The RSVP Fixit Corps volunteers will be available to respond effectively to requests such as repairing leaky faucets, installing a grab-bar, repair switches, outlets or sockets and other minor requests for home maintenance assistance. All labor is provided free of charge by volunteers; clients are asked only to cover the cost of materials.

The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program is a 39-year-old nationwide organization that provides an organizational framework through which community needs and senior volunteer resources come together to benefit the entire community.

The RSVP Fixit Corps was developed to increase the reach and efficiency of the volunteer home maintenance program by harnessing the volunteer resources available through the RSVP program. The move combines the strengths of two successful and highly regarded programs.

“This funding will allow the Program Coordinator to focus on the recruitment and training of volunteers and with repair requests received from clients. Support provided by the Home Instead Foundation will also allow for the purchase of supplies in those cases when the client is indigent and unable to cover the costs,” said Dee Martin, volunteer services director. SNHS’ RSVP Fixit Corps is one of 13 organizations awarded grant funding from The Home Instead Senior Care Foundation in 2012. The grant from the Home Instead Foundation allows the RSVP Fixit Corps to continue its support of seniors in Hillsborough County communities.

(L-R) Lisa Byrne, Owner, along with Pattie Hayes, Director of Community Relations, present the check for $15,000 to Dee Martin, Volunteer Services Director for the RSVP Fixit Corps.

“Our missions are very similar to the RSVP Fixit Corps, as we both help enhance the lives of aging adults and their families,” said Roger H. Baumgart, Executive Director of The Foundation. “We are pleased to provide grant funding to The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Fixit Corps for making a positive difference in the safety, well-being and independence of seniors,” Baumgart said.

In 1994, Lori and Paul Hogan founded Home Instead Senior Care, an international company of independently owned and operated franchises, to provide non-medical care for seniors. As a means to enhance the lives of older adults, going beyond the scope of this organization, The Home Instead Senior Care Foundation was established in 2003.

The Home Instead Senior Care Foundation has awarded more than 100 grants throughout the United States and Canada since 2004. To learn more about The Foundation, visit www.homeinsteadseniorcarefoundation.org.

The garden is open to all residents of Hillsborough County who wish to have a garden space. A minimum of 75% of all gardening spaces are reserved for households meeting Federal low-income guidelines. For a donation of $20, the remaining land is made available to those households exceeding the guidelines, or who fail to file the requested financial information.

Benefits of the program include greater access to fresh local produce, lower grocery bills and an increased sense of community. Generally 40 plots are made available each year.

Valerie Carignan, WIC/SCFP Coordinator coordinates the program for Southern New Hampshire Services. Southern New Hampshire Services manages the garden program through an agreement with the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners.

Each community gardener accepted into the program receives a 25’ x 25’ rototilled garden plot. Water, seeds, rakes, hoes and other materials needed to maintain the plot must be supplied by the gardener. Produce grown on the plot must be used to increase the amount of nutritional foods available in the gardener’s household; it cannot be sold for profit.

Complete information about the program, including guidelines and the forms needed to apply for the 2012 Hillsborough County Community Garden are located on the Southern New Hampshire Services website (www.snhs.org) in the Health, Food & Nutrition section under the “Programs” tab.

Applications for plots will be accepted until all spaces have been allocated.

Those interested in the program can also contact Valerie Carignan at 603-668-8010 x 6042 or by email at vcarignan@snhs.org.

Information about the Community Garden Program is posted on Southern New Hampshire Services’ website. Click here to access this information on the web.

Knowing what questions to ask your pharmacist is critical to your continued good health. Area seniors interested in learning more about what questions to ask – and how to use the information gained – can learn more at the Seniors Count-Nashua workshop scheduled for Monday, May 14 at the Nashua Senior Activity Center.

Kerri Vallante, Pharm D is the workshop presenter. She is the Pharmacy Manager at the Walgreens located on Main Street in Nashua. In addition to sharing information on what you can learn from your pharmacist, Vallente will also offer information about how to safely dispose of medications you are no longer taking.

Those attending the workshop are invited to bring a “brown bag” containing the current medications and supplements they are taking to receive more individualized information and answers to their questions.

The workshop will begin at 1:00pm. The Senior Activity Center is located at 70 Temple St. in Nashua.

Advance registration for the workshop is requested. Please call Beth Todgham, Seniors Count-Nashua facilitator for Southern New Hampshire Services at (603) 889-3440 x 629 for more information.

Workshop participants can come early to enjoy lunch offered by St. Joseph Community Services (Meals on Wheels) in the cafeteria at the Nashua Senior Activity Center. A $2 donation is requested for diners age 60 and over; the price is slightly higher for those under 60. Pre-registration for lunch is required. Call Steve, SJCS site manager, at 882-2106 to reserve your lunch. Lunch is served from 11:45am to 12:45pm.

The workshop is one of a series of free programs offered monthly at the Senior Activity Center by Seniors Count-Nashua. The workshops provide area residents with information on resources available in the community as they age.

Past workshops have included topics on senior fraud and identity theft, senior driving issues, gizmos and gadgets to stay safe in your home, clutter control and understanding what a loved one with dementia is experiencing. All programs have been filmed by Nashua’ Education Channel 99. Programs are broadcast Mondays at 1:00pm and can be viewed on-line at http://nashua.ezstream.com.

Southern New Hampshire Services, ServiceLink Resource Center, the Nashua Public Library, and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services-Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services provide additional support for the workshops.

Click here for a copy of the workshop flyer

MANCHESTER – ONE OF THE emblems of rural New Hampshire — the roadside farm stand — will be appearing in Manchester and Derry this summer, with a few notable variations.

While the standard fare of tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers will be available, customers will also have their pick of unfamiliar crops such as collard greens, okra, molokia and bittermelon.

And the person selling the goods may have a skin tone different from that of most sun-starved New Englanders.

After five years of growing crops at a 7-acre plot in Dunbarton, refugees will be opening farm stands to sell the produce they grow locally. Officials with the program said it’s the next logical expansion of efforts to keep refugees , many of whom grew up in farm communities, connected to the soil.

“It will be a benefit for both the growers and the public,”said Mukhtar Idhow, executive director of the Manchester-based Organization forRefugee and Immigrant Success.

His organization has received grants under the U.S. Agriculture Department’s National Immigrant Farming Initiative to reconnect refugeesand immigrants, most of whom live in urban areas, with their farming culture.

The marketing effort is funded by a two-year, $75,000 Agriculture Department grant.

The grant will allow farm stand machines to process payments from debit cards, as well as electronic bank transfer cards used in the food stamp and Women, Infants and Children nutrition program.

The site for one farm stand has already been chosen — the Southern New Hampshire Services warehouse on Pine Street. Organizers are in discussion with Manchester housing authorities to open another at Elmwood Gardens.

An area has been identified in Derry, and another must be found in Manchester, Idhow said.

In the meantime, the farmers plan to have a stand at the Manchester farmers market this year. And a community-supported agriculture program that had 15 customers last year will expand to 50 this year.

Idhow said Somali Butus, Bhutanese and Congolese are most heavily involved in the effort, although it is open to anyone.

Five years ago, it started with eight participants; last year 25 were involved. This winter 60 took training, and Idhow expects to have 40 producers on the farm this year.

In fact, he is adding 5 more acres to the effort. In the coming weeks, he will parcel out plots to program participants. Those who are new will likely get a quarter-acre, which can generate $5,000 in produce if managed correctly, said Amy Carrington, a consultant working with ORIS.

Participants with more experience can manage up to an acre.

The Agriculture Department has provided $153,000 in grants for food production. It can help share the cost of farm tools and some seed purchases, and it keeps a full-time production specialist — Anthony Munene, a Kenyan with experience in farming — on the farm.

But some expenses it won’t cover, such as transportation to and from the farm. Part of running a farm is getting the product to market, Carrington said.

“We’re pretty clear. Our program is not a community garden; it’s a business,” she said.

This will be the second year at the farm for Laxmi Mishra, a 57-year-old Bhutanese who moved to the United States from a refugee camp in Nepal in 2009.

In Bhutan, Mishra owned a 35-acre farm where he grew cotton, oranges, rice, grain and had cattle, he said through Dukula Mishra, his daughter and translator. There, the tropical climate allowed for crops to be grown year-round.

ORIS helped him learn about seasonal agriculture, and Mishra is now searching for seed for bittermelon, which he grew in Bhutan.

“He really enjoyed the farming in the U.S.,” Dukula Mishra said. “He wanted to do more, but because of his language barrier he is held back.”

Reprinted with permission
Union Leader Corporation
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
www.unionleader.com

A number of topics will be covered, including:

Debt Collection and Harassment. Everyone has the right to stop phone calls and other communications from debt collectors. Workshop attendees will learn how to deal with this nuisance and find out if they have “protected income” that is exempt from collection if they are sued on a debt.

Property Taxes. Under New Hampshire law, senior homeowners may be eligible for a property tax abatement, exemption and/or deferral depending on individual circumstances. The workshop will offer information on how to know if you are getting the relief you are entitled to.

Foreclosures. The workshop will present information on how foreclosures happen in New Hampshire, what the process is and alternatives that exist to foreclosure.

Candace Cappio-Gebhart, paralegal with New Hampshire Legal Assistance, is workshop presenter.

The workshop will begin at 1:00pm. The Senior Activity Center is located at 70 Temple St. in Nashua.

Advance registration for the workshop is requested. Please call Beth Todgham, Seniors Count-Nashua facilitator for Southern New Hampshire Services at (603) 889-3440 x 629 for more information.

Workshop participants can come early to enjoy lunch offered by St. Joseph Community Services (Meals on Wheels) in the cafeteria at the Nashua Senior Activity Center. A $2 donation is requested for diners age 60 and over; the price is slightly higher for those under 60. Pre-registration for lunch is required. Call Steve, SJCS site manager, at 882-2106 to reserve your lunch. Lunch is served from 11:45am to 12:45pm.

The workshop is one of a series of free programs offered monthly at the Senior Activity Center by Seniors Count-Nashua. The workshops provide area residents with information on resources available in the community as they age.

Past workshops have included topics on senior fraud and identity theft, senior driving issues, gizmos and gadgets to stay safe in your home, clutter control and understanding what a loved one with dementia is experiencing. All programs have been filmed by Nashua’ Education Channel 99. Programs are broadcast Mondays at 1:00pm and can be viewed on-line at http://nashua.ezstream.com.

Southern New Hampshire Services, ServiceLink Resource Center, the Nashua Public Library, and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services-Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services provide additional support for the workshops.