RECENT NEWS

Rochester, NH: Cornerstone VNA, a nonprofit home health and hospice care organization, is offering a free training for individuals interested in becoming a Hospice volunteer. For as little as 4 hours per week, volunteers can offer companionship, respite care and their own unique skills to patients and family members in their community. This comprehensive 8-week Hospice Volunteer Training program focuses on how to provide comfort, support and a reassuring presence to Hospice patients and their families. No medical or volunteer experience is necessary to make a positive difference. The next training will begin on Wednesday, January 22 from 10am-12pm and will take place every week until March 11 at the Cornerstone VNA office on 178 Farmington Road in Rochester, NH.

Current Cornerstone VNA Hospice Volunteers recently shared, “Hospice volunteering has been the most rewarding and humbling experience of my life” and "Hospice visiting has shown me how to be present." Cornerstone VNA invites individuals to be a part of this enriching and meaningful volunteer experience. To register for this training or for more information about the Hospice Volunteer Program, please contact Nancy Nicolazzo, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator at 603-332-1133 x1239 or NNicolazzo@cornerstonevna.org.

Cornerstone VNA is a nonprofit home, health and hospice agency currently serving Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap and Carroll Counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine. The team at Cornerstone VNA provides skilled nursing, rehabilitative therapies, social work as well as volunteer and support services through five distinct programs: Home Care, Hospice Care, Palliative Care, Life Care-Private Duty and Community Care. For 107 years, Cornerstone VNA has been committed to bringing services to people of all ages so that families can stay together at home, even when facing the challenges of aging, surgical recovery, chronic or life-threatening illnesses or end of life care. To learn more about Cornerstone VNA, visit www.cornerstonevna.org or call 800-691-1133.

ROCHESTER, NH – This December HRCU donated to 27 local non-profit organizations as a part of their sixth-annual Christmas Caring Campaign. For the first time, HRCU opened the process up to their membership, allowing members to nominate organizations that they felt deserved to be recognized and supported.

This resulted in 10 organizations who were not part of the Christmas Caring Campaign in 2018 receiving donations this season. This group of new recipients included Cross Roads House, Friends in Action, Catholic Charities New Hampshire, First Church Congregational, The Ryan Home Project, End 68 Hours of Hunger – Dover, End 68 Hours of Hunger – Farmington, We Care Food Pantry, Strafford County Meals on Wheels and the Dover SHARE Fund.

“It was great to get such a strong response from our members during the nomination process,” said HRCU President & CEO Brian Hughes. “This helped us learn about and support new organizations that we may not have known had such a need without hearing from our members.”

Of the 27 non-profits who received donations this year, most focused on important causes in the community such as homelessness, meal services, youth support and addiction recovery.

For a full list of organizations who received donations, please visit www.HRCU.org/ChristmasCaring.

HRCU is a state-chartered and NCUA federally insured community credit union that serves over 22,000 members throughout the New Hampshire Seacoast since 1962. You are eligible to be a member if you live or work in New Hampshire.

First Seacoast Bank had a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, December 10th, 2019 to celebrate the rebranding from Federal Savings Bank, and 45 years of doing business in Barrington, NH.

It was a foggy night on RTE-125, where First Seacoast Bank is located next to the Journey Church. It’s been a milestone year for FSB, which is a community bank that has been successful because the community supports them.

First Seacoast Bank originally opened in 1890 under the name “Dover Co-Operative Savings Fund and Loan Association”, and its original meeting location was the Cocheco Hose Company on First Street in Dover, NH. It was renamed to the “Dover Federal Savings and Loan Association” in 1974, and in 1983, it was renamed to “Federal Savings Bank”.

Barrington was FSB’s first branch – First Seacoast Bank was first headquartered on First Street in 1972, and they’ve been there ever since. The Barrington branch was opened in 1974. In 1979, the Durham branch opened, and in 1987 the Fourth branch was opened in Portsmouth. Rochester was the Fifth branch, which opened in 2009, and it was named Business of the Year in Rochester in 2019. First Seacoast Bank was also the recent recipient of the Cornerstone Award from Cornerstone VNA.

Their mission throughout the years has been to serve the community, which is why after all these years, the bank has changed names to reflect that. They sponsored the tree-lighting ceremony at the Barrington Soiree this past weekend, and the bank gives away over $300,000 in donations to the community each year.

After the ribbon cutting, FSB served refreshments and hosted a Barrington Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours (BAH). Chamber members and bank customers, alike, brought in non-perishable food items to help the Barrington Food Pantry. There was also a raffle, that attendees could only enter if they brought in a donation for the Food Pantry.

Familiar faces, food, and beverages flowed throughout the Barrington branch’s location tonight. The Chairman of the Board of the Barrington Chamber of Commerce, Michael Guyre said, “This was the best Business After Hours ever!” Members and employees from other branches travelled through rainy weather to Barrington for this amazing event.

First Seacoast Bank is a mutual bank. They work hard for their customers and the community. The bank is committed to meeting the financial service expectations of individuals, families, and locally owned businesses. First Seacoast Bank focuses on:

• Providing high-quality, personalized, convenient service.
• Offering a challenging and rewarding work environment for its employees.
• Maintaining public trust as an independent mutual community bank by operating in an ethical and sound financial manner.
• Empowering their employees to make a difference by actively and positively contributing to the quality of life in the surrounding community.

First Seacoast Bank offers Kasasa® Cash Checking, which offers 3.00% APY on balances up to $20,000, when the account meets specific qualifications – See This Flyer. For more information about First Seacoast Bank, please visit www.firstseacoastbank.com.

For the Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce, there’s a monthly membership meeting on January 8th, 2020 for all Chamber of Commerce members.

This article was written by Patrick R. McElhiney, Chief Editor and Owner of Barrington Town News, Your Local News Provider. For more information, visit https://www.barringtontownnews.com/ 

Barrington, NH - With snowflakes slowly gently falling, it was a picturesque evening almost something out of a hallmark movie.  Calef’s Country Store, The Village Barn, and The Christmas Dove provided the perfect backdrop for this wonderful community event. Holiday music could be heard playing all around from local DJs and the sweet voices of school children caroling on the porch of the Christmas Dove.

The Greater Barrington Chamber of Commerce handed out Eggnog provided by The Christmas Dove, Cookies courtesy of Castle Rock Baking Company and held a Raffle in which fifty percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Barrington Food Pantry. A Tree Lighting Ceremony kicked off the holiday season.  The giant Christmas tree was provided and erected by Great View Landscaping and was sponsored by First Seacoast Bank who is celebrating being apart of the Barrington Community for 45 years.

Rochester, NH:  Cornerstone VNA is pleased to announce the launch of a new monthly Caregiver Café on December 5 at 12:30 pm at the Alton Public Library on 100 Main Street in Alton, NH. The first Café will be a meet and greet with a hot cocoa bar and cookies.

The Caregiver Café is a collaborative effort between Cornerstone VNA and the Alton Public Library. Family caregivers and their loved ones are invited to attend for an afternoon of support, conversation and education. The library is wheelchair accessible from the back parking lot.

According to Holly Brown, Library Director, "Our library is very pleased and proud to assist Cornerstone VNA in offering this wonderful service to our community caregivers.” Brown continues, “We are honored to be working with such a vital and caring organization that does so much to help so many people. We appreciate all that Cornerstone VNA does and welcome the opportunity to work together to support and educate family caregivers."

Janice Howard, Cornerstone VNA Life Care-Private Duty Director states, “We are truly excited for the opportunity to reach out to this important sector of our community and provide a gathering spot for support and comradery for caregivers.” Howard adds, “If you are caring for a loved one or know someone who is, please join us, all caregivers are welcome.”

The Alton Caregiver Café is the third in a series of Caregiver Cafés that Cornerstone VNA facilitates. There is also a monthly Caregiver Café at the Langdon Public Library in Newington and at the Goodwin Library in Farmington. Details can be found at www.cornerstonevna.org.

Cornerstone VNA is a non-profit home, health and hospice agency currently serving Rockingham, Strafford, Belknap and Carroll Counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine. The team at Cornerstone VNA provides skilled nursing, rehabilitative therapies, social work as well as volunteer and support services through five distinct programs: Home Care, Hospice Care, Palliative Care, Life Care-Private Duty and Community Care. For 106 years, Cornerstone VNA has been committed to bringing services to people of all ages so that families can stay together at home, even when facing the challenges of aging, surgical recovery, chronic or life-threatening illnesses or end of life care. To learn more about Cornerstone VNA, visit www.cornerstonevna.org or call 800-691-1133.

John R. Young, NHFCU’s CEO, will facilitate a group discussion on Dave Ramsey’s book, Money Makeover. Participants will receive a free copy of the book – but, you must sign up early so you can read and be prepared for group discussion. The group will meet for three consecutive weeks to discuss Dave Ramsey’s principles for a true Money Makeover. Recent reports suggest more than 78% of our nation’s families live paycheck to paycheck. This group discussion has been designed so the participants can work together to find solutions and resolve to improve their finances.

This is a three-part series that will be held on Tuesday, November 5, November 12, and November 19. This class is open to the public.

There is a nominal fee to reserve your seat which will be 100% refunded when you attend the class. Non-attendance will result in the forfeiture of you see reservation fee

ROCHESTER, NH – HRCU hosted a CU Senior Safeguard Lunch and Learn at the Rochester Elks earlier this month. The event was sponsored by the Cooperative Credit Union Association (CCUA) and the NH Community Loan Fund. Walt Laskos, CCUA’s SVP of Strategic Communications, led the discussion with a panel of seven other industry experts.

“As financial scams targeting seniors continue to skyrocket out of control, it was great to join with HRCU and so many community leaders to help seniors become more alert and informed in protecting themselves and their life savings,” said Laskos.

Panelists included Rochester Mayor Caroline McCarley, Sunny Mulligan Shea of the Attorney General’s Office, Christine Garbin of the Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services, Cheryl Steinberg, Esq. of NH Legal Assistance, HRCU Fraud Specialist Nicole Huntress, Rochester Police Detective Flathers, and Attorney Bryan Townsend.

“The NH Community Loan Fund is delighted to partner with HRCU. The expert panel provided valuable information, not only to avoid the ever-changing barrage of financial scams targeting seniors, but also the myriad of other valuable resources available here in NH. Every senior should watch for these events and take advantage – it could save them thousands!” said Tara Reardon of the NH Community Loan Fund.

Those in attendance were educated on common scams and how they can look out to prevent
themselves from falling victim to one. Additionally, Laskos asked attendees to pass this information along to other seniors who were unable to make it to the event.

“It was a pleasure to partner with all these great organizations to educate the community on important financial issues,” said Brian Hughes, President & CEO of HRCU. “We look forward to holding more events like this in the future.”

HRCU is a state-chartered and NCUA federally insured community credit union that serves over 22,000 members throughout the New Hampshire Seacoast since 1962. You are eligible to be a member if you live or work in New Hampshire.

Cornerstone VNA’s annual silent auction event is being held on Thursday, October 3rd at Flag Hill Distillery & Winery in Lee.  Our “Home Sweet Home” event will include hors d'oeuvres, classical entertainment, a wine tasting, a sweet treat raffle and a robust silent auction featuring handmade items, locally made products and gift certificates from our favorite restaurants and businesses.  Proceeds from this event allow Cornerstone VNA to continue providing access to care for those in need and further support innovative programs and services for people of all ages. https://www.cornerstonevna.org/homesweethome/