Jim Vanier was the first person I met when I arrived in Lebanon in 1983 for a job interview at the newly formed Lebanon Recreation & Parks Department. At the time, the office was located upstairs at the Carter Community Building where Jim worked coaching and mentoring the youth of the City. Jim greeted me the same way he greeted nearly everyone who entered the building over his 51-year tenure by smiling and saying, “Hello. Please take off your shoes before you come into the building.” Over the years this rule never changed, and “the building” was a shining example of how one person’s care and attention can create a place that is welcoming and respected by all. Over the ensuing decades as we worked together, it became evident that I had met not only the unofficial “Mayor of Lebanon,” but a living legend whose life’s work revolved around caring for young people day in and day out.

Jim Vanier

Years later, in 2024, Jim’s friends and supporters organized a retirement celebration in Colburn Park, attended by hundreds of people, many traveling from a great distance to pay tribute and tell stories. According to Lebanon attorney and long-time friend Pat Hayes, “The park event was great and it was so good to have Jim on stage listening to the tributes. He was an inspiration to so many people.”

Sadly, Jim passed away suddenly in December of 2025 of a heart attack at age 73. Among the hundreds of tributes online and in print, news has emerged of a group of Lebanon residents working to establish a non-profit to honor Jim’s memory and to carry on his legacy of serving as a beloved role model for young people from Lebanon and throughout the Upper Valley. The Jim Vanier Youth Fund (JVYF) is just getting off the ground, and is expected to be formally up and running by August 22, when a Celebration of Life event will be held in Colburn Park.

“Everybody loved Jim — we hope the Jim Vanier Youth Fund will continue his legacy of helping the youth of the area with whatever they need to succeed,” said Hayes. The Celebration of Life event will include several guest speakers who will reflect on Jim’s enduring legacy. Friends, family, and LHS alumni are all invited to gather in remembrance and connection, and to participate in creating a lasting impact in his honor.

Shelby Day, who served as the executive director of the Carter Community Building Association during part of Jim’s tenure, was raised within the community Jim helped to shape, learning directly from his mentorship and example. Day will administer the fund in collaboration with JVYF Board members Pat Hayes, Rich Tobin, Nate Camp, Larry Vanier, and Kristen Brenner.

Jim Vanier and friend Nate Camp.

“The Board was looking for someone who had a history with Jim and understood what his legacy was about,” said Day. “Being able to give back to the community that gave so much to me as a child and gave so much to my family is truly humbling.” Day fondly remembers the many lessons Jim delivered over the years. “Jim taught us to be kind, respectful, and to give back, and believed that kids shouldn’t have to pay to be kids. I love everything about how he helped kids grow and thrive. We want to be sure children can continue to have recreational opportunities without money being a barrier. This is exactly what Jim would have wanted.”

Day has decades of experience working with young adults and children, and is currently a high school special education teacher and a part time mental health technician in the Dartmouth Hitchcock Emergency Department. “Every day we work to advance the JVYF, I feel Jim smiling down on us. I am thrilled to be part of the Board and its vision.”

The group is in the process of drafting a mission statement, which aims to focus on Jim’s philosophy to “Practice Random Acts of Kindness,” and to honor the memory and influence of Jim’s predecessor and mentor, CCB Director Pat Walsh. During his career, Jim administered the “Pat Walsh Sneaker Fund,” quietly providing children with needed items like a baseball glove, new sneakers, or a suit for an interview, often just from his observations or through random conversations with fellow youth coaches, teachers, and parents.

An early basketball team.

The draft mission states, “The mission is in remembrance of two of Lebanon’s treasures that did so much for the kids and families in Lebanon. This new endowment fund will be set up to provide the essentials like food, clothes, sneakers, cost of childcare or to set up a version of Jim’s “Drop-in Center” and other opportunities for the needy children in Lebanon; sports/recreation fees, sporting equipment, school supplies and to enhance their potential in the form of education scholarships in Jim’s name. This would ensure the children thrive, grow, and reach their full potential, emphasizing empowerment, compassion, and community support, ensuring safety, promoting well-being, and offering both immediate relief and long-term solutions for a better future honoring Jim’s and Pat’s work for all these years to the children and the Lebanon Community.”

The plaque in the James G. Vanier Gymnasium.

The JVYF is also a fitting tribute to the original mission of the Carter Community Building. According to Larry Vanier, Jim’s older brother, Jim always maintained that his primary focus was about the kids. “Jim had one mission — to carry on the CCB tradition of caring for the children and the community of Lebanon. He was one of a long line of concerned citizens that realized the importance of the CCB in supporting young people. It wasn’t that long ago that the CCB was all the community had.”

Jim at the gym dedication.

So the next time you have occasion to visit the “old CCB,” consider taking off your shoes before going into the building in honor of Jim Vanier, one of Lebanon’s true community heroes. ■

The Jim Vanier Youth Fund is currently accepting donations, and the Board welcomes suggestions for how to use the funds to honor his legacy. For more information, contact Pat Hayes at 603-448-2720 or send contributions to Jim Vanier Youth Fund, PO Box 1155, Lebanon, NH 03766. The Jim Vanier Celebration of Life will take place on Saturday, August 22, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. in Colburn Park.

When Lisa Green’s house started reaching capacity with the many jigsaw puzzles she had finished and even more that she still wanted to put together, she decided it was time to share her passion with others. In launching the Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange Meetup group in 2018, Lisa thought other puzzle enthusiasts might have their own puzzles to share and exchange. Shortly after it began, the group took off and now consists of 170 members, coming from around the Upper Valley and beyond to swap puzzles every two months at the Kilton Library in West Lebanon.

Meetup is an online platform founded in 2002, designed to connect people in person and virtually through similar hobbies and interests. Inspired by the book Bowling Alone, which highlighted society’s lack of connection and community, Meetup has grown to include more than 35 million users, with 225,000 Meetup groups in 180 countries.

Lisa Green’s Puzzle Collection

Lisa explains her motivation for starting the Meetup group. “I have loved puzzles ever since I was a little kid. it was a favorite pastime, and there was always [a puzzle] on the dining room table.” Lisa explains that for hard core “puzzlers”, it’s unusual to do a jigsaw puzzle more than once. “Once you’ve done a puzzle once, you don’t want to do it again. And puzzles are expensive, so I decided to start a group for others to bring all the puzzles they wanted to trade.”

The Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange Meetup group has members who like all kinds of styles of puzzling, says Lisa. “I don’t like anything that’s too challenging like solid colors, but we have some members who do 5,000 piece puzzles, working on them for months.”

Lisa’s personal puzzling strategy is well thought out. “I don’t go over 1,000 pieces because my dining room table can’t accommodate anything bigger. Sometimes I’ll find a 500 piece puzzle I like, and my son and I can do those in an hour or two.” Lisa and her son Patrick are working on a White Mountain Puzzles brand art puzzle now that has beautiful exterior and interior scenes. “I love to do puzzles with my 33-year-old son. He’s a developmentally disabled young man and he’s very good at them.” Lisa and Patrick have plenty of puzzles to practice on at home, with more than 50 puzzles in their “puzzle closet”.  “I’m whittling the pile down each year,” Lisa says. “Puzzles are artwork because they’re so beautiful or have sentimental value as a gift from a family member.”

Patrick and Lisa puzzling

In the last few years, Lisa and Patrick have entered and won some puzzle contests. One might not think of puzzling as a competitive sport, but in fact, speed puzzling competitions are held all over the world. There are annual conferences with competitions (US Jigsaw Puzzle Association, World Jigsaw Puzzle Championships), and dozens of state and local competitions. For puzzle designers, there’s “Puzzle Parley”, a national group that celebrates the art and history of wooden puzzles meeting in a different city each year to showcase their craft. International wooden puzzle manufacturer, Stave Puzzles, in Norwich, VT, known as the “Rolls Royce of Puzzles”, has hosted puzzling competitions featuring their signature “trick puzzles”, presumably impossible to solve.

Locally, there are several puzzling parties to choose from, often hosted by libraries. In Enfield, a church hosts an annual competition inviting six-person teams to finish the same puzzle at speed. “After the event, there’s a turkey dinner that smells so good while we’re puzzling,” Lisa notes. “Whoever finishes their puzzle first wins the top place in line to eat.”

For her part, Lisa loves the calming effect of puzzling. “In this day and age, there’s so much going on and everyone’s stressed out. Puzzling occupies your mind, it’s like you’re in a meditative state. It keeps your mind sharp and engaged and you don’t think about your worries – you’re just having fun.” For now, Lisa will keep working on her puzzle closet, filling the trunk of her car with puzzles to share at upcoming exchanges.

To learn more about the exchange, search under “groups” on Meetup.com for “Upper Valley Jigsaw Puzzle Exchange”, and start clearing out your own stash of puzzles.

Contributing to the community seems to come naturally to Aavarika Niroula, a senior at Lebanon High School and recipient of the 2023-2024 Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Good Citizens Award. But Niroula’s path to community service has been markedly different from the average American high school student.

Originally from the ancient city of Kathmandu in Nepal, Niroula and her family arrived for a visit to the U.S. in 2015, but a devastating earthquake in their home country would prevent them from returning. Reeling from the enormous loss of their home, livelihood, and Kathmandu family members, they were granted temporary protected status by the U.S. government, and they began to build a new life in America. As a result of this experience and being suddenly propelled into a strange new world, Niroula developed a passion for helping others.

Nepali New Year get-together with fellow Nepali youth. Left to
right: Suvana Rai, Deepasha Giri, Aavarika Niroula, Dina
Adhikari, Shreela Kadariya, and Nistha Prasai.

Niroula credits her parents for the inspiration to become involved in community service. “My parents have been social workers ever since I can remember,” she says. “My dad, along with his business, ran a nonprofit organization that supported 96 homeless kids. His organization, Better Life Social Organization, was able to build houses and build schools with paid teachers. Now through the Rotary Club of Lebanon, he still donates and is able to send money back to the organization.”

Niroula and other area award winners were celebrated at the holiday luncheon of the Reprisal Chapter of DAR, based in Newport, New Hampshire, and named after the USS Reprisal, the first ship of the Continental Navy to reach European waters during the Revolutionary War and the vessel that transported Benjamin Franklin to his diplomatic post in France. The students shared what being a good citizen means to them within their school and broader community. For Niroula, it’s about exploring a diverse slate of interests. “I came into high school with a mindset of ‘I want to try everything and if I don’t like it then I will try something else’.  I have carried this mindset into everything as I got involved in various clubs and sports such as soccer, theater, Model UN, and such,” she says.

Known as the largest women’s service organization in the world, DAR has more than 180,000 members with approximately 3,000 chapters in all 50 states and in 13 countries. One of many awards the organization bestows, the DAR Good Citizens award recognizes and rewards high school seniors who consistently display the qualities of dependability, service, leadership, and patriotism in their homes, schools, and communities. These students are selected by their teachers and peers because they demonstrate these qualities to an outstanding degree.

Aavarika is pictured with chapter regent Pamela Lee (in hat), chapter Good Citizens Chair Pat McCabe, Caroline McMahon from Sunapee, and Jennette Davis from Hanover.

The local Reprisal Chapter has members not only from Newport, but also Lebanon and West Lebanon, Claremont, Sunapee, Hancock, and some as far away as Florida, Maryland, and Montana, and is one of 25 chapters throughout New Hampshire. Chapter leaders are called “regents”. To be a member of the DAR, a woman must be at least 18 years of age and be able to prove direct descent from a man or woman who served in or aided in the American Revolution,  according to Pamela Lee, the current Reprisal Chapter regent. “One of my patriots, John Knight, fought in the battle of Bennington. After the war, John received a land grant in North Hero, Vermont, now the site of Knights Point State Park,” Lee says.

The DAR is committed to historic preservation, education, and patriotic service, and provides assistance to anyone interested in discovering if they have a Revolutionary War patriot in their family tree. Lee notes, “We have people who suspect that they have a patriot ancestor, but would like to know for sure. We have a wonderful registrar who can help people trace their ancestry.” The DAR is said to have one of the largest genealogical libraries in the world.

Aavariki as a young child

Nationally, the DAR is trying to identify as many female and African American patriots because they haven’t been historically recognized, Lee says. In November, the New Hampshire organization will be dedicating a new marker at the American Independence Museum and the Winter Street Cemetery in Exeter to honor the brave black soldiers from New Hampshire who fought for our nation’s independence.

Kim Chandler, honorary Chapter regent and current historian, started tracing her genealogy in 2002. “My patriot is John Caverly from Strafford. John was a farmer and one of the early settlers in Dover and then Barrington,” she says, citing the overwhelming recognition of how important the revolution was to the formation of our country. “When I moved back home and joined the chapter in Newport, I was pleased to see the chapter supporting Veterans groups, patriot grave restorations, and schools with scholarships and service projects.”

American colonial history is in its infancy compared to the rich history of Kathmandu, which dates to between 167 BC and 1 AD according to archaeologists. For Niroula, maintaining a connection to her home country is important, and is reflected in her commitment to raising funds for earthquake relief among other activities. In her DAR essay, Niroula cites her motivation: “Living in a predominantly white community, I ached for youths with similar backgrounds as me. I sought out the NH Nepali Community based around Manchester and Nashua. Following that, I joined the Diversity and Inclusivity club at my own school where I was able to fully embrace my identity.” Over the past three years, Niroula has also been teaching English as a second language to students all over the world via Zoom. “I love doing this so much because I once was an English learner myself, and for me to be on the other side as an educator is so fulfilling to me,” she says. “Volunteering grounds me and is a very big part of my life.”

John Caverly gravesite, marked with a bronze marker
for his Revolutionary War service.

In addition to teaching English as part of the Global Language Learning Club, being a member of the Diversity and Inclusivity Club at Lebanon High School, and raising funds for Kathmandu earthquake survivors, Niroula’s many activities include participating as a Dartmouth Health summer intern, Rotary Youth Leadership member,  Student Council secretary, and model UN delegate. She has researched microplastics and curcumin to earn a 1st place award in chemistry at NH Science and Engineering Exposition, joined the NH Nepali Community and became a senior coordinator, served as a student representative on the Lebanon School District superintendent search committee, is currently participating as a thrower on the Lebanon High School track and field team, and is a member of Students for a Sustainable Future.

In her essay, Niroula also shares deeper insights into why community service is so important to her. “Instead of being consumed by our pending status, I decided to contribute, to give back to this community that had adopted me,” she says. “Starting off small with volunteering at community events, I familiarized myself with the people around me, their stories, and their values. I shared the lessons of my own journey, using my struggles to bridge others.”

Niroula’s diverse life experiences have shaped her decision about which career path to pursue after high school. She has been accepted at St. Anselm College and is on the waiting list at two others, planning to pursue a degree in child psychology as part of a pre-med course of study. Niroula’s youthful wisdom is evident in her DAR essay, suggesting she will be an excellent contributor and leader in whatever field she chooses.

“My journey of constantly adapting to changing environments pointed toward one direction: child psychiatry. I realized that I wanted to dive into understanding the young minds that face upheavals, to provide them the support and guidance I once sought, and, in many ways, still do,” she writes. “Today, as I stand at the edge of my next academic chapter, I carry with me the echoes of Kathmandu’s streets, the lessons from the halls of Lebanon High School, and the hopes of every child I wish to support. The uncertainty, once my opponent, has become my ally, urging me to embrace whatever life throws at me, to be the aid for many navigating their disruption, just as I navigated mine.”

Caverly House that John built in Strafford

For more information, visit the national organization website at dar.org.

It’s hard to miss the attention being given these days to the overwhelming problem of single use and disposable plastic waste and pollution. More and more, research is demonstrating not only the harmful effects of the processes and chemicals used in giving plastic its useful properties, but also the incredible volume of plastic waste accumulating around the world.

Consumers often take for granted what goes into making plastic – it can be stretchy or crinkly, clear or colorful, rigid or flexible –  and chemistry makes this possible. Plastic keeps contents like takeout food hot and vitally important medicines cold, among its many other uses. Among the challenges with single use plastic is the fact that it never breaks down, but remains viable for hundreds of years, simply degrading into smaller pieces that eventually end up in oceans and waterways, marine life, and us.

Fortunately, researchers are also helping to discover more economical, environmentally friendly, and chemical-free alternatives to single use plastic, paving the way for conscientious business owners and consumers who want to reduce single use plastic in the waste stream. Businesses and consumers are also learning that it makes better economic sense to transition from single use plastic to reusable alternatives like paper, glass, and stainless steel containers.

Lalo’s taqueria take-out container

Several international organizations are tackling the single use plastic problem on a global level, and nationally as well. Specific to food service businesses, Plastic Free Restaurants, a national organization that subsidizes reusable dinnerware for restaurants, and its partner, the Rethink Disposable campaign, have shown that restaurants can save thousands of dollars annually by transitioning to reusables, with payback beginning in just under six months. One case study in California showed that a $439 investment netted more than $30,000 in cost savings.

In Dover and Portsmouth, four popular restaurants are piloting reusable takeout through a program called ‘Reusable Seacoast’. The campaign has partnered with the Surfrider Foundation, Ocean Friendly Restaurants, and Foodware, the program’s app, to provide reusable stainless steel take out containers to customers.

Of the dozens of restaurants in Lebanon, many are making the choice to reduce or eliminate single use plastic in their takeout and grocery operations. The popular Lalo’s Taqueria and SNAX both serve takeout orders in cardboard containers. Lucky’s Coffee Garage began by offering a discount to customers bringing their own coffee mugs, and has now transitioned to charging for single use cups, hoping to incentivize customers to bring their own beverage containers. As consumers, we can opt to ‘Skip the Stuff’ at restaurants by requesting that single use plastic foodware be left out of our takeout order, and bring our own take out containers when we have a sit down dinner at a local restaurant.

At the Co-op Food Stores, initiatives are afoot to provide customers with sustainable packaging options while shopping. This will include compostable and reusable bags for produce and bulk, and compostable or recyclable containers for prepared foods. The stores also carry some reusable food storage products, in which a one-time investment leads to a lifetime of cost savings by reducing the repeated purchase of single use plastic.

In New Hampshire, there are no effective local or state policies that have banned single use plastic bags, but a bag ban does exist in nearby Vermont, and consumers have adapted well so far.

Working together, consumers, governments, non-profit groups, and businesses can have a collective impact on reducing single use plastic use and waste to create a healthier environment now and for future generations.