Category: Q&A

Keeping Granite Staters fed at the New Hampshire Food Bank

Nancy Mellitt is the Director of Development at the New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, and spoke to the Hippo about the organization and what they get done. Visit nhfoodbank.org for more information or call 669-9725.

What does the New Hampshire Food Bank do?

The New Hampshire Food Bank is the only food bank in New Hampshire and we do quite a bit. We provide food to more than 400 partner agencies throughout the state. That’s our primary purpose. We’re providing approximately 60 percent of the food that the food pantries, soup kitchens, etc., are distributing to individuals in the state. Then we have some programs that are designed to address the root causes of hunger and to assist people in not being food-insecure.

What is a mobile food pantry?

They are sponsored by a company and we are going to areas in the state that have low resources and high needs. We are bringing enough shelf-stable boxes and produce boxes for approximately 400 families…. We do a drive-thru mobile food pantry, so folks stay in their cars and they drive up and they are provided with a box of shelf-stable food and a box of fresh produce to take home.

What can people donate to the food bank?

Well, we are looking for shelf-stable foods for donation purposes. So low-sodium, canned vegetables, soups, stews this time of year, shelf-stable milk. We have a list on our website, nhfoodbank.org, that is our most-needed food items, so folks can go on and look at that. Protein like cans of tuna, cans of chicken … peanut butter.

Would you want to mention some of the programs that you all do?

We have a culinary training program right here at the Food Bank in Manchester. It’s a program for individuals who are unemployed or underemployed and the individuals come in, they apply, they get interviewed, they’re accepted, they immediately learn knife skills, recipe conversions because they’re preparing meals that are going out to Boys & Girls Clubs in Salem, Manchester, Allenstown, Concord, Laconia. We do the nutrition incentive program. So folks that are on SNAP can go to farmers markets and … they can double their purchasing power for fruits and vegetables. And there are also some grocery stores that participate in that program as well. We do SNAP outreach. We are trying to reach those folks who qualify for SNAP. SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, so trying to reach those folks who qualify to receive those benefits but are not accessing them, to help them get through that process. We have a production garden, so we have an acre of land here in Manchester that the state allows us to use. During the growing season we are growing our own produce. We have Cooking Matters, which is a program that teaches folks how to eat healthy on a budget. We do a lot. We have New Hampshire Feeding New Hampshire, which is a very cool program that we are providing funding to our partner agencies to purchase dairy and fruit through New Hampshire farmers.

How does someone know if they qualify for SNAP?

They can go to the State of New Hampshire website, New Hampshire Easy, or they can give us a call and we can walk them through the qualifications.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the food bank?

People can also help the food bank by making monetary donations because we are able to purchase, our purchasing power is greater. So we can purchase by tractor-trailer load so it drives prices down. … It means we need money. We can provide two meals for approximately $1.28. —Zachary Lewis

Upcoming NH Food Bank mobile food pantries
Colebrook
NH Liquor & Wine Outlet (16 Metallak Place, Colebrook)
Thursday, Dec. 12, noon to 1:30 p.m. (while supplies last)

Concord
NHTI, lots A/B (31 College Drive, Concord)
Friday, Dec. 20, noon to 2 p.m. (while supplies last)

Visit nhfoodbank.org or call 669-9725.

Area food pantries

Here are some area food pantries. See websites for donation information, hours of operation and information on how to access food assistance.

• Bedford Community Food Pantry 4 Church Road, Bedford, 867-1445, bedfordnhfoodpantry.org

• Christ the King Food Pantry temporarily at 219 S. Main St. in Concord during construction on a new food pantry building, slated to be open in the summer of 2025. Call 224-2328 or see christthekingfoodpantry.org.

• Community Action Program 225-6880, capbm.org/CAP-Area-Resource-Centers operates food pantries at locations in Concord, Franklin, Laconia and Suncook.

• Corpus Christi Food Pantry 3 Crown St., Nashua, 882-6372, corpuschristifoodpantry.org

• Families in Transition Food Pantry 176 Lake Ave., Manchester, 641-9441, fitnh.org/ services/food-programs

• First Baptist Church 4 Crystal Ave, Derry, 421-1897, fbcfoodpantry.org

• First United Methodist Church Food Pantry 961 Valley St., Manchester, 622-8863, fumcmanchester.org. Food pantry operates Tuesdays, 8 to 11:30 a.m.

• Friends of Forgotten Children 224 Bog Road, Concord, 753-4801, fofc-nh.org/food-pantry

• Goffstown Network Food Pantry 7 N. Mast Road, Goffstown, 497-3433, goffstownnetwork.org

• Hooksett Community Food Pantry Hooksett Town Offices, operated by the Kiwanis Club of Hooksett, 35 Main St., Hooksett, 485-7222, hooksettkiwanis.org

• Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter 2 Quincy St., Nashua, 889-7770, nsks.org

• Sacred Heart Food Pantry 247 S. Main St., Manchester, 668-4004, sacredheartchurch-nh.com

• SHARE Outreach 1 Columbus Ave., Milford, 673-9898, sharenh.org

• Shepherd’s Pantry 1 Church St., Windham, 432-2150, shepherdspantry.net

• Southern NH Rescue Mission 40 Chestnut St., Nashua, 889-3421, hope4nashua.org. The Community Gift Center distributes clothes and food every other Tuesday, the website said.

• St. Thomas Aquinas 26 Crystal Ave., Derry, 432-5000, stthomasderry.org

• Tolles St. Mission Food Pantry 52 Whitney St., Nashua, 880-4984, thetollesstreetmission.org

• The Upper Room Food Pantry 36 Tsienneto Road, Derry, 437-8477, urteachers.org

• NH Food Bank distributes food to more than 400 partner agencies across the state. Visit nhfoodbank.org/find-food/food-map to find locations.

Featured image: Plaque at Fort Constitution.

Business Systems Analyst

Granite Stater Samantha McKeon is a Business Systems Analyst for A.W. Chesterton and spoke to the Hippo about her IT career.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I am a business systems analyst, and I would say an easy explanation of that is I am the bridge between maybe the non-tech business workers and the technical side. I basically translate the requirements and I work with IT to come up with solutions.

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been working at my current position for three years, but I’ve been in software for 12.

What kind of education or training did you need?

You should have a solid background on the tech side. So Excel, SQL, usually a visual reporting or data analyst skill. So for mine, it was Power BI. I was really fascinated with that. So I learned that by myself. Depending on what area of system analysis you want to get into would require different certifications, but I have some of the entry-level Microsoft certifications, which help me in my current position.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Business casual, and if I’m on the factory floor, steel-toe shoes and safety glasses. I have an embarrassing amount of safety glasses and my steel-toe shoes look like fall booties so they work with my slacks and dresses.

What is the most challenging thing about your work and how do you deal with it?

Tight deadlines. I could be working on multiple projects at once. They all have different nuances and they usually are under tight deadlines. So for me, the most challenging part of my job is juggling those deadlines and not letting any balls drop.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

That I wanted to go more into IT. I wish I had started my education in technology earlier. I didn’t realize that that was something that I would excel in, so I’m doing all of that now.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

What it is. It’s not a common position and there’s so many branches of it. So for me, I work more on the software side. I do a lot of implementations for newer software. But a lot of people don’t know what it means in my position. They just assume it’s project management, which it’s really not. I do a lot of the work independently. I have to be able to have a basic understanding of the code so I can send it to development. I have to have a foundation of understanding the business and the technical side to test it before we launch it. Because if anything happens, that’s on me. So it would be cool if people had a better understanding of what business system analysts do. And it would be cool, too, to see more women in the field as well.

What was your first job?

Waitressing at a diner.

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
Favorite movie: Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I love Audrey Hepburn.
Favorite music: Noah Kahan
Favorite food: Eggs Benedict
Favorite thing about NH: The foliage. Sometimes I’ll just be driving and look around on the highway and be like, ‘This is beautiful.’ We also have really good lobster rolls.

Featured photo: Samantha McKeon. Courtesy photo.

Looking through the artifacts of NH history

Ashley Miller is New Hampshire’s State Archivist and Director of the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s Archives Division. According to a press release, Ms. Miller was the Archivist, Reference and Outreach Coordinator for the Concord Public Library before her appointment in February 2023. She holds two master’s degrees, in Archives Management and History, from Simmons College, and a bachelor’s degree in History from Pennsylvania State University. She has a real enthusiasm for New Hampshire history and talked about exciting events from past Decembers in New Hampshire. Visit sos.nh.gov and click on the Archives and Records Management tab to find out more information and fun videos on historical artifacts and documents. Follow the Secretary of State’s Instagram page @nhsecretary for their Throwback Thursdays posts, which feature different collections at the Archives.

Can you describe the New Hampshire State Archives?

The New Hampshire State Archives is essentially the state’s library for our historic documents, artifacts, things of that nature. It tracks the history of New Hampshire from its founding till today. So you find everything in here from legislative committee notes, to original acts, to a copy of the Declaration of Independence, to our state constitution. … If you were born in New Hampshire, or if your ancestors are from here, we have those records. If you became a citizen in New Hampshire, we have those records too.

Would you want to talk about Bill of Rights Day that is coming up?

Bill of Rights Day is Dec. 15. New Hampshire’s copy of the Bill of Rights is the one that was produced in 1789 and it was sent to us. There was a copy sent to each of these states at the time for ratification. So the original Bill of Rights, including the one that’s on display in the National Archives, actually has 12 amendments. So, not what we’re expecting when we think Bill of Rights, we think of those first 10 amendments of the Constitution. New Hampshire was the ninth and deciding state to ratify the U.S. Constitution a year earlier in 1788, which is why our address is 9 Ratification Way. When we passed the U.S. Constitution, we actually had some issues with it, one being that it lacked a Bill of Rights. Now New Hampshire had been operating on its permanent state constitution since 1784, which had a Bill of Rights so we thought it was odd as a state that the federal Constitution lacked a Bill of Rights. A year later, the federal government rectifies that, sends a copy to each of the states for ratification in 1789 with 12 amendments. On Jan. 25, 1790, New Hampshire ratifies the Bill of Rights except the second amendment, which it had rejected. The second amendment reads, ‘no law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.’ There was also some discussion about the first amendment, which dealt with representation in terms of population, and as a smaller state, New Hampshire was particularly concerned with it, although ultimately it did not reject it, as they did with the second. So the Bill of Rights as we know it today has 10 amendments, so other states have rejected those two as well. It was sent to New Hampshire in September of 1789 and then we had taken some time to discuss it and by Jan. 25, 1790, we had our final ruling.

Is it the upcoming 250th anniversary of the siege of Fort William and Mary or Fort Constitution?

Technically it’s both. So it was Fort William and Mary, which is the royal governor’s name for it, but then it became Fort Constitution due to what was happening at the time. There’s sort of a long story behind this. In Massachusetts, rumors were flying that troops from Boston were headed to reinforce Fort William and Mary and seize its powder and arms. On Dec. 13, 1774, four months before his famous ride in Massachusetts, Paul Revere rode to Portsmouth from Boston to sound the alarm. Once he arrived in Portsmouth, he met with Samuel Cutts, who was a local merchant, and together they worked with local patriots for a plan to take the fort. So on Dec. 14, local patriots from the Portsmouth area were led by John Langdon … They stormed the post. Granted, I will say there were roughly six men who were guarding the fort at the time, and they seized the garrison’s gunpowder supply, which was distributed to the local militia throughout several New Hampshire towns for potential use in the looming struggle against Great Britain. So they’re getting ready for this fight. … And on the following day, Patriots led by colonial military officer John Sullivan raided the fort again, and he seized some heavy artillery of cannon, not all of it, some ammunition and supplies for the rebel cause. So this is seen as one of the first overt acts of the American Revolution, and it was the only quote-un-quote battle to take place in New Hampshire. No one perished. There were shots fired, but no one perished. The British soldiers who were defending the fort sustained relatively little injuries.

Did the story end there?

OK. So the British then sent two warships to just sit in Portsmouth Harbor. They are trying to quell this insurrection, and the presence of the ships is credited with keeping these patriots from returning to seize the fort’s 45 remaining cannons. On Dec. 20, 1774, the Portsmouth volunteers organized, they elect officers and resolve to drill twice weekly. … This is pre-Battle of Lexington and Concord. … As this continues, eventually our royal governor John Wentworth abandons New Hampshire. … And New Hampshire is the first state colony at the time to declare its independence, on Jan. 5, 1776. well before the Declaration of Independence.

Slightly later on the New Hampshire timeline, what types of Daniel Webster artifacts do you all have?

The last china he used at a dinner party. We have things from his home. We have a record of when he passed the bar exam. Tools that he used around the house, wooden pitchers, wooden buckets, things like that. I will say with America 250 coming up, celebrating the 250th of the Declaration of Independence, the siege of Fort William and Mary, now Fort Constitution, it’s going to have its 250th anniversary this year, there’s going to be a reenactment, a small one because the fort’s in disrepair, but something cool to note.

Are there materials on the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co. or the mill buildings in general?

We have a lot of records of the Amoskeag manufacturing company. We also have a lot on transportation. Our railroad company’s transportation was huge. We have things on Abbot Downing Co. We’ve got records, I mean, find what interests you and I’m sure we have something related to it. There’s something for everyone. —Zachary Lewis

New Hampshire State Archives
Archives and Records Management
NH Department of State
9 Ratification Way (formerly 71 S. Fruit St.), Concord
Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.
sos.nh.gov

Featured image: Plaque at Fort Constitution.

Father and son filmmakers talk about their newest documentary

The Ride Ahead is a documentary from the father-son director team of Dan and Samuel Habib that follows 21-year-old Samuel as he navigates the challenges of growing up while he experiences GNAO1, a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorder that caused his cerebral palsy, epilepsy and speech challenges, according to the film’s website. The duo won at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in 2023 with their New York Times Op-Doc My Disability Roadmap, which is essentially a trailer for this documentary. The film was first screened as a New Hampshire premiere at the opening night of the New Hampshire Film Festival. The Concord premiere will be on Monday, Dec. 2, at the Bank of NH Stage (16 S. Main St.) at 6 p.m. The Ride Ahead will also be screened at Red River Theatres (11 S. Main St., Concord) at various times from Tuesday, Dec. 3, to Thursday, Dec. 12. Visit rideaheadfilm.com for more information or ccanh.com and redrivertheatres.org for tickets.

Can you give a brief overview of the film and the kind of the journey that this endeavor has taken you and Samuel on?

Dan Habib: The Ride Ahead is a new feature-length documentary that Samuel and I just finished this past year. It’s been four years in the making. We produced it right through Covid, which was a big challenge, but it started out because, as Samuel may share a little bit in his comments, Samuel had a very inclusive school experience, a lot of great friends here in Concord, in Concord High School, but then you graduate and it’s very confusing to know how to transition to adulthood for a lot of people, not just people with disabilities. Samuel had a lot of questions about his education, his employment, relationships, where he’s going to live, how he’s going to make new friends, right? I mean, things you talk about all the time. So we just hatched this idea that he could both learn how to navigate the path of adulthood by reaching out to mentors in the disability world who had already been through that transition about their experiences while making a film about that journey, about that exploration of all these questions.

We started researching it back in 2019 and Samuel started thinking about people he wanted to interview, some of whom he knew for years, like Pete Jones and Judy Heumann and Bob Williams, some people he had just heard about and he wanted to reach out to. The film is documenting Samuel’s journey into adulthood while he reaches out for guidance from these badass adults with disabilities all over the country. We decided to also film it from a first-person point of view. Samuel has two GoPro cameras mounted on his wheelchair, one facing in, one facing out, that filmed Samuel’s life experiences throughout that time, and then we would hire professional crews to film the interviews. One of the really important things we decided from the beginning was to hire a majority disabled film and outreach crew. The majority of the people that had paid jobs in this film are disabled people And that’s very unique in the documentary industry, so we’re really proud of that too.

What were some challenges in making the film?

Samuel Habib: Setting up and getting all of the interviews done was the most challenging part of creating the film. We had a lot of misadventures during our travels. On our flight to Indianapolis to interview Andrew Peterson, they turned my power wheelchair on its side both ways — and it got damaged both ways! On our trip to D.C. to interview Judy Heumann and Bob Williams, we had a six-hour flight delay, and then as we were finally boarding our plane, another passenger talked down to me, like I was a 3-year-old. On our New York City trip to interview Keith Jones and Maysoon Zayid, I had a seizure. But we still got the filming done on all the trips!

What were some of the highlights of making the film?

SH: The interviews were awesome, they blew my mind. I reviewed the best sections from the interviews with my dad and we picked out the most powerful lines. I wanted to have lots of humor in the film, so we included some hilarious lines from interviews, especially Keith Jones and Maysoon Zayid. But Judy Heumann was pretty funny too. My favorite line in the film is Keith telling me his advice for sex: Rule number one…. Rule number two…. All the way down to 100: ‘Bag it up.’ And then we added the animation of the condom going all the way over me and my wheelchair — that really cracked me up.

What do you want audiences to take away from the film?

SH: My goal for the film is that people won’t talk down to disabled people. I want everyone to know that disabled people demand respect and rights. And I want other young adults with disabilities to have the same opportunities that I’ve had for health care, inclusive education, college, assistive technology, jobs, making friends, advocacy, and independent living. I hope parents who will watch this film will see that they should include their kids in everything, like my family has done. And I hope schools and colleges who watch this film will commit to include disabled students alongside their non-disabled peers. All of my schools have been inclusive and that made a big impact on my education, and led to my life now as a filmmaker. Our film will let people learn from disability role models like Judy Heumann and Bob Williams about how to live a full life with a disability as they transition to adulthood. This film will help people understand how to talk to me and other people with communication challenges. Be patient and do not talk down to me. Ask me how I best communicate. Slow down the pace of the conversation to create more space for me to contribute. If you don’t understand me, ask me to repeat what I said. If I’m typing on my device, don’t start another conversation — please wait for me to finish.

Young people with disabilities who have seen the film so far have told me that they have the same questions as I do about dating, sex, moving out of their own family’s home, how to respond when people talk down to them, work, and college. That means a lot to me.

Would you want to talk about how important community has been in making the film?

DH: I think film is the most team-oriented creative medium because you have to work with so many talented people to pull it off. We did build a community, you know, as I said, a majority disabled community of creative people to do the film. All of our musicians and people who did the score are all disabled, the animators are disabled, social media manager, our co-producer, our executive producer. So that was really important to us because if Sam was going to tell his story about his own perspective on living as a disabled man, we wanted the whole team to understand that perspective and many of them to have lived it. That was a big part of building community right there but I also think, Samuel, would you say that building community among your mentors, the people like Maysoon and Keith and others, was that also how you would see community-building being important here?

SH: Yeah.

DH: Yeah. So I think also building this community of mentors that Samuel could continue to learn from … .

What are you up to now, Samuel?

SH: I continue to work part time at the Westchester Institute for Human Development doing film work and presentations. The past few years, I’ve been in college at NHTI, the local community college in Concord, New Hampshire, working toward my liberal arts associate’s degree. I have been taking one class a semester and have a 3.0 GPA. So far I have taken Sociology, Cultural Anthropology, Psychology, Contemporary Ethical issues, U.S. History, Social Media Strategy, Mindful Communications, Western Civilization, Geology, Statistics, and Environment and Society. I also joined the student senate club at school. I’m taking this semester off for the film launch, and then I’m planning to attend Southern New Hampshire University, a four-year college. I also had a job last summer at a music venue in New Hampshire called Meadowbrook, scanning tickets. I got to see a bunch of free shows! I’m planning to volunteer at a local performing arts center this fall and winter. Through my film work and the job and volunteer work, I am hoping to make more friends and maybe find a girlfriend. —Zachary Lewis

The Ride Ahead
Concord premiere Monday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m. at Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., ccanh.com
Tickets $22.25 plus small fee
Screenings Tuesday, Dec. 3, to Thursday, Dec. 12, at Red River Theatres, 11 S. Main St., Concord, redrivertheatres.org; typical screening times are 1:30, 4:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Featured image: Dan and Samuel Habib.. Courtesy photo.