Category: Quality Of Life

Preserving New Hampshire

The Land and Community Heritage Investment Program has awarded more than $4.7 million in matching grants for 40 projects throughout New Hampshire that support historic preservation and land conservation. According to a press release, these grants will bolster outdoor recreation, food-producing farmland and working forests and will help preserve old buildings. For example, several old towns halls have received grants: Salem’s, built in 1738, and Wilmot’s, built in 1906, are the oldest and newest buildings to get grants, while the Mont Vernon Town Hall has received a $25,000 grant to support the restoration of its windows and sashes. Other building projects are at historic churches, like the First Church of Nashua, which got a $60,000 grant to support the restoration of its bell tower, the release said.

Score: +1

Comment: Grant recipients have to raise a minimum of $1 for each dollar provided by LCHIP, the release said, and this year’s awards will be matched by $19 million that the projects’ sponsors will raise on their own.

Winter optimism

More than 3 million visitors are expected to travel to New Hampshire and spend about $1.2 billion this winter season, the state Division of Travel and Tourism Development announced last week. According to a press release, the department will launch its winter ad campaign in January, including in Quebec and Ontario, now that the Canadian border is open to non-essential travel again. The campaign will mainly promote winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing, plus some non-outdoor activities like shopping and dining.

Score: +1

Comment: “We know the outdoor recreation assets in New Hampshire like our ski resorts and winter trail networks are among the largest drivers of our state’s economy,” Taylor Caswell, commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs, said in the release. “They bring tourists to spend a weekend but also increasingly more new residents seeking to restore their work/life balance.”

Make the most of matching donations

For every dollar raised by the New Hampshire Food Bank by the end of the year, an anonymous private foundation will match the donation, up to $100,000, potentially providing a total of $200,000 in funding. That would equate to about 400,000 meals, according to a press release. This is the seventh year in a row that this foundation has provided matching donations, which, in conjunction with public support, has resulted in more than $4 million raised and 80 million meals given to those in need.

Score: +1

Comment:The pandemic has increased the need for food assistance throughout the country, and in New Hampshire one in nine people face food insecurity, the release said. Donations can be made at nhfoodbank.org.

Unlikely elves

New Hampshire State Prison residents created more than 400 hand-drawn cards and more than 200 hand-drawn coloring books for kids at the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth this holiday season. According to a press release, Cards for Kids and Coloring Books for Kids originated through the Resident Communication Committee’s Lifer & Long-term Incarceration Subcommittee, which also made a treasure chest so CHaD staff can hand out prizes when they play games with the kids.

Score: +1

Comment: The items were recently delivered to CHaD by a state prison lieutenant.

QOL score last week: 82

Net change: +4

QOL this week: 86

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Moose plate money

Fifteen projects aimed at protecting and restoring New Hampshire’s natural resources have been awarded a total of $379,913 in funding from the New Hampshire State Conservation Committee’s 2022 Conservation Moose Plate Grant Program. According to a press release, projects include the Potter Family Farm in Concord ($30,000); Supporting Soil Health Management in Hillsborough County ($29,648); Improving Aquatic Organism Passage at Rocky Pond in Loudon and Canterbury ($30,000); Making No-Till Practices Accessible Through Rental Equipment in Merrimack County ($27,000); and Killam-Hog Hill Brook in Atkinson ($10,000).

Score: +1

Comment: The funds come from the sale of moose plates, which vehicle owners can buy for $38 the first year and $30 in the following years when renewing or registering a vehicle, according to the release.

Decking the halls, again

The coffee shop at Saint Anselm College got a dose of Christmas kindness recently, according to a report from WMUR. After holiday decorations were stolen from the shop’s entrance, students stepped up and replaced them — and then some. “A bunch of the students came in with a humongous amount of gifts and gift cards for my staff, for me personally, Christmas decoration wreaths, you could not believe the stuff they came in with,” Terry Newcomb of Saint Anselm Dining Services, who decorates the coffee shop each year, told WMUR. “They were all thanking me for the hard work I have done for them.”

Score: +1

Comment: The coffee shop won Saint Anselm’s annual holiday decorating contest this year, WMUR reported.

Express yourself

The Magnify Voices Expressive Arts Contest is back for its fourth year, encouraging kids in grades 5 through 12 to express their experiences with mental health. One in six New Hampshire youth experiences a mental health disorder each year, and in 2020, 57 percent of Granite Staters with depression ages 12 to 17 did not receive any care, the release said. Submissions for the contest, which was created to help raise awareness and remove the stigma around mental health issues, will be accepted starting Dec. 15, according to a press release. Submissions will be accepted through March 4 and can be short films (two minutes or less), essays or poems (1,000 words or less) or visual art, a song or a sculpture.

Score: +1

Comment: “Last year’s submissions were extremely personal and powerful, and epitomized the purpose of why we started Magnify Voices,” Michele Watson, Magnify Voices committee chair, said in the release. “[It] gives youth a creative outlet to share their feelings and emotions.”

Paying it forward

Chris LaPage, a Concord Banks Chevrolet service technician, and his wife, Deborah, are making sure people in their community have the chance to learn CPR after it saved his life. According to a press release, LePage was found unconscious at work one day last May; with the guidance of a 911 dispatcher, an employee was able to resuscitate him at the scene with the use of an Automated External Defibrillator and Compression Only CPR. LePage returned to work full time two and a half months after his cardiac arrest and since then has taken a CPR course and received certification. Deborah LePage, who works for the Epsom Elementary School, did as well, and the two have provided training and CPR certifications for the school basketball coaches and are advocating for the addition of CPR instruction to the eighth-grade curriculum, the release said.

Score: +1

Comment: Banks Chevrolet has installed five additional AEDs and sent about two dozen staff members to the American Red Cross training, the release said.

QOL score: 78

Net change: 82

QOL this week: +4

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Putting a damper on shopping

The Mall of New Hampshire had to shut down its food establishments temporarily after a massage chair caught fire. According to a press release, the Manchester Fire Department responded to the call around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 and found heavy smoke throughout the mall. The sprinkler had turned on and contained the fire to the area of the massage chair, which, according to a report from WMUR, was said to have been in a hallway outside of Best Buy and the food court. There was water damage in the area of the fire and smoke damage throughout, according to the fire department’s report, but no one was injured. The mall’s eateries were scheduled to reopen upon passing inspection from the Manchester Health Department, according to WMUR.

Score: -1

Comment: What is Christmas shopping without snacks and a massage?

Granite State gives

New Hampshire is the 9th most generous state, according to GoFundMe’s annual Giving Report. The fundraising platform’s report includes a list of the most generous states and cities in America for supporting individuals, causes and organizations in 2021. According to the report, the top three states are Massachusetts, Vermont and Connecticut. The rankings are based on the number of donations per capita on GoFundMe.

Score: +1

Comment: All six New England states made it into the Top 10, according to the report.

Student success

Two New Hampshire students — Matthew Blair of Manchester Central High School and Warren Chen of Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua — have been selected to participate in the 60th Annual U.S. Senate Youth Program. According to a press release, the two were nominated by their principals and were selected by a panel of judges. Blair, a senior, is class president, editor-in-chief of Central’s school newspaper, co-captain of the Boys’ Varsity Hockey Team, drum major and a National Honor Society member, and he’s ranked 1st in his class with a 4.0 GPA. Chen, a junior, is the school’s junior communications officer and has “thrived in a challenging program of study … [and] contributed greatly to the school community while engaging and collaborating with everyone,” according to the release. Alternates are Matthew Pemberton at Bedford High School and Max Aframe at Hopkinton High School.

Score: +1

Comment: Both students will receive a $10,000 scholarship and will represent the Granite State in an intensive study of the federal government, joining alums like former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, the release said.

QOL score: 77

Net change: +1

QOL this week: 78

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Holly jolly trolley tours

The Queen City is encouraging residents to decorate their homes with its second annual Manchester Holiday Lights Contest! Register online at manchesternh.gov by 5 p.m. on Dec. 9 and your lights display will be included in the public Manchester Holiday Lights Map, according to a press release. The public will have a chance to vote for their favorites, and prizes will be awarded to the top vote-getting displays.

Score: +1

Comment: Manchester residents are really getting into the holiday spirit: Within a day of the Manchester Transit Authority announcing that it is hosting free Holiday Lights Trolley Tours for families on its Molly Trolley for two weekends in December, all the tickets were scooped up.

Winter weather already causing woes on the road

On Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, when most of the state got anywhere from a dusting to several inches of snow, multiple crashes and spin-outs were reported, according to a report from WMUR. State police were called to about 50 accidents across the state, the report said, prompting troopers to remind drivers to stay home if possible during winter storms, and to drive safely if you must go out. “You’re not going to get to where you’re going as fast as you would normally in the summer months and you’re going to go slower and you need to be prepared for that, so give yourself enough time,” State Police Staff Sgt. Daniel Baldassarre told WMUR.

Score: -2

Comment: According to the report, police also want to remind people about Jessica’s Law, which requires drivers to remove snow and ice from their roofs before driving or risk being fined anywhere from $250 to $1,000.

Easy access to at-home Covid tests

When QOL went to sayyescovidhometest.org to order free at-home Covid testing kits on the day the state announced they were available, it was so easy that it was almost unbelievable. The process took maybe a minute — far less time and hassle than ordering anything online on Cyber Monday. QOL’s order was confirmed, with a message saying the tests would arrive in about a week from Amazon. Of course, it is possible that something could go wrong and the tests might not arrive on time or at all — but for now, QOL is relieved that it was so simple.

Score: 0 (+1 for QOL, -1 for anyone who didn’t have the same experience)

Comment: Two of QOL’s coworkers tried to order the tests with mixed results; one got them just as easily as QOL, and one tried about 8 hours later and the tests were gone. Here’s hoping they’re restocked and available again soon.

High marks for low health insurance premiums

New Hampshire will have the country’s 2nd-lowest health insurance premiums in 2022, and those premiums will be less than they were in 2021, according to a new analysis from valuepenguin.com by Lending Tree. The report said that the average cost of an ACA health insurance plan in the Granite State in 2022 will be $4,320 a year, which is 33.41 percent below the national average and 1.37 percent less than last year.

Score: +1

Comment: Nationally, health insurance premiums will increase an average of 0.67 percent in 2022, according to the report.

QOL score: 77

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 77

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Hope in the face of homelessness

The Front Door Agency, a nonprofit that helps local families avoid and overcome homelessness, has kicked off its annual fundraiser, which last year helped 950 people in Greater Nashua, according to a press release. One of those people was Angela, a single mother from Nashua who had been involved in a series of unhealthy relationships and lost her full-time job, though even with her job she couldn’t afford rent. According to a New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority report, the cost to rent a two-bedroom unit in Hillsborough County is more than $1,600 per month, up 28 percent since 2016. “My daughter and I were literally facing homelessness,” Angela said in the release. “I’m motivated and educated. I could not believe it was happening to us.” After moving into one of the agency’s properties dedicated to single moms and their kids, Angela worked with a case manager to create financial goals. She is now working for a Fortune 500 company and makes enough to pay her bills and save money, her credit score is up, and she will leave Front Door Agency with the ability to afford market rent.

Score: +1

Comment: You can make donations at frontdooragency.org/giving.

That turkey’s gonna cost you

Enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner, because it’s going to be more expensive than last year’s. According to a report from WMUR, experts are saying lack of food isn’t an issue; it’s inflation that’s driving things up. The Farm Bureau reported that the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people this year is $53.31, a 14 percent jump from last year. And the centerpiece of the meal is a big part of that; the average cost for a 16-pound turkey is almost $24, up 24 percent from last year, according to the report. Workforce shortage and disruptions to the supply chain are contributing to that increase, New Hampshire grocers told WMUR.

Score: -1

Comment:John Dumais, president of the New Hampshire Grocers Association, told WMUR that grocers would be “able to provide everything the consumer needs in one form or another.”

Beware of holiday scams

AARP NH State Director Todd Fahey is warning consumers about calls related to holiday scams, saying that “the gift-giving process … brings a plethora of opportunities for scammers to enrich themselves.” According to a press release, these opportunities can include online shopping scams, scams involving the draining of gift cards, and package and shipping scams. An AARP survey showed some of the risky behaviors of shoppers: For example, 69 percent of Americans will use their debit cards this season, but credit cards and digital wallets are safer when shopping online. Sixty percent will buy gift cards off the rack, which is a known target for scammers, according to the release.

Score: -1

Comment: “This holiday season, serve your holiday cheer with a side of skepticism to help stay safe from increasingly sophisticated scammers,” Fahey said in the release.

Tiny home appeal

New Hampshire is the 6th best state in the country to have a tiny home, according to IPX 1030, a Fidelity National Financial Company. The rankings are based on tiny home cost, cost of living, median income, park land coverage, annual average temperature as well as tiny home legality and regulations in every state. The Granite State has the 4th lowest cost of tiny homes, with the average being $34,950, according to the report.

Score: +1

Comment: Though homes in top-ranking Georgia and Texas are more expensive ($43,819 and $48,120, respectively), those states’ average daily temps (62.3 and 66 degrees) are likely more appealing than New Hampshire’s average of 44.5 degrees; QOL would imagine that living in such a small space makes being able to go outside a key factor.

QOL score: 77

Net change: 0

QOL this week: 77

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

Granite State’s great outdoors

New Hampshire’s outdoor recreation sector created $2.2 billion in economic activity in 2020, making it among the Top 10 states in the nation with the highest value added to the state’s gross domestic product (2.6 percent), according to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs. Though non-traditional outdoor activities like amusement parks, water parks and festivals were negatively impacted by the pandemic, more conventional outdoor activities like camping, boating, fishing and RVing either increased or stayed the same: boating/fishing increased by 41 percent, bicycling by 14 percent, RVing by 9 percent and OHRVing by 5 percent.

Score: +1

Comment: New Hampshire’s outdoor recreation industry employed more than 26,500 people in 2020, according to the release.

A new challenge to staying connected

New Hampshire residents who rely on 3G service could find themselves disconnected come 2022, as cell carriers shut down the old network to make way for higher-speed, more reliable 5G service, according to a report from WMUR. By the end of 2022 all 3G service will be obsolete, so people with older cell phones and tablets should check with their carriers to find out when they plan to stop 3G service.

Score: -1

Comment: According to the WMUR report, there are some medical devices and in-vehicle data services that still depend on the 3G network, too, and services like OnStar are contacting customers about plans to update its software to keep people connected.

Community caring

Students of the Granite State Independent Living programs in Manchester, Nashua, Concord and Littleton are giving back to their communities all month long, according to a press release. Granite State Independent Living helps underserved students with disabilities transition from high school to the workforce or a post-secondary education. Now some of those students are reaching out to help others; locally, Manchester students are writing thank-you notes to health care workers, Nashua students will volunteer at the Nashua Soup Kitchen and make Christmas ornaments for a local nursing home, and Concord students will prepare Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless.

Score: +1

Comment: “Our students are remarkable and we are deeply touched to see their youthful enthusiasm for various community projects all around the state,” Deborah Ritcey, CEO of GSIL, said in the release. “It’s a great way to showcase the kindness and generosity of these young people.”

Even easier travel options at MHT

Prefer to fly nonstop, and from Manchester, not Boston? Manchester-Boston Regional Airport has launched two more nonstop routes on Spirit Airlines, to Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers and Tampa International Airport, joining its nonstop routes to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, according to a press release. This also adds more options for passengers who want to fly internationally, as they can connect in Florida to destinations like Colombia, Jamaica, Mexico and Costa Rica. Spirit started flying out of MHT this year, the first new airline at the airport in 17 years.

Score: +1

Comment: “Time and time again, our passengers are showing us that they prefer to fly out of MHT, even to connect internationally,” Airport Director Ted Kitchens said in the press release. “It’s exciting to see Spirit expanding to two more Florida destinations from MHT.”

QOL score: 75

Net change: +2

QOL this week: 77

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.