives as needs grow

Hooksett Editor — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:59:00 GMT

BY MATT SCHOOLEY

Although some volunteer organizations are down in numbers, many have experienced a significant increase in support during difficult economic times.

The growth of volunteerism can be seen, especially in Hooksett, where the Kiwanis Club is currently the fastest-growing group in New England.

“By the stroke of luck, we were born into good homes and good communities,” said Kiwanis President Fred Bishop. “That gives us an obligation to share that with the people around the world and in our country. That is what gives me the motivation.”

Currently the club has 67 members, and the club has expanded to the youth of the community, forming the Builders Club, a group that gives Cawley Middle School students the chance to get involved in volunteering.

“I think it’s very personally rewarding because you get a great feeling knowing you’ve helped establish young people serving the community,” said Bishop. “To see the interest, you assume kids are more interested in sports, texting on cell phones and playing video games – then you see these kids really involved.”

A similar group has been formed in Goffstown, where the Goffstown VolunTEENS can be found at the high school twice a month, advertising to the students about 13 organizations they can volunteer for.

Many of the students volunteer at the Goffstown Network food pantry. Although many households are struggling with the current economic climate, donations have actually increased according to David Greiner, a volunteer with the organization.

“I see stories all the time about the plight of food pantries,” said Greiner. “I find the opposite. The demand is definitely way up, but we’re doing well on the supply side because people hear the bad news and react. They see that they need to help. We’ve seen the support really pick up in the last 12 months or so.”

The Goffstown Network is open Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, and Greiner said that if not for the volunteers, they would be unable to keep up with the heavy traffic.

Pelham’s Good Neighbors Fund has raised money for families in need since 1969, and Frank Sullivan, who has been with the group for 35 years, agreed with Greiner.

“People seem to donate more during tough economic times,” said Sullivan. “As a result of that, we’re able to help a lot more people in return with household expenses and other things.”

David Gilbert, a member of the Bedford Men’s Club said the group’s membership has been growing, and is up about 25 percent.

“I think we have some new people in town, and new people want to get out in the community and make a difference,” said Gilbert. “In our town, we’re no different than any other town. There are people in Bedford who need help, kids who need help, causes that need help. It’s still there, no matter where you go.”

Gilbert said he got involved with the club because of the effect he could have on the Bedford communities, particularly youth.

“I think it’s that I get to make a difference, and not just sit around and watch TV or whatever people do,” said Gilbert.

“We focus on kids in town, and the needs of the kids. It’s nice to do that because anything the kids need or want, they should have. If they see this volunteerism as a kid, maybe they’ll grow up to give back also.”

For the Bedford Lions Club,

Ernest Henrichon said now is the time to give to the community. “Obviously there are more people in need right now,” said Henrichon. “There are very definite needs for people that are less fortunate, and those of us who are more fortunate should step up and help them out.”

One group having a particularly difficult time finding and holding onto volunteers is the Hopkinton Fire Department, which relies on its volunteers to respond to emergencies.

Fire Chief Rick Schaefer’s policy is to have every volunteer become a certified firefighter, which requires a time commitment. Schaefer has been with the department for 30 years and said that there is a rule that will not allow there to be more than 50 members of the department. “I had to be put on a waiting list and waited a year before I could take someone’s spot,” said Schaefer. “We currently have 30 people, and it’s just gone down, down, down.”

Recently Schaefer went to a conference on volunteerism, and the speaker at the event said that in general, people do not volunteer as much as they used to.

“I would love to see two or three new faces every year. It isn’t for everyone,” said Schaefer. “You rely more on mutual aid. If we had an incident years ago we wouldn’t, but now we bump it up and are more apt to call them. You do what you can with what you’re given.”

Those who do volunteer have a positive experience, and Pelham’s Sullivan said he is surprised with the thanks he gets, and not always from the community members receiving assistance from volunteers.

“A lot of the people who donate to us send us thank you cards to tell us how great of an organization we are,” said Sullivan. “They are giving us donations, but they’re thanking us. It’s a tremendous feeling.”