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Support for the Friends Program is derived from many sources including grants and contributions from generous individuals like you. Also key to sustaining our services is support from community-minded businesses and foundations like the ones listed here.
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Alexander Eastman Foundation Awards $7,000 to Support Friends RSVP in Rockingham County
The Friends Retired and Senior Volunteer Program appreciates grant funding from the Alexander Eastman Foundation to support our efforts in Derry and surrounding communities.
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Associated Grocers of New England Donates $5,000 to Support the Friends
Many thanks to the employees of Associated Grocers and AGNE's Community Connection Committee for again selecting the Friends as a grant recipient. 100% of employees' contributions are donated to local charities in the greater Concord and Manchester area.
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Lincoln Financial Foundation Supports Friends Emergency Housing & Youth Mentoring
Support from Lincoln Financial's charitable foundation is helping the Friends Program transition N.H. homeless families into permanent housing. Read more
In addition, LFG provided $2,000 in sponsorship support for Friends Youth Mentoring. With $9,500 in total support, we are grateful for LFG's cross-program commitment to our efforts to build relationships and restore hope. ______________________________
Bead It! Has Donated Nearly $8,000 Since 2009 to Support Emergency Housing
For five years, Bead It! in downtown Concord has held twice-annual fundraisers where 30% of sales are donated to help support our efforts to shelter homeless families.
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Lone Wolf Cruisers Have Donated over $16,000 Since 2002 to Support the Friends Program
Lone Wolf Cruisers Club is a nonprofit organization that holds Cruise Nights at Arnie's Place on the Heights
every Tuesday night , May through October. Money collected goes to local charities at the end of each season.
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Franklin Savings Bank Awards $2,500 to Match Local Youth with Mentors
Support from FSB will focus on supporting youth in need from Boscawen, Franklin, Penacook, Salisbury, and surrounding towns. Read more
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The Friends Program is a United Way Agency
You can support the Friends Program through United Way workplace giving. Ask your employer today if your business participates.
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We are also very appreciative of support we received from the dozens of generous individual donors who contributed to our 2014 year-end appeal. Your support helped us raise $40,000 - a very significant increase over last year. With 2014 marking the end of our annual charity auction, this support is vital, allowing us to focus less on elaborate fundraising events and more on helping those in need.
Jerry Madden Executive Director
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 | | Friends Executive Director Jerry Madden with N.H. Governor Maggie Hassan at the 2014 reading of a Proclamation recognizing the work of the Friends Program. |
Gov. Hassan Commends the Friends Program for 40 Years of Community Service
Occasioned by the Friends Program's 40th anniversary last month, Governor Maggie Hassan issued an official Commendation acknowledging Friends volunteers' four decades of community service.
The document reads, in part, "Whereas the Friends Program is a non-profit, human services organization that for 40 years has strengthened communities by building relationships that empower people, encourage community service, and restore faith in the human spirit ...I Margaret Wood Hassan, Governor of the State of New Hampshire, do hereby commend the Friends Program for 40 years of outstanding service and encourage citizens to become aware of this essential organization and its achievements." Click Here to Read the Full Commendation
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Rotary Club of Concord
Donates $2,500 to Support Friends Emergency Housing
Support from the Concord Rotary will help fund the redesign of kitchen and bathroom space at our 8-family shelter. Within the building is space where three families share a common cooking and bathing space. The current cramped configuration does not allow all three families to use the galley-style kitchen at once, making it difficult for them to maintain a regular evening routine. Additionally, the bathroom is located adjacent to a shared living room and is not optimized for privacy. Rotary support will help us relocate the bathroom to an underused storage closet and allow for an expansion of the kitchen. Full Emergency Housing Program Page
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The team at Granite Investment held an office-wide donation drive recently to collect items for homeless families. Pictured here are (l to r) Scott Smith, Victor Soucy, Jill Garipey, Brenda Hayes, and David Ettenson.
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Granite Investment Advisors Donation Helps the Homeless
Spurred by a story in last month's e-mail newsletter, our friends at Granite Investment Advisors stepped up in a big way to help Friends RSVP, AmeriCorps, and several other nonprofits to support N.H. homeless families. Donated necessities were collected in the first half of January and then distributed to the needy on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.
"We saw this as a great way to give back and support the community," said Brenda Hayes, GIA's Executive Assistant. "The Friends Program does so much good for so many, and we saw this as a way to help."
The Friends office was the official Concord drop off location for donations from the Capitol Region. In addition to items like socks and toothbrushes that were collected by AmeriCorps, Granite Investment Asvisors made an additional donation of wishlist items to the Friends shelter in Concord for homeless families.
Granite Investment Advisors is an important friend of the Friends. For the past three years, the firm has also been the lead sponsor of our annual golf tournament, which benefits our Youth Mentoring Program.
"The Concord business community can be proud to know that it has such a community-minded corporate citizen in its ranks," said Friends Development Director Mark Foynes.
If your company is inspired by this example, call 228-7604 today and get involved.
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Bone Builders sessions feature low-impact workouts with high-impact results for seniors. Exercises build strength, prevent bone loss, and promote overall well-being.
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New Bone Builders Locations Added in Bow and Plaistow
The Friends Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is pleased to announce the expansion of its senior wellness program, Bone Builders, to a pair of new venues. The twice-weekly osteoporosis prevention classes are held each Tuesday and Thursday from 10-11am at White Rock Senior Living Community in Bow and Plaistow's Vic Geary Center on Mondays at 10:30 and Fridays at 9:30.
Bone Builders classes feature low-impact exercises that yield high-impact results.These senior strength sessions improve bone and muscle strength, balance, circulation, and general health.
Since 2008, seniors have devoted over 32,000 hours to improving their well-being through these sessions.
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Classes are held twice weekly year-round at local senior centers, senior housing communities and other locales. Friends RSVP-trained volunteers and staff lead classes at 21 locations in Merrimack, Rockingham and Belknap counties. Over 2,000 classes are held annually.
Friends Bone Builders classes are free to attend, but registration is required. To register for the Bow location, call Friends RSVP Coordinator Katie Lynch at 228-7608. Those interested in attending in Plaistow should call Addie Tarbell at 228-7614.
Full RSVP Page
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Foster Grandparent Philip Murphy built this game show-style light-up buzzer for use in student competitions at the school where he volunteers.
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Okay...What IS It?!
Retired science teacher and current Foster Grandparent Philip Murphy is very adept at adapting seemingly-random items for educational purposes. One such example of the Kearsarge Middle School volunteer's knack for repurposing is a game show-style light-up buzzer for academic competitions. Up to 5 students at once can use the hand-held clickers, which are recycled pill bottles attached to the main unit with phone chords. Housed and secured in a reused clementine box, various components give rise to five candle-sized columns sporting light bulbs. The electrical lines transmit a signal to the light fixtures, and only the first one received will light a bulb.
When he's not engineering clever devices for his 7th grade students, Murphy also mentors a local youngster in our Youth Mentoring Program. Full Foster Grandparent Page
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The Friends Program has its own sandwich at the Works Bakery Cafe in downtown Concord. Fifty cents from the sale of every "Love Is Friends" sandwich will be donated to the Friends Program.
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Supporting the Friends Program Has Never Tasted So Good!
Next time you're thinking about lunch, head on over to the Works Bakery Cafe in downtown Concord and order the "Love Is Friends" sandwich. It was designed and named by Trustee Jodi Roos, who made a donation to the Friends for this privilege. Fifty cents from each sale will be donated to the Friends and support efforts to match at-risk youth with volunteer mentors. The sandwich has turkey, cucumbers, spouts, and cheese with guacamole. Don't want any gluten? No problem - none whatsoever in or between those slices of artisan bread.
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Additionally, we are grateful for support from Merrimack County Savings Bank. Last year, the Merrimack made a donation to design and name a Barley House burger to recognize the efforts of Friends volunteers.
They took to social media to sing the praises of our volunteers and their burger, the Mighty Merrimack. MCSB even held a contest to determine who would design and name the burger.
Stephanie Andrus, Bow branch manager, came up with the winning entry!
Many thanks to the Merrimack- our single largest corporate sponsor! Last year alone, Merrimack County Savings Bank contributed over $8,000 to support our efforts to match local at-risk youth with caring one-to-one mentors.
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Upcoming Orientations for New Youth Mentors
Want to make a difference in the life of a Merrimack County yongster? Join us for an introduction to volunteerism as a mentor.
Orientation sessions will introduce you to the basics and some current best practices. These opportunities are for those who are considering stepping up and stepping in to help a needy child, as well as for those already on the path to becoming a youth mentor.
Wednesday, February 11, 9:30a.m.-Noon
Monday, March 16, 4:30-7p.m.
Thursday, April 16, 5:30-8p.m.
Tuesday, May 19, 5:30-8p.m.
Thursday, June 25, 1:00-3p.m.
Venue:
The Friends Program, 202 North State Street, Concord.
Interested? Have questions? Want more information? Call 228-0108 and speak with a Youth Mentoring Coordinator today. Full Youth Mentoring Program Page
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Friends Program | 202 North State Street | Concord, NH 03301
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Copyright � 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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Several stories in this newsletter describe how local organizations help the Friends Program help others. We are deeply grateful for the recent generosity of the 
