Are you upset by current events in our country? Does consuming the news evoke anger and make you want to shut it off? Have your relationships with friends or family been negatively affected by politics? Do you feel helpless to do anything about it?

While many are fearful about our nation’s future, our book, Beyond the Politics of Contempt: Practical Steps to build Positive Relationships in Divided Times, offers hopeful ways to better our lives, our relationships, and our country.

Bringing our book to the State House.

We both volunteer with Braver Angels (braverangels.org), the national citizens movement founded in 2016 to bring Americans together to bridge the partisan divide and strengthen our democratic republic. We envision an America with respectful embrace of political disagreements, where civic friendship flourishes and competing perspectives strengthen our nation. Embracing values of respect, humility, honesty, and courageous citizenship, the goal is not to change people’s views of issues, but to change their views of each other.

Doug volunteers as Braver Angels New England Regional Leader and led the Braver Angels initiative to create a bipartisan caucus in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. His background includes serving as a GOP state legislator, leading the Peace Corps in Ukraine, and helping to end the Ebola epidemic in Guinea. He recently was a panelist on the NPR show “The Middle.”

Beth moderates Braver Angels in person and in online workshops and debates for community members and elected officials. A neurologist and science communicator focused on public health, sleep, and climate change, she has been a TEDx speaker and has appeared on NPR 1A, PBS Newshour, and other news outlets.

Since our book launch, it’s been an incredible adventure meeting people at events in Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Arizona, and more. We have discussed many themes affecting our country right now. We’ve heard comments including the following:

• “I haven’t talked with my sister since the last election. I miss seeing her, and my nephews and nieces. What can I do to repair our relationship?” We suggested she start by letting her sister know how much she cares about her before venturing into politics.
• “I can’t sleep after watching the evening news.” As a neurology sleep specialist, counseling people to stop “doomscrolling” before bed has become a routine recommendation that Beth gives patients.
• “I’m a proud activist speaking up for the injustice I see in our country. How can I talk to ‘those people’ when the world is on fire?” Courageous Citizenship is how we put the fire out.

Participants from the Sharon VT Braver Angels workshop and book discussion in January 2026, held at Sharon Elementary School.

There are simple solutions we can do to fix this issue:

• Recognize the “conflict entrepreneurs” that stir up anger among us for power or profit (think about those incendiary cable talk show hosts and social media algorithms that play on our fears). Learn how to be more media savvy and stop the cycle of sharing divisive news.
• Get in touch with your values and try to figure out whether you are living them when you encounter people who voted differently from you. Are you kind, treating your friends, family, and neighbors with dignity and respect, even if you don’t agree with them?
• Get Braver Angels Training in Courageous Citizenship — that includes listening with curiosity and humility to people who differ politically than us, and speaking out about what we believe. When you listen first, your viewpoint will be more likely to fall on receptive ears, and you might also learn something useful. You can be BOTH an activist and a bridge-builder at the same time.
• Join a community organization, a sports team, a musical group, church, or any other collection of people who are diverse (including politically, if possible). Or work on a local project to help your community. This civic engagement, built into the DNA of New Englanders, fosters trust and makes it easier to talk with anyone about politically charged issues when they arise.
• We also offer book-related articles on our free “Together Across Differences” Substack newsletter. See for example our post “Overcoming Political Violence — We can be a beacon of light in a darkened world.”

Through these solutions, we can find hope in divided times and be a light for others.

Resources:

• Braver Angels: braverangels.org
• Beyond the Politics of Contempt website and links to Amazon and local book sellers: beyondthepoliticsofcontempt.com
• Free Substack Newsletter, Together Across Differences (book-related articles): togethernow.substack.com

Kindergarteners in Donna Soucy’s class at Mount Lebanon Elementary School gathered in a semi-circle on the blue polka-dot rug at the front of the room, ready to read.

The topic on that midwinter Monday morning: the letter Q.

They started by thinking of some common words that contain Q, like quick and quit. Quest is another Q word, but one unfamiliar to some of the kindergarteners. So, Soucy asked them questions, and provided an example, to help them understand.

“Mrs. Soucy is on a quest to find the best bagels in the Upper Valley,” she said. Her students agreed that bagels are quite tasty.

Over the course of the 40-minute lesson, students practice everything from how to shape their mouth to make the Q sound (kw) to how to write it in both uppercase and lowercase — including where to start on the page, which way to push with their pencil, and which shapes the letter contains. They also learned a helpful way to remember the letter that always accompanies it: “Q and U, they stick like glue!”

Mount Lebanon Elementary School 1st grade Teacher Mary Skiffington, right, works with a group of students during small group literacy time.

A Transformative Approach To Reading

This is just a small glimpse into how the Lebanon School District has transformed its approach to literacy education over the past four years, leading to impressive results and strong, enthusiastic readers.

In the 2024-25 school year, the percentage of kindergarteners meeting literacy benchmarks soared from 44% to 89% over the course of the year. In the latest standardized test results from the winter NWEA assessments, all grades 1-4 are well above the 60th percentile for both growth and achievement in reading. That means Lebanon students are not only achieving above the national average for this time of year, but also beating the average growth percentile from fall to winter.

These strong results come as Lebanon’s public schools have adopted a Structured Literacy approach rooted in the “Science of Reading” — that is, research that shows the cognitive science behind literacy.

The lesson Soucy was teaching on the letter Q came from the University of Florida Literacy Institute (UFLI) Foundations program, a gold-standard, evidence-based program of explicit and systematic phonics instruction. In the early grades, students learn letter sounds and how to blend them into words using the UFLI (“you-fly”) program.

Students also read “decodable” books that match the phonics skills they are learning, so they can practice successfully and build confidence and fluency. Teachers have participated in ongoing training so they understand how children learn to read and how to teach those skills effectively.

“I was an early supporter of the UFLI program and really enjoy teaching reading with it,” Soucy said. “I noticed growth in my students’ reading and writing almost immediately. I appreciate how structured the program is because the kids understand the routine and know what to expect. At the same time, it’s flexible, allowing me to add my own touches and differentiate lessons so I can meet the needs of all my learners and keep them excited and engaged.”

Donna Soucy, center, helps two of her kindergarteners at Mount Lebanon Elementary School with a writing exercise.

A Student-Centered Approach

The team of four reading specialists at Hanover Street School, the district’s other elementary school, said the district-wide literacy curriculum provides a common language for all educators to work together to meet student needs.

“Whether you’re a classroom teacher or reading specialist, it’s all based on the Science of Reading, and it’s all working toward helping students learn more and provide them with more,” said Jeanne Akpan, a reading specialist at Hanover Street School. “And the students are always the focus. No matter where they’re at with reading, we will meet them there and we’re working to move them forward.”

This year, the Lebanon School District also introduced an additional reading program called Arts and Letters that helps students build background knowledge and expand their vocabulary through rich content and discussion.

In classrooms like Mary Skiffington’s 1st grade class at Mount Lebanon, students get an hour of Arts and Letters writing and comprehension lessons every day, along with small group literacy time when Skiffington can work with cohorts of students based on their specific needs.

Some 1st graders are still working on the fundamentals of reading, Skiffington said, while others are deepening their comprehension skills and having discussions about what’s happening in the books.

Classroom and school-wide libraries at Mount Lebanon and Hanover Street schools have a range of books for readers of all levels, and teachers constantly encourage students to take books home and read with their parents/guardians every night.

“Make sure you have new books for tonight!” Skiffington told her class as they wrapped up small group literacy time on a recent morning.

Together with families, teachers, reading specialists, and administrators, Lebanon’s district-wide effort is creating a community of confident, lifelong readers.

“Literacy expert Louisa Moats says that teaching a child to read is ‘rocket science,’ because it requires intentional, well-designed instruction grounded in a deep knowledge of how the brain learns to read,” said Karen DuBois, the district’s director of academics, engagement, and opportunity. “That understanding has shaped our approach. We’ve invested in teacher professional learning and high-quality instructional materials to ensure that every child has the best foundation for becoming a confident reader.”

On a brisk, clear fall afternoon, a group of 32 Mount Lebanon Elementary School students huddled up on the playground after practice. On the count of three, they burst into their group motto: “You don’t have to win the race, you just have to be in the race!”

The students, along with their coaches  –  Donna Soucy, Nina D’Cruze, Jon Grobe and Alan Palmer  –  formed Mount Leb’s Finding our Stride team this fall. The nonprofit afterschool program partners with more than 30 schools throughout the Upper Valley (including Hanover Street School) to help kids get active and develop positive traits like resilience and empathy.

“They encourage the kids to run and be active,” Principal Katie Roach said of the coaches at Mount Lebanon. “They play collaborative games and teach social skills to the kids about acceptance, trying hard things, not giving up, and supporting your teammates!”

Finding our Stride is one of the many ways that Lebanon School District students, with the support of their families and our dedicated staff, embody our Vision of a Learner. We are dedicated to educating students who are effective and collaborative communicators, critical and creative thinkers, responsible local and global citizens, and empathetic and resilient individuals.

This vision is the foundation of our Strategic Plan, which we detailed in the last edition of the Lebanon Times. As we approach the halfway point of the school year, here are some of the many ways we are taking action on this plan for guiding our growth as a school community.

Hanover Street School Map Making

Effective and Collaborative Communication

Every Thursday, a group of about 10 Lebanon Middle School students gather after school in the band room for Podcast Club. Last year, the inaugural season of the LMS Podcast featured more than 20 episodes, covering a wide range of topics and a few featuring special guests such as PTO members, school district staff and area leaders.

“Students have liked the idea that they can talk about almost any topic, and learn about different topics they may not be as familiar with,” said Christian Terry, LMS music teacher and the club’s moderator.

Students often talk about their favorite movies, books, sports, or current trends, but recent topics also have included lessons on friendship, what students think their lives will be like in 20 years and what a world without screens would be like.

“Students who might not find their voice in the classroom or on the sports field have an opportunity to do so through this co-curricular activity,” Mr. Terry said.

During a recording session in late October, students also said they like working with the technical equipment used to record the podcast. They added that they are developing public speaking and conversation skills through the club.

“The big takeaway is hearing others’ perspectives, having healthy debate, turn-taking, and listening skills,” Mr. Terry said.

All episodes of the LMS Podcast are available at www.youtube.com/@LMSPodcast/videos.

Lebanon Middle School Podcast

Critical and Creative Thinking

Fourth graders at Hanover Street School started the school year with a project that combined social studies and art to help them better understand New Hampshire’s landscape. Each student created a 3D map that ultimately will go on the cover of books students are creating throughout the year showcasing the state’s history.

The project started with sketches of the landscape around Hanover Street School, then moved on to labeling and coloring 2D maps of New Hampshire that highlighted important geological features and landmarks across the state before building a clay model of the state’s landscape. Their next step was casting their models with plaster, which was a great outdoor activity. They wrapped up their project by painting their plaster maps.

Students said they loved the hands-on project, and the sensory experience of working with the clay and plaster. The experience of making their 3D maps allowed them to develop a deeper understanding of the changing elevations across the state. The details they included were unique to each student. For instance, some used color to distinguish the varying elevations. No matter the approach, though, students said the project helped them learn creatively.

Responsible Local and Global Citizenship

Mount Lebanon School Finding our Stride

For one Tuesday in late October, 128 Lebanon High School students stepped out of their daily routine, and into the community. They spread to 24 sites throughout the Upper Valley for the school’s annual Day of Work.

The event’s history stretches back more than 20 years, and serves as a fundraiser for the Student Council’s grant fund, which supports co-curricular activities throughout the school.

Groups of students volunteer to help with projects at homes throughout the community, like raking leaves, prepping for winter or moving furniture. Residents who sign up for these services pay by donating to the school.

“It’s a good way to give back to the community because they do so much to help us,” sophomore Claire MacMartin said.

This year, juniors and LHS Council members Mikko Andres and Ian Danen-Lucier returned to the same West Lebanon house where they helped at last year’s Day of Work. The homeowner even called them over the summer to help with some additional yard work.

“It helps build a relationship between students and the community,” Andres said.

LHS Paraeducator Bradley Cantlin, the Council advisor, added, “I think Day of Work is really about the connections they make in the community. That’s really valuable.”

Empathetic and Resilient Individuals

Back at Mount Lebanon School, on the last day of Finding our Stride’s fall season, students are reflecting on the goals they set at the beginning of the program: get better and stronger, set their own pace, build stamina and perseverance.

Their coaches asked, “If we couldn’t do it, what did you tell yourself, or your friends?”

“You can do it,” one student exclaimed. Another chimed in, “Don’t give up, you’ve got this!” While another runner added, “You’re doing a good job!”

After the pep talk, the group took off on a roughly quarter-mile run through the West Lebanon neighborhood surrounding the school. Students who finished first stayed and cheered on their teammates until the very last person crossed the finish line.

“We want students to develop positive feelings about physical activity and perseverance,” Coach Soucy said. “And also, we just want it to be really fun.”

A few days later, many of the students participated in the CHaD Hero race in Hanover, raising money for Dartmouth Health Children’s and the Children’s Hospital at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (CHaD).

Across all of its schools, the Finding our Stride program was the top fundraiser for the event, collecting more than $60,000 in donations and helping the event surpass $1 million for the first time in its 20-year history.

Students for a Sustainable Future (SSF) at Lebanon High School (LHS) was founded in 2000 by Jared Duval, a junior who wanted to inspire his fellow students to work on global warming, composting, and recycling efforts, among other environmental issues. As a senior, Jared successfully led a campaign to prevent a 56,000-square foot supermarket and 302-space parking lot from being built on a wetland adjacent to the school. For his efforts, Jared was awarded the prestigious Brower Youth Award for Environmental Leadership by the Earth Island Institute’s New Leaders Initiative. The award website describes the youth activism that caught their attention: “After a nine-month campaign that involved circulating a petition, recruiting volunteers, letter-writing, canvassing, and frequent attendance at local zoning board meetings, the city planning board narrowly voted to prevent the project.”

Georgia Gaffney and Mallory Eshbaugh, collecting recycling at Lebanon High School as part of an SSF initiative.

After high school, Jared pursued degrees in economics and policy, and authored a book, Next Generation Democracy: What the Open Source Revolution Means for Power, Politics, and Change. Twenty-five years later, SSF is still an active club at Lebanon High School, and Jared is the executive director of Vermont’s Energy Action Network – a non-profit that brings together businesses, non-profits, academic institutions, utilities, and government officials to advance data-driven renewable energy initiatives in Vermont. Jared recently received the VT Community Foundation Con Hogan Award for public service for his work. He reflects on the motivation the awards have provided for his continued work on energy issues: “For me, the awards are a positive affirmation for work that is often lonely or contained to a small group. To know that the work is valued by others is just further encouragement to keep providing evidence-based information to help ground and advance climate and energy work.”

Jared speaks of his time at LHS with admiration for his teachers and fellow students. “Nothing is successful unless it’s a team effort, and a lot of other students were involved, including Allison Rogers Furbish, who went on to work for Vital Communities for a time. Joanna Winchester and Sara Vogel were also very involved. A lot of people committed time and effort to it.” SSF was built on the initial efforts of Allison, who started the recycling program and spearheaded other events, including hosting speakers and attending trainings like the Youth Environmental Summit. Eventually, the students got connected to the Sierra Club and their youth training programs.

Jared Duval, founder of Students for a Sustainable Future and Lebanon High School class of 2001 graduate. (VT Community Foundation)

A big factor in launching Students for a Sustainable Future was the support of now-retired biology teacher, Mary Maxfield. Jared notes that there was a moment of disconnect between what the students were learning about the value of wetlands for water quality, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat, and the proposal for the large grocery store project on the wetland site. Much of the work SSF did in 2000-2001 was attending Zoning and Planning Board meetings around the proposed project and trying to prevent it from going forward. “An important realization back then that has stayed with me is the power of organizing not just for students but also by students.” Jared notes that groups like SSF allow students to have a direct voice and can be organized in a way that feels right to them rather than being told what to do. “Having teachers like Mrs. Maxfield, who was there primarily to listen and provide support, was really valuable. When the issues feel big and overwhelming, having an avenue to address them in a way that resonates with students is empowering.”

Current LHS student and SSF member Georgia Gaffney is a junior who got involved in the club for the first time this year. “I really care about the climate, and I wanted to find a way to be involved that wasn’t too big of a commitment, and that I could do during the school day,” she says.

SSF has about 20-25 students participating, and is primarily involved in recycling efforts. “Every Friday during our advisory period, we help the janitors by emptying the recycling bins around the school,” Georgia explains. We found that people were throwing liquids into the bins, so we started a campaign with announcements, posters, and signs to educate everyone on how to recycle correctly.”

The group is also planting trees in the school courtyard and applied for a grant to purchase them. SSF is receiving guidance from the Lebanon Tree Advisory Board on tree selection and planting.

The efforts of SSF mirror the goals of another volunteer group in the city – Sustainable Lebanon – which is working on actions related to pollinator health, plastic waste reduction, and energy conservation. Jon Chaffee leads the group’s efforts and has high hopes for more LHS student involvement in environmental activism. “Sustainable Lebanon would love to see more young people getting active about ways that our customary lifestyle affects the environment,” he says. “Choices like buying plastic, driving a gas car, and putting pesticides on the lawn are opportunities for behavior change and education.” Sustainable Lebanon volunteers held a styrofoam collection event in April during a spring snowstorm, with 275 people showing up to drop off foam packaging for recycling.

Mariana Utell, Mallory Eshbaugh, and Peyton Rutherford collecting
recycling at Lebanon High School.

Past SSF projects have included a composting program in the high school cafeteria, a school garden, and a plastic free lunch day event. The compost stations in the cafeteria allowed students to sort food scraps from their trash and recycling in an efficient way. The stations were designed by the Applied Engineering class, built by the Wood Technology class, and painted by art students. Four 32-gallon totes of food scraps are collected each week, for a total of 4,608 gallons of food scraps each year. The scraps were picked up by a Vermont compost farmer, who then left empty totes. Previously, these scraps went into the trash, and were hauled away to the Lebanon landfill.

The school garden started out with three 4’ x 10’ raised beds, with additional beds recently added. Garlic, onions, carrots, beets, kale, spinach, herbs, were grown and harvested by SSF students, washed, and delivered to the cafeteria kitchen staff once a week. Senior students served as garden interns, working to build the garden, maintain the vegetables, harvest the crops, and work with elementary school students. The plastic free lunch day encouraged the school community to go plastic free for one day to reduce single use plastic waste.

According to Georgia, SSF has plans for future projects to support its mission. “We’re growing, and I’m excited for the future,” she says. “I think the group of senior girls we have will provide some solid leadership to the club. Next year, we plan to do a trash clean up and activities around Earth Day, and one thing I‘m really passionate about is the threat of oil drilling in our national parks.” Georgia is leaning toward studying political science after graduation.

As far as her inspiration for getting involved in SSF, Georgia cites her love of the Upper Valley area and Lebanon in particular. “I love where I live. It’s a great community to grow up in and people really love Lebanon,” she says. “I like growing up in a small town environment, and I really appreciate the city’s efforts to support sustainability and also arts and culture.”

When the news dropped at the end of December that two restaurants in the Gusanoz family would be closing their doors, it felt like another sign of the times for an increasingly challenging industry. Costs for restaurants are rising, margins are shrinking, and uncertainty is the economic word of the hour. But for Nick Yager and Maria Limon, co-owners of the restaurant that’s been serving Mexican food to the people of Lebanon for almost twenty years, there might be a better word to focus on: perseverance.

Gusanoz first opened its doors on August 16, 2005, and has been a fixture on Lebanon’s ‘Miracle Mile’ ever since – but it hasn’t been the couple’s only venture. In 2006, they expanded briefly into Woodstock: “that lasted a little over a year,” Nick says. “Which was great in the summertime, but in the fall, everybody would go home and it just wasn’t sustainable.” In 2010, they tried again in Hanover, which worked well until they took on an ice cream business. “[We] found that ice cream was a business that was very foreign to us.” Throughout it all, their flagship location carried the weight well. “We had a good crew here, and we focused on this for the next ten years or so.”

The most recent challenges for the business began in 2021, with the purchase of Mickey’s in Enfield. The previous year, the couple had worked with their son Eddie to open Lalo’s, a taqueria on the Lebanon Mall, and while it wasn’t yet profitable, it wasn’t the strain on the finances that the Enfield location would become: “We were having to put in probably $10,000-$15,000 a month [to support Enfield],” Nick says. “Gusanoz really couldn’t sustain that type of cash flow going out to support that business.”

Talking about exactly how bankruptcy happens, Nick quotes Hemingway: “Two ways: gradually, then suddenly.” A consultant determined that the Enfield location wasn’t financially sustainable. Lalo’s could have survived under Chapter 11, but would have had to make some compromises on ingredients and pricing that were deal breakers for Eddie. But the flagship location? “If we just met our normal budgets, [it] could survive.”

Nick Yager reveals a flavorful batch of slow-cooked birria destined for tacos. Photos by Richard Ford Burley

“Chapter 11” is the chapter of the US Bankruptcy Code that can help a business make a plan to keep its doors open and its staff employed. In fact, thanks to the restructuring the business is undergoing, Nick was able to offer positions to “anybody that was looking for something” from the closing restaurants, in the end taking in five employees from Enfield and one from Lalo’s.

But this isn’t the first time the restaurant has needed to shift directions to keep moving forward. “The day that they shut down indoor dining in New Hampshire [due to Covid], we had a staff meeting, and we said we’re going to reopen tomorrow and we’re going to focus on ‘to-go’…We shifted gears almost immediately, went out and bought a couple of delivery cars…We hit it hard and we just kept going.” Doing so set the stage for their latest move.

Just next door to the Lebanon location are big signs reading “Gusanoz Express” and “To Go Pick Up Here.” In its previous incarnation, the space had been a podcast studio. Then it was the focus for their Covid-era food prep kitchen and pickup, but the need for that had passed, and they’d been searching for another use for the space that would also be a revenue center. “So in December, we opened up Gusanoz Express,” Nick says. “The intent is to have a quick-serve menu that’s ‘to go’ and delivery, so we make burritos, nachos, tortas, birria tacos, and a couple other things…you can just walk in or you can order off the menu online.” Customers can also order through DoorDash, and they’re working on GrubHub and UberEats as well. “It’s a way to access Dartmouth, a bit easier as far as the population there goes.” The hard part? Getting the word out.

Back when they first opened, Nick says, “there were basically three main TV stations, some cable that everybody watched, and a couple of social media platforms…back then it was easy to place an ad and there would be a response.” He laughs, remembering: “We used to do ads on CNN.” These days, the media landscape is more of a challenge, but they’re seeing some success on the DoorDash front, with “probably $2000-$3000 a week…which is decent volume.” He’s hopeful locals will spread the news through word of mouth.

Another revenue driver on the horizon is Gusanoz-branded sauces and salsas. They put in the work a decade ago to get the needed licenses and developed four hot sauces and a salsa. “We’re certified to sell those anywhere in the country,” Nick says. But, “since we have the license, we can also bottle other things that we can sell out of the restaurant.” Bottles of their red enchilada sauce will be back soon. “It’s super simple: it’s all natural, chili peppers, tomatillos – very simple ingredients, but delicious.” After that, a green enchilada and some salsas, too. “So that’s the goal…I can help cover [Gusanoz Express] and also work on bottling, because the prep kitchen is right back here.”

Throughout the challenges, Nick says there’s been a lot of support from the community. “There’s a lot of positive vibes from people. We get some of it directly from people that know us or see us, and we get a lot of feedback from the staff, from regulars, and other folks too who are coming in because they heard we’re in a situation. And then on social media, you see some positive comments about supporting the Lebanon location, too.” Between that, the restructuring, the new efforts, and a history of elbow grease and, again, perseverance, Nick and Maria are hopeful for the future of Gusanoz: “If the economy holds strong, and if product pricing doesn’t shift for our ingredients, we should be on the path to another twenty years. This is our twentieth year of business and we’d like to do another twenty.”

When Falguni Mehta first followed her husband to Lebanon, she imagined it would only be for a year or two. Twenty-four years later, with a career in engineering and healthcare and a son ready to set out for college, she’s started on another venture: bringing delicious, healthful food to the city she calls home.

Newly ensconced in the home of the recently-closed China Station on Miracle Mile, Turmeric Kitchen serves food from across India: from Rogan Josh from Kashmir in the North to Chettinad from Tamil Nadu in the South – with dishes from many other stops along the way. A restaurant specializing in Indian cuisine might seem like an unusual direction for someone whose career has been built around improving the quality of healthcare services and engineering processes, but for Mehta, they come from the same place: a lifelong interest in how we take care of ourselves and each other.

Falguni Mehta, owner of Turmeric Kitchen on Miracle Mile in Lebanon.

Growing up in Gujarat, Mehta’s family helped form her first connection between food and health. She recalls that the food there was very sweet: “They use sugar in everything, from curry to lentil dishes.” But she says that her mother had always had a very healthy approach to cooking: “she would alter family recipes to use less salt, less sugar, less fried, less butter, less this, less that…and you know, knock on wood, she’s 75, doing well.” Her first experience with American food was rather less auspicious.

When she first came to the United States, her husband’s aunt and family came to pick them up. She recalls one of their then young children offering a stern warning: “You eat Subway, right? If you don’t eat Subway, you won’t survive in this country.” She laughs about it now, but at the time she took it seriously. “It was an acquired taste for us…we’d never had a cold sandwich in India.”

Still, opening a restaurant was never exactly in the plan. After getting master’s degrees in engineering, she and her husband interned in upstate New York before he eventually landed a job in Lebanon, and she followed along on what she expected to be a short-term stay in a small New England town. But the stay extended, and Mehta wound up getting into healthcare. “I found my calling,” she says, in the field of healthcare and making Lebanon home.

After investing several years in her career, Mehta took some time off in order to spend more time with her family. “It was extremely important that I raise my son,” she says, “so he grows up knowing our roots, Indian culture, traditions, cuisine, and various languages.” While raising her son, Mehta also completed her MBA, but she initially hesitated at the idea of starting a business: “business is too much,” she once told her husband, but she tucked the idea away and it became a longtime dream. She might consider it, she thought, when her son went off to college, though she never thought she’d open a restaurant. “We’ll see how I feel.”

Her son is now seventeen and attends Lebanon High School, and for the last year Mehta has been feeling the impending departure approaching. “My son is my entire world,” she says. “I know I will be crying all day long [when he goes],” so she decided, “I need to find something, something new and exciting, that will keep my mind busy!” At first, she considered art lessons at AVA in Lebanon or taking up singing, but the thought of starting a business had been on her mind as well. That’s when inspiration came to her, in the shape of a bright blue food truck. She remembers thinking, “Taste of Punjab? What is that?”

Mehta and her husband had long been running a yearly Indian cultural dance festival called “Navratri”, at which they typically provided an assortment of Indian foods. In previous years, they had to go down to Manchester or Nashua, but last year, thanks to Taste of Punjab, they were able to get the food made locally for the first time. More interestingly, the food truck’s owner, Manjit Singh, was interested in collaborating – and in getting into a real kitchen: “It’s hard to cook Indian food in a food truck,” Mehta says. “This sparked the idea and opportunity to use my business background and open an Indian restaurant to provide a better, healthier option to our community.”

After some back and forth about the structure the business should take, Mehta eventually collaborated with Singh to create the new brick and mortar restaurant that would come to be called Turmeric Kitchen. It was a challenge to find chefs who could cook a wide variety of dishes. “Up here, you only see North Indian food…[like] tikka masala – paneer tikka, chicken tikka masala – and butter chicken.” As a result, she cast her search net wide. “That’s why we had to go to New York, New Jersey, D.C., [and] Colorado,” she says, to look for people able to make authentic dishes from all over India. “There is a lot more to Indian cuisine than just Punjabi food.”

Fans of the Taste of Punjab food truck needn’t worry, though. Mehta volunteers on Lebanon’s new Food Truck Task Force and has plans to bring the truck back under the Turmeric Kitchen name, “come next spring.”

And as for that name, it all comes back to Mehta’s focus on health –

in this case on the health benefits of food. Turmeric has long been used in ayurvedic medicine, and studies

have shown that curcumin, a compound found in the spice, has anti-inflammatory properties. Plus, as a long-time vegetarian, she promises there will always be vegetarian (and nut and gluten free!) options on the menu, as well as fusion menu items that will combine traditional Indian flavors with elements of global cuisines, and a focus on local and healthy ingredients: “We are what we eat,” she says, “I have seen, first-hand in my own home, the health benefits of what you put in you.”

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.

Taking a risk and having the courage to share a talent in front of others is one valuable decision that 11-year-old Carter Moote made when she decided to start singing the responsorial psalms at Sacred Heart Church during Sunday services. Carter, a Lebanon resident and Lebanon Middle School student, took the leap when Sacred Heart’s music director, Alice Maleski, asked her if she’d be willing to sing for the congregation.

“I’d never been presented with an opportunity to share one of my talents,” Carter says. “I don’t really understand why I said ‘yes,’ I just said it. I just felt like I was meant to do it.” This leap of faith became a way for Carter to share her faith and love for her church community, and it’s helped grow her confidence over the past two years.

In her spare time, Carter Moote loves to bake!

“When I’m up on the altar [singing], it makes me feel like I’m close to God and it feels important that I get to be up there using my gift to praise God,” Carter explains. This role within the church is typically reserved for adults, and Carter is one of the first children that her mother, Courtney Baker, can remember singing psalms since she herself started attending services as a child growing up in Lebanon.

“It makes me really proud that she has chosen to use her voice and her singing gifts to celebrate her faith in this way,” says Baker. “I’m taken aback by her poise. She’s constantly surprising me with what she’s able to do.”

In the Catholic tradition, psalms, from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament, each carry a specific meaning within their verses, and “you’re not just singing a psalm, you’re praising the Creator,” Carter explains. In worship, psalms serve as prayers that reflect a wide array of human circumstance and emotion.

Courtney Baker, Carter Moote, and Deborah Carney (Courtney’s
mom and Carter’s grandmother) on Easter Sunday at Sacred
Heart Church.

Since Carter has started singing at Sacred Heart Church, she’s been inspired to share her vocal talents elsewhere, as well. Carter was nominated by her music teacher at Lebanon Middle School to participate in a musical performance in Providence, Rhode Island, which was held in January by the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). “I don’t think that would have happened had it not started with the church,” Baker says. “I think it’s really built her confidence in regard to singing and every other aspect [of her life].”

Outside of the church, Carter also exercises her voice in her school chorus and at the Upper Valley Music Center as part of their “Singing for the Stage” program, and this summer, Carter plans to join the Musical Theatre Lab at Northern Stage. She’s also a member of the local Girl Scout troop, and in her spare time, she enjoys playing sports and baking with her grandmother, Deborah Carney.

For Carter, singing for the Sacred Heart Church community has been an opportunity to share her faith and offer her gift of song in worship. “It makes me feel special in a way…It’s not just like normal singing,” she says. “I’m doing it for an important cause.”

Since he was 12 years old, serving God and others has been Roger Tatro’s mission in life.

Tatro, who now lives in Quail Hollow with his wife, Dale, learned the value of hard work and selflessness early in life, and it’s carried with him throughout his life and career as a farmhand, a milkman, an insurance agent, and a musician.

Tatro grew up in Morrisville, and he met Dale “just by accident” after graduating from the Peoples Academy in 1958. “I just saw her sitting on a stone wall with another girl; I just pulled over [in the car] and introduced myself,” he says.

Straight out of high school, Tatro kept working for Greaves Farms in Morrisville, where he had started living and working at age 14. After his parents’ divorce when he was 12, Tatro decided to step up for his family in a time of need. “I knew Mom [needed] some help, so I went to work,” he says. For many years, Tatro’s daily routine consisted of waking up before 3:30am, milking cows from 4am to 6am, and then going to school for the day. At age 18, Tatro started delivering milk to a few area towns, which later led to his immense success selling insurance for nearly thirty years. “I knew everybody, because of delivering milk,” Tatro explains. “I had no problem getting into homes and sitting down with people [to talk].”

At age 29, Tatro went to work for MetLife Insurance, and after incredible success during his first year, he was offered multiple promotions in bigger districts, but wanting to stay loyal to his local communities, he refused. After 13 years, Tatro moved on to work for A.D. Davis (Bankworth Insurance Group), where he continued his mission of “serving the people” at a job he enjoyed, prioritizing his faith over selfish sales tactics. “I loved getting up in the morning and going to work,” Tatro says. “Attitude is number one.”

Tatro retired as a vice president of the company in 1998, after suffering a massive heart attack in ‘96 with no explanation. The Tatros – now married for over 60 years – then moved to Quechee, and Tatro joined St. Anthony’s Church in White River Junction. Since then, Tatro has served as a greeter, elector (scripture reader), and eucharist minister (who brings holy communion to others).

After faith and family, “music is the third thing in my life,” Tatro says, who’s been playing the guitar and singing for about 65 years. In the community, Tatro provides vocals and music at area senior centers and assisted living facilities, in churches, and at memorials. Any genre from old-time music to rock n’ roll is fair game for Tatro, but hymns are his favorite, which he plays and signs by memory.

Now a grandfather and great-grandfather, Tatro has many loved ones to pass his wisdom on to, and he still lives by the purpose of service – in faith and community. “That’s been my mission,” he says. “And I have done that.”

In 2008, Paul Coats discovered a trail running race in Newport, NH that caught his attention. The longtime director of the Lebanon Recreation, Arts, and Parks Department – and a serious runner himself – Coats knew competitive athletes expect professional timing and precise distance measurements. These quality characteristics found at the Newport Recreation trail race were usually reserved for events abutting metropolitan areas. In a few short years, a wide-ranging host of trail and road running events for all ages and abilities would be brought to the Upper Valley, in large part thanks to Lebanon Recreation, Arts, and Parks.

In the early 2000s, trail-running competitions nationwide exclusively spanned lengths far beyond that of a marathon. Significantly more lengthy – and technical – trail running “ultras” made road marathons look like speed walks in the park.

Coats joined forces with fellow competitive runner Chad Denning, former associate director of Hanover Parks and Recreation. Coats recounts, the two had “become fast friends as work colleagues, and were dedicated to collaborative programming that would inspire people to play outside.”

Denning had built a repertoire of race-directing acumen while working and racing in Colorado. They networked with current and former Newport, Claremont, and Sunapee directors, P.J. Lovely, Scott Hausler, and Jon Reese, respectively, to create the Western NH Trail Running Series. “It was truly a collaborative effort from the beginning,” explains Coats.

The Western New Hampshire Trail Running (WNHTR) Series – primarily of four to eight-mile races – culminates on September 23rd with Lebanon’s Farnum Five, held uphill from the Lebanon Police Department Headquarters and across the street from Poverty Hill Orchards – a venue that opens runners and supporters following the race.

Sadly, Denning died just a few years after these collaborative efforts bore fruit. Aged 39 at the time, this local legend has been duly honored by subsequent race directors. 

But the spirit of race directing that Coats and Denning ignited in Lebanon and the surrounding Upper Valley region still lives on. “It’s incredible what happens organically when the right people… come together,” reflected Coats, because their story of collaborative event planning was just warming up. 

Within one year after the inception of the trail running series, the Upper Valley Running Club was born. Two years later, that club launched a series of road races certified for professional timing and accurate race lengths. For both, Lebanon Recreation was behind the scenes – the discreet linchpin and financial account holder. 

An original and ongoing Board member of the Upper Valley Running Club and Upper Valley Running Series Coordinator, Geoff Dunbar, recalls, “Paul stepped up and said, ‘You can be a program [of Lebanon Recreation].”

Dunbar explains that this type of marrying is “very unusual.” According to Dunbar, Coats offered insurance and registration through Lebanon Recreation. It was a similarly supportive conversation with starting the racing series.

Although “Lebanon has taken a leadership role, Lebanon is not in the name of any of these programs,” explains Coats in characteristic, tell-tale humility. “We take pride that we take part…But we’re not so prideful that we have to be one-on-one associated,” with originating or continuing to support these wide-ranging events and programs. 

This season, Lebanon hosts the Upper Valley Running Series’ four-miler Skip’s Run on June 18th and the 10k Downriver Rail Run on October 7th.

To wrap in more participants, the thriving running club launched another successful offering – the “Couch to 5K” program. “We help anyone [run],” exclaims Dunbar. 

Originally an opportunity for individuals to safely begin a fitness regimen with coaching support, the Couch to 5k program provided a critical community for individuals otherwise isolated during the pandemic. 

“Anytime you’re bringing [together] a group of people, [the shared passion] crosses all those boundaries of who you vote for, any other civic organizations you’re in, [or]…what high school you went to,” Coats says. 

And that experience is meeting the objectives Lebanon Recreation set out to achieve: “Our objective, our mission,” according to Coats, “is to build community in Lebanon.” And more than that even: “We want people from the bigger metropolitan areas to think, ‘I can move to that area…and call it home.’ That’s part of our charge.”

These programs, labors of love, fruits born of countless hands, started from the tipping point of just a few. As author Malcolm Gladwell explains, the influence of even one individual can be understatedly powerful. “I do love what I do,” admits Coats with a smile. And it shows.