The Homemakers Annual Auction Set for March 27

ROCHESTER—
Join The Homemakers in celebrating 35 years of building a healthy community at it’s 35th Anniversary Auction in March - an event which will feature both a live and on-line auction.
Eastern Propane and Oil is the major Home Health Care Patron sponsor of this year’s event. Other sponsors to date include D.F. Richard, a Health Care Advocate sponsor, Peach and McPherson, CPAs and Seacoast Redicare, Home Health Care Caregiver sponsors.
“While The Homemakers has grown and changed over the past 35 years, several things have not changed – our commitment to providing professional, compassionate and cost effective home health, home support and adult day care services, and our increasing need to raise funds to provide those elderly and disabled persons in our community with the vital healthcare services they need,” says Tammy Jordan-Cary, director of development at The Homemakers. “With the help of the community we’re hoping that our 35th Anniversary Auction will be among one of our largest fundraisers planned for this year.”
The Homemakers 35th Anniversary Auction will kick off with an on-line auction. Beginning March 1st, interested bidders are invited to participate in a special on-line event which will run from 8 a.m. March 1st through midnight March 21st on the Agency’s website www.TheHomemakers.org. In addition, bidders will be able to preview items that will be up for bid at the live auction, which will be held Saturday, March 27th at The Red Barn at Outlook Farm in South Berwick.
“Over the years, The Homemakers’ Live Auction event has become more than a fundraiser. It’s become a community event - an enjoyable, fun evening where people come together to support our cause while experiencing a wonderful night out with friends and members of The Homemakers’ family, says Jordan-Cary.
Tickets for this year’s 35th Anniversary Auction are $40 and include entry to the silent and live auction, appetizers and dinner. Tickets will not be available at the door and must be purchased in advance. Doors will open at 6 p.m. The silent auction portion of the evening will begin at 6 p.m. followed by the live auction event, featuring auctioneer Mark Ericson of WOKQ’s Morning Waking Crew.
Sports memorabilia, a meal for four delivered to your home each month, gift certificates to restaurants, golf courses and NH attractions; hand-made quilts, works of art and weekend get-aways are just a few of the more than 100 items that will be up for bid during the on-line and live auction events.
All donors of auction items will be listed on The Homemakers’ auction website. All business donors will also be provided a direct link on the auction website to their business. Sponsorship opportunities ranging from $1,500 to $250 are also available.
To make a donation, for information about sponsorship opportunities or to purchase tickets, contact Tammy Jordan-Cary at (603) 335-1770, ext. 114 or tcary@thehomemakers.org.
Photo caption: More than 100 items, including this hand-made quilt, will be up for bid at The Homemakers 35th Anniversary Celebration Live Auction being held Saturday, March 27th at the Red Barn at Outlook Farm in South Berwick. (Courtesy photo)

Jeans Day for Haiti PCA Students Raise Relief Money

DOVER—
Students at Portsmouth Christian Academy set aside their usual dress code for a day and donned pairs of jeans to help contribute to Haiti disaster relief efforts. This fund raising effort was a creative idea proposed by PCA senior Katie Hazell. She, along with two of her classmates, senior Anna Davison and junior Sarah Pease, coordinated this event to raise awareness of the crisis and to provide aid to earthquake victims.
Students were able to purchase a $5 coupon for the chance to wear jeans instead of the standard dress code. Once the event was announced publicly at the school, two anonymous donors came forward from the PCA community and offered matching gifts up to $1,500 and $2,000 respectively. Students, staff, and faculty raised a total of $7,800. All of the funds raised went directly to Heartline Ministries – an organization with a permanent presence in Haiti for more than 15 years, supporting adoption and women’s programs.
“Many students gave more. It was touching to see kids bringing in tens and twenties,” said Anna Davison. “In addition to the money brought in by Jeans Day, we also coordinated donations of medical supplies from local hospitals. More than 20 boxes were brought to Partners for World Health in Maine, so that the supplies could be taken to Haiti.”
This disaster struck a personal chord with all three girls. Last summer, they spent two weeks in Haiti on a mission trip in association with Heartline Ministries. The girls participated in an English Camp where they taught life skills as well as educational studies to children ages 4 to 14 at Maranatha Orphanage. When news of the recent earthquake reached Hazell, her initial desire was to be there physically to help out in some way. But she soon realized that was not a possibility for her. Instead, she proposed her idea for a Jeans Day to PCA Principal Steve Foley and within a few days the fundraising project was approved and well underway.
“I was very pleased with the success of the Jeans Day,” stated Katie Hazell. “However, I just want people to remember that the need is not going to go away in a month. It is an ongoing process and the nation of Haiti needs the continued support of our communities to rebuild. This is an essential opportunity for them to grow into a prosperous nation.”
If you too want to help, or simply learn more, visit heartlineministries.org.
Photo caption: Portsmouth Christian Academy students (left to right), senior Anna Davison, junior Sarah Pease, and senior Katie Hazell organized a Jeans Day event, which raised $7,800 for Heartline Ministries in Haiti. All funds went directly to earthquake victims for recovery and rebuilding. (Courtesy photo)

Seacoast CSA and CSF Day Coming to Winter Farmers’ Market

ROLLINSFORD—
Seacoast Eat Local will be hosting a CSA and CSF Day at their upcoming Winter Farmers’ Market on Saturday, Feb. 27th, at the Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford. Residents will have the opportunity to learn more about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and CSF (Community Supported Fisheries), meet the farmers and fisherfolk offering shares, and sign up for the 2010 season. Fifteen CSA farms are signed up to take part in this event.
Community Supported Agriculture and Community Supported Fisheries offer a terrific way for people to get a steady supply of local food directly from the producers. Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, is a partnership between consumers and farmers in which members buy shares of the farm’s harvest and receive regular allotments of food throughout the growing season.
For farmers, this provides much needed cash flow for the beginning of the season, as well as a ready market and community of supporters. Shareholders join in the risks of the growing season but reap the benefits of the harvest. Community Supported Fisheries, or CSFs (modeled after CSAs), are a way to buy seafood directly from fishermen, and support our local fisheries by purchasing seasonal shares.
Each CSA and CSF has its own pricing structure and distribution schedule, and some farms have work requirements. Signups for CSA and CSF shares often begin in February by directly contacting the farm or sponsoring fishery. A list of CSA farms in the Rockingham, Strafford, and York Counties is available at Seacoast Harvest, www.seacoastharvest.org, an online guide to local food sponsored by Seacoast Eat Local.

Tip-Top Ski Resort in High Sierra is Simply Heavenly

By Scott Andrews
Staff columnist
Lake Tahoe—
Heavenly is the name of the biggest ski resort in the Lake Tahoe region. And the name is no exaggeration.
I recently spent 10 days in the Lake Tahoe region, which straddles the California-Nevada border and includes seven major ski resorts. During my visit I skied Heavenly twice, and was profoundly impressed by the quality -- and the quantity -- of the experience.
Statistics tell only part of the story, of course, but it’s worth noting that Heavenly’s impressive numbers take the top spot in several key categories. With two summits higher than 10,000 feet, it’s the loftiest ski resort in the entire Lake Tahoe district. Heavenly boasts 3,500 vertical feet and its longest top-to-bottom run is five miles -- both tops in the region.
Total skiable acreage is 4,800 acres that sprawl across California and Nevada. In terms of lifts, acres and lodges, the split is about 50-50.
Twenty-nine lifts serve this terrain. About half of these are high-speed, including a 50-person aerial tramway and an eight-person gondola. There are four base lodges, two in California and two in Nevada.
Terrain ranges from mild to wild, distinctly skewed mostly toward intermediate skiers. Fine groomed runs radiate from most of the upper chairlifts. Many of these offer sensational views of cobalt-blue Lake Tahoe, one of America’s natural wonders.
Especially notable are the many tree runs -- glades. These are entirely natural skiing through wide-open forests, deep gullies and interesting rock formations. The all-natural terrain can be pretty rough in spots, but it’s mostly offset by the region’s annual snowfall of about 500 inches.
Want to boast? The most challenging runs on the mountain, rated “super expert,” are found in two adjacent sub-areas served by a double chairlift. Killebrew Canyon and Mott Canyon feature white-knuckle steeps and chutes that will severely test the skills of the most experienced skiers and riders.
Once on the mountain, there’s no need to return to base until the day is done. Six high-elevation eateries, accessible only by ski or snowboard, provide ample opportunities to refuel. A couple of these eateries are outdoor barbecues, a style of eatery that’s typical of California’s comparatively mild climate.
From the gourmet point of view, tops is Lakeview Lodge, spectacularly perched at 8,250 feet, a few dozen yards from the top of two lifts. The lodge’s sit-down restaurant boasts inspired fare that perfectly matches the inspirational viewpoint.
My Chicken Champagne comprised slices of breast meat sautéed in a medley of vegetables, finished with a cream sauce and served over angel hair pasta. And yes, it was heavenly!
One my second day, I ate at the Lakeview Lodge’s cafeteria and enjoyed the biggest helping of chili-cheese-fries I’ve ever seen.
During my two days, I only had one major complaint. The vast and sprawling size of the mountain makes it slow and awkward to ski between the sub-areas. But that issue is, of course, a product of Heavenly’s immensity.
Heavenly Mountain Resort is located in the adjacent towns of Stateline, Nevada, and South Lake Tahoe, California, about 60 miles from the Reno-Tahoe airport. An array of resort amenities, including restaurants that run from fast food to four-star, can be found in both towns. Stateline also offers many gambling casinos.
Heavenly is scheduled to stay open through April 18. For more information and ski-and-stay reservations, visit www.skiheavenly.com or call 800-HEAVENLY.
Heavenly is owned by Vail Resorts, a publicly traded holding company that also owns four top-tier ski resorts in Colorado: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone.
Photo caption: A group of skiers takes a break with Lake Tahoe in the background. (Heavenly Mountain Resort photo)

Company Utilizes Tax Credit Program to Donate to Avis Goodwin CHC

SOMERSWORTH—
Avis Goodwin Community Health Center (AGCHC) today announced it recently received a $20,000 donation from Logical Innovations LLC. This is the first large donation to make use of the organization’s new Tax Credit Program which will give companies like Logical Innovations a seventy-five percent or in this case, a $15,000 state tax credit on the donation.
“This was a decision that made excellent business sense for our company and also allowed us to make sure that our tax dollars are used to promote a cause we strongly believe in— providing quality health care for the uninsured and underinsured population in our community,” said Michael Thompson MD. “We would strongly encourage other businesses or individuals to make a contribution. If you pay New Hampshire taxes, the tax credit allows you to essentially direct your taxes towards better healthcare within your own community.”
In October 2009, the Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA) awarded Avis Goodwin Community Health Center $600,000 in tax credits to consolidate its four locations into a new 28,500 square foot facility to be constructed in Somersworth with easy access to public transportation. With the additional square footage they will be able to hire two additional medical providers, add a sixth dental operatory, and add 48 hours of mental health specialist staff time. As a result they will be able to provide medical care for an additional 3,000 patients and dental care for 500 new patients, many of whom are un- or under-insured.
The nonprofits that are awarded state tax credits are responsible for raising donations in the amount of their tax credit award from for-profit businesses that have a New Hampshire state tax liability. The Tax Credit Program enables businesses to invest cash, securities, or real property to fund CDFA-approved projects in exchange for a 75% state tax credit that can be applied against the New Hampshire business profits, business enterprise, and insurance premium taxes. For instance, a business donating $10,000 to CDFA on behalf of an approved project will receive a tax credit in the amount of $7,500. The donation is also eligible for treatment as a federal charitable contribution.
Logical Innovations, LLC is a company which is dedicated to helping physicians, nurses and medical support staff using electronic medical records (EMR) to provide superior patient care. They develop and market software to customize content for Centrictiy® EMR marketed by GE Healthcare. They also provide consulting services related to development of forms for the EMR that can enhance patient care by providing decision support for physicians as they see patients. They have users throughout the United States and also in Canada. Logical Innovations, LLC is owned by Michael Thompson, MD and Ker Thompson. Michael Thompson, who developed the Visual Form Editor software program, is also a family physician practicing at Avis Goodwin Community Health Center.
To find out more about making a donation to AGCHC through the Tax Credit Program, contact Renee Allen, 603.516.2566, rallen@agchc.org.

Fundraiser Planned to Support Haitian Home for the Destitute

PORTSMOUTH—
Kent Allyn has never been to Haiti, but when the earthquake hit on Jan. 12, Allyn looked at a picture on his refrigerator of a 10-year-old girl and wondered, “Where did it hit? Was it near Judeline’s school in Milot?”
Allyn is one of hundreds of students, teachers and residents of the Seacoast area who for years have supported a school in Milot, Haiti, through Life and Hope Haiti, a nonprofit grassroots organization based in Long Island, with its sponsorship program based in South Berwick.
“Usually when things happen you don’t know anyone,” said Allyn. “But sponsoring a child in Haiti had put a face on the disaster.”
A Latin/Caribbean Dance Party featuring the music of Combo Sabroso will benefit Life and Hope Haiti March 27 at the VFW Hall in Portsmouth. A slide show and talk will feature pictures taken by local residents in Haiti, including photos of relief efforts and rubble after the earthquake. Pictures will show local donations being put to good use in Haiti.
Although Life and Hope’s school was not directly hurt by the earthquake in the south, the sister of the school’s founder runs a home for the destitute that was decimated, leaving the surviving 130 residents ages 8 to 109 without care or shelter five miles from the epicenter. Ticket sales will help pay to rebuild the Asile St. Vincent de Paul in Leogane, this home for the elderly, disabled and orphaned residents.
Combo Sabroso, one of Boston’s top Latin bands, features UNH grad Matt Jenson and local sax star Matt Langley. The slide presentation will begin at 7 p.m. with pictures by Amy Miller of South Berwick and Agnes Charlesworth of Kittery Point.
Music, dancing and a cash bar will run from 8 p.m. on.
Seacoast area residents are sponsoring several dozen children at Life and Hope’s Eben Ezer School in Milot and the South Berwick Eliot Rotary last year raised $4,300 to buy books for the school. Within two weeks after the earthquake, South Berwick and Eliot elementary students and teachers had raised $4,000 for relief efforts. Mitchell Elementary School children in Kittery raised more than $2000, and Marshwood Middle raised another $4,000.
Although the first few weeks after the earthquake brought in huge donations of funds, supplies and even planes, most of this has dried up. Life and Hope is committed to continuing to fund the 8-year-old school in northern Haiti, providing the education critical to the country’s future.
For more about this organization, go to www.lifeandhopehaiti.org. Also see articles about local efforts to support Life and Hope at the Maine Friends of Haiti website: http://www.mainefriendsofhaiti.org/mainefriendsofhaiti.org/Life_and_Hope_Haiti.html.
Tickets are being sold at Black Bean in Rollinsford, Ceres Bakery in Portsmouth or Fair Tide Thrift Store in Kittery. Checks, made out to Life and Hope Haiti, can also be sent to PO Box 185, Kittery Point, Maine. Tickets cost a suggested $20 donation, but will be sold for the amount people feel they are able to spend. Only 200 people will be able to fit in the hall. More information is available from sobobooks@earthlink.net or sengac@aol.com.

A Chocolate Lover’s Dream in Ogunquit

By Jim Kanak
Staff Columnist
OGUNQUIT—
There’s a buzz of activity at Harbor Candy Shop in Ogunquit these days. As Valentine’s Day approaches, owner Jean Foss and her staff are hard at work, preparing nearly 100 varieties of chocolate that have satisfied customers from near and far for over three decades.
“I started it because I wanted to live in Maine,” Foss said. “My parents had operated it as a seasonal business, open a few weeks a year. My father was very gifted when it came to making anything.”
The original seasonal shop was located near the Main Beach parking area, in the building that houses Huckleberry’s today. Foss moved it to its current Route 1 location.
“I put my mind to owning the real estate,” she said. “It grew gradually and now is open year round.”
Most people are familiar with the retail end of the operation, the shop that is a few doors north of the Village Food Market. What many people don’t know, however, is that the shop contains a veritable chocolate factory as well, where the staff creates by hand the turtles, truffles, fudge and other chocolate delights that have a national following.
“The store is known outside the state, maybe more than inside,” Foss said. “We have a mail order business from customers we pick up in the summer. 85 percent of our business is from the shop. That leads to the 10 to 15 percent of mail order and that sustains us in the winter.”
Foss said the key to producing excellent candy is a combination of things. “The recipe is important, but the ‘feel’ is watching the process as you go along,” she said. “It’s about trouble shooting. Once in a while you might notice that something might not be right, maybe the temperature or the humidity. Very few people know about chocolate. (Making it) is more complex than something like baking.”
Another key is freshness. “The shelf life varies by product,” Foss said. “Some kinds are good for two weeks, some for three, and some less. We make everything fresh. We try to keep freshness in mind all the time. Why sell something that’s really nice and then destroy it by virtue of your timing?”
The popularity of a particular variety varies by the time of year. “In the summer, people like classic, simple fudge,” Foss said. “Turtles are one of our best varieties. We make them all from scratch. There are no short cuts. That’s what brings people back.”
For Valentine’s Day, truffles take center stage. “They are the item,” said Foss. “Thirty years ago, we headed off to France to learn the basics of what a true truffle is. It must be fresh and kept cool. We throw them away after two weeks.”
Another characteristic of Harbor Candy is its ability to produce some of its chocolate without depending on traditional dairy products. That has earned the shop an award from the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). “We have a number of products that were already vegan, with no dairy or anything,” Foss said. “We developed a truffle by making it with soy milk. We have a milk chocolate made with rice milk. It is good for health reasons, for people who can’t use diary products.”
They key, though, is the care that Foss and the staff take to create their hand-made delicacies. “We’re small, not big and showy,” said Foss. “That’s how nice chocolate works.”
Photo caption: Harbor Candy Shop owner Jean Foss with a sampling of the nearly 100 varieties of chocolate the shop produces. (Jim Kanak photo)

Guarded Optimism at Dover Chamber Economic Forum

DOVER—
“Technically, the recession is over.”
Those were the words of local economist Brian Gottlob of PolEcon Research at a recent Economic Forum hosted by the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce. The 2010 Economic Forecast was the first in a four-part Forum Series presented by Federal Savings Bank, with additional events scheduled for May, September and November of 2010.
Gottlob acknowledged that to those who continue to feel the pinch of the recession, his words may be difficult to believe. However, several times during his presentation to a crowd of more than 50 local residents, business owners and political representatives at the Hampton Inn in Dover, he re-iterated his strong belief that the New Hampshire seacoast – and Dover in particular – was poised for a strong rebound in the months and years to come. Gottlob’s optimism is not merely speculation or wishful thinking, but the result of years of experience and many hours of recent research, which he carefully outlined in a series of informative graphs and charts.
The other panelists at the Forum, Federal Savings Bank President and CEO Jay O’Neill, and Maria Simos of e-Forecasting.com, both agreed that recent trends indicate that better days are on the near horizon. Chamber Executive Director Kirt Schuman summed up the overall tone of the presentations with the term “guarded optimism,” and congratulated the many business owners in the audience on having successfully weathered the storm.
“The news of a recovery couldn’t come at a better time,” noted Schuman, “and although we’re not completely out of the woods yet, I think everyone found it refreshing to receive some information that was more positive than the economic doom and gloom we’ve been inundated with for so long.”
Though markedly optimistic, the trio of presenters was careful to sprinkle doses of caution into their words. Simos pointed to 2011 as being the more likely period of economic growth, with 2010 serving as more of a stabilization period. Gottlob cautioned Dover residents and elected officials against “shooting themselves in the foot” by slowing progress as a result of looking to recapture the past, and O’Neill noted that increased government regulation of banks could also be damaging to the economic recovery process.
Nevertheless, the audience left with a much more upbeat feeling about the prospects of recovery – a welcome and long-awaited breath of fresh air.
The 2010 Economic Forecast is the first installment in a four-part Forum Series presented by Federal Savings Bank, in partnership with the Greater Dover Chamber of Commerce. Each morning session covers a different topic, and includes a full breakfast. In May, the annual “State of the City” Forum will be held at the Cochecho Country Club, followed by a segment on local Advertising and Public Relations in September, and an analysis of the Creative Economy in November.
Residents may register for any of the Federal Savings Bank Forum Series events by visiting the Dover Chamber’s online Calendar at www.dovernh.org.
Photo caption: Jay O’Neill of Federal Savings Bank, Brian Gottlob of PolEcon Research and Maria Simos of e-forecasting.com comprised the panel at the Dover Chamber’s recent Economic Forum, which was held before a crowd of over 50 residents, business owners and political leaders at the Hampton Inn in Dover. (Courtesy photo)

A Tribute to J.D. Salinger

By Chip Schrader
Book Review Editor
If only there was one more book. So cries the eternal adolescent inside who grasped at every word Holden Caulfield said by the pen of Jerome David Salinger, better known simply as J.D. Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye came out in 1951, the angry and shunned main character rode a train home after flunking out of another boarding school. All the while, his younger sister, Phoebe, was the only thing that remained pure in his young and jaded life. Pure to the point he tried to wipe away the “F” word from a wall so someone like his sister would never walk along and see it.
It was that word that set American culture on fire. Profane and subversive to many, perhaps; indeed the taboo of profanity and vulgarity had been set free, but subversion hardly seems to fit. Salinger used that word once, and in a context that ironically was a memoriam to American innocence, and now that word is etched so deeply into pop culture that it cannot be burned, blurred, or bleeped away. Now not every time can this word be masked, and no more in American Literature.
This novel was so much more than that, though. In eleventh grade English, it was the first thing that was true. In my anxious and angry adolescence, Salinger’s gentle voice reached me through those pages and said to me: “It’s okay. There are many other lost souls out there to walk beside you.” Caulfield’s anger gave me a sense of righteousness. Five years later, and I read it as a completely different novel that made me laugh at the sarcasm, wit, and indifference to society.
That is what a great novel is. The reader holds more of its meaning than the words themselves.
If only there was one more book. “Catcher in the Rye,” “Franny and Zooey,” “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction” and “Nine Stories” are everything this man had to share before retiring from public view for over five decades. “Nine Stories,” to Salinger fans, is also essential reading containing the stories “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” and “Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut,” where nuanced details like a careless mother resting her child’s glasses face down stir the reader with its beautiful particularity.
Salinger’s disappearance fueled rumors about odd ritualistic habits, pseudonyms (Thomas Pynchon the most famous rumor) and behavior, some of them confirmed by his daughter Margaret’s memoir “Dream Catcher.” Books like “Children’s Letters to J.D. Salinger” attempted to fill that void, and that vast market that yearned for his words. Nothing ever really did fill that void Salinger left. The person at this laptop writing you these words owes his college major, his career, and his dreams as a writer to Mr. Salinger.
If only there was one more book…but there isn’t. These four works are what he had for us, and at the very least and very most, we have that.

Children’s Museum Mardi Gras Features Live Cajun Music and More

DOVER—
The Children’s Museum of NH will hold its annual Family Mardi Gras Celebration on Sunday, Feb. 14 from noon – 5 p.m. This colorful cultural celebration features entertainment and activities for all ages, and is generously underwritten by Laconia Savings Bank.
 
The Family Mardi Gras Celebration will include live Cajun music by The Fiddling Thomsons at 1 and 3 p.m., regional foods of New Orleans to sample, and children’s parades through the museum led by museum mascot Albert The Costumed Alligator. Children can make Mardi Gras masks and jester hats, and each visitor will receive a strand of colorful Mardi Gras beads to wear and take home. All Mardi Gras activities are included in regular paid admission to the museum: $8 for adults and children, $7 for seniors, and no charge for museum members and children under age one.
Featured entertainers The Fiddling Thomsons are a father-and-son duo from Newmarket who have performed their lively Cajun music at festivals throughout New England. Dad Ryan is a music and dance professional who has been honored by inclusion in the traditional and touring artists rosters of the NH State Council on the Arts. He teachers fiddle, banjo, flute, piano, and other instruments. Son Brennish has been performing for many years of his young life and plays fiddle, wooden spoons, zydeco rubboard, and the pennywhistle. 
For more information on the Family Mardi Gras celebration, please call (603) 742-2002 or visit www.childrens-museum.org.
Photo caption: Father and son Ryan and Brennish Thomson will entertain families with Cajun tunes at the Children’s Museum of NH Mardi Gras Celebration on Sunday, Feb. 14. (Courtesy photo)