December 24, 2009

Publisher's Note: Thanking the helpers
By Jody Reese

Sure, Santa gets all the glory, but without the reindeer and elves Santa would just be a very happy well-dressed fat man. Fortunately Santa has a lot of help — and I mean a lot of help.

This season is a great time to thank those in the trenches helping out at soup kitchens, volunteering with kids or shoveling a house-bound neighbor’s driveway. It’s this kind of giving that holds us as a place together. It’s not our government or even our laws. It’s that we have agreed that we are better off living together and helping those who need is good. Sometimes it’s good for all of us and sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.

One of the great ways to be involved is to join a service group, such as Kiwanis, Rotary or the Lions. Full disclosure: I’m a member of Rotary. These groups put you in touch with people who also value contributing to their community, and as a group hold fundraisers and give money to local charities. Some monies are also sent to developing nations.

What’s really nice about these service groups is that they raise your awareness of all the area nonprofits that are out there helping. In our Rotary group we provided financial support to more than a dozen such groups. You also get to see these groups in action (and all the unsung helpers) and realize that they really do make a difference. On top of that in a service group you get to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet at work who share many of your community goals.

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04/06/2006 Concord: Time and the river
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03/30/2006 Concord: Legislation that matters
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03/09/2006 Manchester: The future is now
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03/09/2006 Concord: Fat free or die
03/02/2006 Manchester: Movies matter
03/02/2006 Nashua: City without theaters
03/02/2006 Concord: Thinking big
02/23/2006 Manchester: Parking problems
02/23/2006 Nashua: A substitute for Benson's
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02/16/2006 Manchester: Having it both ways
02/16/2006 Nashua: The Nashua arts puzzle
02/16/2006 Concord: Future in beer
02/09/2006 Manchester: Best of us
02/09/2006 Nashua: Put your best vote forward
02/09/2006 Concord: Concord shows off
02/02/2006 Manchester: Chain reactions
02/02/2006 Nashua: We wuz robbed
02/02/2006 Concord: Looking Back
01/26/2006 Manchester: City government gets wackier
01/26/2006 Nashua: Hometown Pride
01/26/2006 Concord: Growing Pains
01/19/2006 Concord Back to Work
01/19/2006 Nashua: Message in a bottle
01/19/2006 Manchester: The Living City
01/12/2006 Welcome to the Flea
01/05/2006 Hippo Manchester — Five Years Later
Aloha, Uncle Gus
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A taxing mistake
A Mission For InTown
A Signature Space
Art Is News Here
A Work In Progress
Ante Up For Plows
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Beating the downtown blues
City Needs To Get Tough
City noise tax
Crime - Reality vs. Perception
Daily Buys Weeklies
Down to the wire
Elements of a downtown
Fat And Good Planning
Garrity's Plan A Step Back
Giving MTBE a free ride
Going For The Money
Go Glendi!
Government Regulations The Problem
Guinta’s work pays off
Guinta’s work pays off (II)
Happy yuppies, strong city
Improve The City From The Center
It's Just Good Business
Keep those teens busy
Killing the goose
Long Term Vision
Looking Down The Road
Make It An Event
McQuaid's War & Other News
Name that tune
Not Just An Alternative
Old Building Makeover
One Jump Closer
Outside Might Be Best
Party politics
Penny-Wise, Pound Foolish
Positive QOLs: food, trains
Preach, Don't Campaign
Private Places
Read it here first
Readin', Ritin', Paying Up
Retiring Teachers
Say No To Cronyism
Scrooge, Inc.
Solution to parking woes
Step Aside, Joe
Surviving The Chains
Tax cap kills the future
The Awards Go To
The business of clubs
The City's Snow Job
The perils of parking
The real election issues
The Really Big Story
The Silly Liquor Law
The truth about the bars
The Value Of Local Money
The Voting Process
The UL’s bully tactics
This Week's Note
Timing Is Everything
To Live In A City Is To Park In It
Tomorrow's Landmarks
Trick-Or-Treat At Night
Turkeys, Parking, Taxes, Chandler
Under-40 Dynamos
Voting Matters
What about Theater?
What makes a marriage