Food, toys and donations needed: Ways to help in your community
Keep your Lights Up For Healthcare Heroes through Jan. 31
ROCHESTER AND PORTSMOUTH – HCA New Hampshire hospitals Frisbie Memorial Hospital and Portsmouth Regional Hospital are asking for the community’s help to show their support for all frontline healthcare workers this holiday season.
This January, we are asking businesses, communities, and homeowners to Keep Your Lights Up For Healthcare Heroes through Jan. 31, 2022 to thank a health care hero for helping defeat this virus and end this pandemic.
Getting involved is easy: Take a picture of your holiday lights display and post it on social media with the hashtag #LightsUp4Heroes. Post signs in your yard showing your support for the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and other health care professionals. Download our printable flyer and place it in your window or on your door to show your support for the campaign. And, if you know a healthcare worker personally, be sure you take the time to recognize them for their work.
Visit keepyourlightsup.com to learn more.
Portsmouth Community Scholarships now accepting donations
PORTSMOUTH -- In December 2019, the Portsmouth City Council approved the recommendations of the Trustees of the Trust Funds to consolidate several underfunded accounts into five, newly-created Portsmouth Community Scholarship Funds that combined accounts with fund balances too small to generate enough investment interest to make annual awards.s.
The Trustees of the Trust Funds have established five community scholarship funds in support of the following areas of scholastic accomplishment and educational and vocational aspirations: Portsmouth Community Scholarship – Arts; Portsmouth Community Scholarship – Athletics; Portsmouth Community Scholarship – Higher Education, Generally; Portsmouth Community Scholarship – Technology/Trades; Portsmouth Community Scholarship – Science, Technology, Engineering, Math.
These scholarships are open to all students who are Portsmouth residents, not just to students at Portsmouth High School. The Trustees of the Trusts Funds has established a secure portal on the City of Portsmouth website that allows individuals and businesses to donate conveniently to the community scholarship funds.
To make a donation to any of the Portsmouth Community Scholarship Funds through the secure donation portal on the City website, click on the “Make a Donation” button in the middle of the CityofPortsmouth.com homepage, or go directly to https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/city/trustees-trust-funds-scholarships and select the scholarship fund you wish to support. Donations may be made on the site by electronic check (no fee) or by credit card (the 2.9% fee goes to the service provider and is not retained by the City). Check donations may also be mailed to Portsmouth Community Scholarships c/o Trustees of the Trust Funds, City Hall, One Junkins Ave., Portsmouth NH 03801. Donors receive a letter confirming tax deductibility for the amount of their donations, to the extent of the law.
Dover400 is fundraising
DOVER — Dover400 is currently underway with two fundraising campaigns, “$400 for 400,” an effort to solicit 400 donors at $400 to celebrate Dover’s 400th Anniversary; and also “The 1623 Society” with membership available for a donation of $1623. All proceeds will support the activities planned throughout 2023. Donations may be sent to Dover400, 24 Chestnut St., Dover, NH 03820. For more information, please visit www.Dover400.org.
Strafford County Warming Center accepting donations and volunteers
DOVER — The Strafford County Extreme Weather Warming Center (Warming Center) at 30 Willand Drive in Somersworth is now open daily through April 1, 2022.
The Warming Center is a partnership of the cities of Dover, Somersworth and Rochester and the Community Action Partnership of Strafford County. CAPSC will provide staffing and oversight at the Warming Center through the winter season. CAPSC also seeks community help, including meal donations and volunteering at the Warming Center. CAPSC has created sign-up links for interested community members.
To donate meals, sign-up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4aa5a728a2fec70-meals1. To volunteer at the Warming Center, sign-up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4aa5a728a2fec70-novdec. CAPSC will provide training opportunities in December. Email Dan Clark at dclark@straffordcap.org for more information. For donated staple items for the Warming Center, sign-up at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4aa5a728a2fec70-warming.
Waypoint SleepOut 2022: Registration open now
MANCHESTER — Registration is now open for the 8th annual Waypoint SleepOut, happening on Friday, March 25, 2022. The SleepOut is a night spent out in the cold to raise community consciousness about youth homelessness and to raise funds for services that fulfill critical needs and help to transform lives. To register, go to www.waypointnh.org.
This year’s event will be held remotely, with registered sleepers spending the night of March 25 outdoors, in a socially distanced way, at a place of their choosing, such as a back yard, and coming together for a shared virtual experience online.
Currently, 1 in 10 young adults ages 18 to 25, and 1 in 30 adolescents, ages 13 to 17, endures some form of homelessness in America within a 12-month period, according to the latest report by Chapin Hall - University of Chicago. Estimates show approximately 15,000 youth are likely to experience some form of homelessness in New Hampshire this year. Last year, Waypoint had nearly 1,500 contacts with youth who were experiencing homelessness in the Granite State.
In New Hampshire, Waypoint is the sole provider of comprehensive services for youth experiencing homelessness. The agency provides survival aid / basic needs relief and contributes to long-term stability and self-sufficiency through educational advocacy, job and life skills training, housing, access to mental health and addiction treatment services, and more.
Through the past seven years of the SleepOut event, the agency has raised enough to bridge federal funding gaps and maintain services, as well as to lay the groundwork for expansion.
Plans are underway for Waypoint to open a youth drop-in center in Concord and in Rochester, and an overnight shelter for youth in Manchester, which would be the only one of this kind in the State. Waypoint hopes that through community collaborations, public awareness and advocacy, the expansion will create a greater social safety net for more youth, and effectively get another step closer to ending youth homelessness in New Hampshire.
To register, donate, or get further information about SleepOut 2022, visit www.waypointnh.org/sleepout2022.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Food, toys and donations needed: Ways to help in your community
