Hometown Heroes
	OUR 2024 COMMUNITY PARTNER While the challenges continue, so do the good works done by our neighbors, our teachers, our health care providers, our volunteers and so many others. This is their story. Ledyard National Bank is proud to support the 2024 Hometown Heroes, who were nominated by members of the community and selected by editors of the Concord Monitor. Nominate your Hometown Hero today.

By DAVID BROOKS

Like all Hometown Heroes, Donna Toomey is always ready to help somebody in need. In her case, however, the need is often very specific.

By RACHEL WACHMAN

Back in September, a team of Habitat for Humanity volunteers began work on Beth Riley’s Loudon home, spending countless hours repairing the floors, plumbing, counters, doorways, stairwells, and exterior.Riley learned about Habitat for Humanity when a...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

Lucienne Boisvert sat by the fireplace with her crochet hook, a skein of purple yarn, and a half-completed scarf. As she wove the hook in and out of holes at the end of the scarf and wrapped the yarn accordingly, the 97-year-old began to explain her...

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

It’s not a phase, Concord.At least, that’s what Starsea Deoss hopes for the city’s thriving emo scene. It’s a motto of sorts for a crowd of more than 100 people clad in skinny jeans, tattoos and lots of black clothing who flock to the Feathered Friend...

by RACHEL WACHMAN

Megan Katsirebas joined Girl Scouts in second grade. Growing up in Epsom, it have her space to broaden her outlook and her interests.“I met a whole bunch of friends,” Katsirebas said. “But then once high school hit, everyone kind of left because they...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

It takes James “Jim” Marshall three minutes to snip the netting off a Christmas tree, unwrap it, determine the price, put a ribbon on the top, and add it to the pile of trees to be sold. He’s perfected this skill over 38 years of spearheading...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

When Cheyenne Boucher decided to join Best Buddies in 2014, she had no idea her involvement with the organization would shape the trajectory of her life.Best Buddies had just come to the state of New Hampshire. The organization was looking for partner...

By DAVID BROOKS

Preserving land from development is all about woods and streams and birds and beasts. That’s the fun part.But it’s also about laws and contracts and tax rules and finance. That’s the boring part – yet without it, the woods and beasts are in...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

Maria Pacelli remembers sitting at her father’s bedside as he took his final breaths. She was in college at the time and had, coincidentally, been taking courses on death and loss.She and her brothers held a vigil for the final four days before her...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

It started with a peregrine falcon. For Robert Vallieres, a veteran of the Gulf War, this was the bird that changed his life once he returned from combat.“They needed people to watch their natural habitats. It’s called nest-watching,” Vallieres said....

By ALEXANDER RAPP

Jacob Adler, a junior lineman and middle linebacker for Franklin High School, walked into Dan Sylvester’s office to ask about meeting his community service requirements while also having a commitment to the football team practice before a big game...

By DAVID BROOKS

For a holiday centered around ghosts, cemeteries, spooky creatures and all-around scariness, Halloween sure produces its share of simple pleasures.“It’s so fun seeing the kids’ eyes light up and watching their reaction,” said Dave Bastien of Concord....

By ARIANNA MacNEILL

Nearly 30 years ago, Cheryl Stinson decided to respond to an ad in the Concord Monitor looking for a Penacook town crier.A volunteer position, each town crier writes a short weekly column detailing community happenings, dubbed Talk of the Towns...

By RACHEL WACHMAN

To some in her Pembroke neighborhood, Lori Rowe’s home is known as the “fairy house” or the “fairy garden.” It started three years ago when she put out a display of hand-painted fairy houses with little gnomes and knick-knacks. Nestled into the base...

RACHEL WACHMAN

Mark Aquilino and Todd Wheatley spent countless hours this summer organizing a fishing tournament unlike any other. They brought together veterans on the seacoast with the Yankee Fishermen’s Co-Op, a local fishing group, for a multi-day competition to...

By SOPHIE LEVENSON

From his seat in a shaded booth at The Works, underneath a picture of wild blueberries, Jim Milliken gestures at Main Street. “I painted every parking meter you can see,” he says.He also changed the lightbulbs in traffic lights and touched up the...

By RAY DUCKLER

Nancy Peperissa’s secrets to help people involve cotton and rice, two items she uses to craft items with others in mind.She crochets cotton to make soft skull caps for chemotherapy patients. The rice she inserts into a doll’s midsection gives it...

By RAY DUCKLER

When Randy and Holly Silver saw their chance two years ago to open a business they’ve always wanted, they wasted no time moving forward.They went to the bank almost immediately after an offer was made to buy the Bittersweet Fabric Shop, a staple in...

By CATHERINE McLAUGHLIN

People often go to the library looking for something quite specific: the next mystery novel in a series, a tax form or maybe a political memoir. But, as any regular knows, libraries hold so much more than books between the stacks: free and engaging...

By RAY DUCKLER

You’ve probably seen the sign hugging Route 3 in Boscawen, near the Penacook border.It’s big and announces that the restaurant located there, Alan’s of Boscawen – a landmark in the region – remains open after a 40-year run. The owner and founder, Alan...

By MICHAELA TOWFIGHI

Earle Simpson has a message for every patient who walks through the door of his dental practice: Take today and go forward. For many, a trip to the dentist was a rarity before they visited Simpson’s practice, Saving People’s Smiles. Dental care is...