New Hampshire
At home – with hope – in Keene: A Mexican rancher starts over | Manchester Ink Link
NEW IN NEW HAMPSHIRE: PART 5
An occasional series of articles about immigrants to New Hampshire and the people and experiences that help them learn a new culture and find work, housing and community.
In an industrial building on Vose Farm Road in Peterborough, dozens of shelves are piled high with stacks of coiled, colorful firehoses, destined for fire departments in the United States. This is the New England branch of Kuriyama Fire Products, a division of Kuriyama of America.
Before a single hose leaves Peterborough, it must be tested to make sure it won’t leak under the high pressure required to fight fires.
That’s where Luis, an asylum seeker from Mexico, comes in. His last name is omitted to protect his identity.
Since mid-2023, his job has been to test hoses and send back any that leak. While the pressure at most fire hydrants ranges from 120 to 150 pounds per square inch, Luis said, he tests them under 300 to 400 pounds per square inch.
“Firefighters have too much risk to have firehoses that don’t work,” he explained on a recent tour of the facility. He likes to orient new hires. He shares his work ethic by example, telling them to read the manuals because they can read English better than he can, but to watch him as he demonstrates what to do.
Kevin Gage, the production manager who hired Luis, says he wishes he had more employees like him.
“He’s a hard-working man. He usually gets here early and works hard all day,” Gage said. “He walks in and shakes everyone’s hand. It’s a routine. He’s an asset to us.” Luis has a lot of good ideas, Gage adds, “like putting safety features on equipment.”
Problem-solving comes naturally to Luis, who raised cattle and horses on a ranch in Mexico until it became too dangerous to stay. Finally, one night, without turning on the headlights of their vehicle, he set out for the Texas border with his family, Maria and three children. Luis had a visa from earlier trips to the United States and Canada on cattle business. He and the family were admitted legally through a port of entry to seek asylum.
Volunteers Jumpstart Adjustment
At a shelter in El Paso, the Annunciation House, the family met representatives of what has become Project Home: the Keene-based not-for-profit that assists asylum seekers with housing, education, medical care, legal assistance and other needs as they await court consideration and before they are eligible to work. Through them, on a Zoom call at Christmas in 2019, the family met Hanah LaBarre and Nathan Lyczak, whose home in Keene they would share for more than 18 months.
“Covid arrived just after they did,” LaBarre recalls. “That presented a whole set of new challenges.”
Besides setting ground rules about daily life – where digital devices could be used, when visitors could come, whether candles could be used, when common areas of the house could be shared – LaBarre and Lyczak found themselves making policies around Covid: “We needed to know if the guests went into any other homes and whose? Did everyone wear masks?”
Even though anxiety was high, LaBarre found the guests’ strong family bonds “lovely” and the kids, “delightful, especially Caleb, the little one, who was extroverted, always zipping around the house, playing with us.” Caleb is now in elementary school, his sister Luisa is in middle school and his brother Jonathan is graduating from high school with a scholarship to college.
Luis remembers those first months as difficult.
“Early days are hard because you won’t be able to work,” he said. His first two applications for a work permit were declined without explanation. Maria got hers on the second try. She now works as a housekeeper in a memory care unit at Langdon Place in Keene, an elder care facility.
“The people are kind, loving and friendly,” Maria said. She likes the job but dreams of opening a restaurant someday.
“She’s the best cook I know,” Luis volunteers, and his assessment is echoed by LaBarre and Laura Williams, a Project Home volunteer who tutored Jonathan and enrolled Maria and Luis in the Keene Community Education program for English as a Second Language. When they got jobs, both Luis and Maria had to drop the ESL program because the morning classes conflicted with their work. But Williams has stayed close to the family, especially Maria.
“We’ve spent many hours together making tamales,” Williams said.
Work Permit Brings Independence
Until Luis was approved to work and got a Social Security card, he volunteered for three hours a day three days a week at Stonewall Farm near Keene. When it came time to find a place of their own, the volunteer work paid off. Luis had become a friend of the then-farm manager, and mentioned they were looking for a place to rent. One day his friend asked him to meet at an apartment. Luis thought he might need help repairing something.
After walking through the apartment, his friend asked, “Are you good here?”
“I said, ‘What?” Luis remembers. He couldn’t believe that the apartment was for rent to his family.
NH Training Center Offers New Skills and Certification
The apartment is now homey, bustling with family activities and visits from friends. In the kitchen is a token of Luis’ love and appreciation for Maria: a stainless-steel rolling cart that he designed to give her extra workspace in their kitchen.
He created it at Phaze Welding Technology Center, a welding shop and training school in Peterborough next door to Kuriyama. While Luis was waiting for a work permit, Project Home connected him with training at Phaze to become a certified welder.
Dan Guillou, founder and owner of Phaze, was impressed with Luis’ work ethic, determination and courage in the face of personal losses. Both Luis’ father and his oldest son died in Mexico after he left, and Luis was unable to return for their funerals. Guillou gave Luis a “scholarship” to help Project Home afford the tuition.
“We’re not here to make a buck but to train people,” Guillou said. He launched his business in 2019 and says hundreds have gone through training. There are more than 2 million job openings for welders in the country, he said. Phaze can train 80 to 100 a year. With welding skills and certification “There won’t be a day you don’t work unless you don’t want to work,” he said.
As he got to know Luis, he recognized a hard worker and fellow problem-solver.
“Welders look at a concept and the things they can design to solve a problem. To be good, you have to have vision. It involves a lot of planning.”
Family Works to Rebuild in NH, with Grateful Hearts
Gillou learned that Luis had been such a planner on his ranch in Mexico, where he hired welders when he needed work done. A graduate of Mexico’s National School of Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine, Luis has an advanced degree in cattle production and systems engineering.
Luis’ dream is to be a rancher again, in the United States, Guillou said. “With the skills he learned here, he can be a much better rancher. He can do himself what he used to hire done.”
Guillou is committed to helping Luis realize his dream. He’s put him in touch with two brothers in Keene who will make farmland available to launch an organic farm and perhaps, in time, a cattle operation. Guillou located equipment to start with this year.
“I know exactly what to do with that,” Luis said.
Even with all the things that happened, he said, “We’re very lucky to find this place, this city.” He said he’s never felt discriminated against.
“I don’t think anyone realizes what the true cost is to settle a family here in the state,” Guillou said. “It takes an immense amount of resources to get them through a year. There’s no government support for asylum-seekers.”
“One day, we can help, too,” Luis said, “when we have our stuff done — when we are accepted, legal and have our [permanent resident] status. We want to become citizens. It’s a huge goal.”
The hearing on their asylum case is later this year.
For information about volunteering with or donating to Project Home, visit their website 
Advice from Luis and Maria
… for other immigrants:
- Have a positive attitude and be patient – very, very patient. “Everything goes slow, like molasses in the wintertime,” Luis said.
- Be smart enough to make it work. Learn how to say, “We need this, not that.”
- If you’re accepted for a job, do the work. Be proud of your job.
…. for hosts and other volunteers:
- Keep going. People are different; they have different problems. Learn from people as they come.
- Understand and ask about cultural differences, including food. Living with a family that ate a lot of vegetables, Luis said he had to tell them, “I’m not a rabbit. I’m a cattleman!”
Advice for hosts from Hanah LaBarre and Nathan Lyczak:
- It takes a big heart. It’s a journey with a lot of uncertainty. “In our case, because of Covid there was no known end-date.”
- Know as much about the person or family as you can before they arrive.
- Step into it. Be open to another culture.
- Know your limits. Know the help you’ll need from others. “It takes a community to make it work: a full team is crucial. “
- Set house rules in the beginning.
- Think through the transportation issues. Can guests walk to school? To resources they need?
- Communication can be tricky. Sometimes you’re not talking in the same language.
- Consider family roles: It was challenging for us that the heads of our guest family were elder to us. “That was different. In Mexico Luis had people working for him in his house.”
Advice for volunteers from Laura Williams, ESL teacher:
- Know what you want to do, and follow your heart.
- You have to be flexible. The core group of Project Home is aware of the difficulty of having volunteers as a support system.
- There are opportunities on many different levels. You can be as involved or a peripheral as your time or patience allow.
- The scenario is different for every person who comes. Each case has to be handled differently. You can’t impose a scenario that worked for one family on another.
Observations from Dan Guillou, Phaze Welding:
- Money spent at the border is wasted. The border wall is mismanaged. The immigration process is mismanaged. There’s got to be a different way.
- A huge workforce in Latin American countries is going to waste or relocating. America should incentivize Latin American governments to help their people.
- Getting involved locally is the first step to solving what is going on in DC and at the border.
New Hampshire
Opinion: The farm bill passed the House. Western New Hampshire got the bill. – Concord Monitor
In 1794, George Washington wrote that he knew of “no pursuit in which more zeal and important service can be rendered to any Country than by improving its agriculture.” Two hundred and thirty years later, the House just passed a farm bill that proves his successors stopped believing it.
Drive Route 12 through Walpole. Take Route 10 up through Haverhill. Cut across to Littleton, past the diner that has been feeding the town since 1930. The farms are there. Lush land that produces. People who work till their sweat and blood soak the ground they nurture. A region with every ingredient to feed itself.
What is not there is the processing facility that makes it worth raising the animal. The cold storage that keeps the crop from spoiling before it finds a buyer. The regional market that pays a price worth planting for. I want to believe Washington did not forget to build those things. Regardless, it built something else instead — a system that works beautifully for an operation running 10,000 acres in the Midwest and leaves the farmer on Route 12 doing the math at the kitchen table at midnight wondering if this is the last season.
And the 2026 Farm Bill just made that system more expensive to survive. Large commodity operations received a $54 billion subsidy increase over the next 10 years, with individual payment caps that can exceed $900,000 per operation. Is the farmer at your farmers market in position for this kind of payout?
The bill guarantees money, codified by law, for the people who need it least. Local food programs were reauthorized with zero mandatory funding, but plenty of empty words. They exist on paper and nowhere else. It means a farmer in Plainfield cannot count on them. It means Coos County, where one in seven people cannot reliably put food on the table, keeps waiting for help that has been promised and deferred so many times the promise itself has become an insult. Especially when supermarkets and superstores — just 15% of SNAP-accepting establishments — vacuum up nearly 74% of every food assistance dollar, while the local farm stand sees almost none of it.
And that is before the input costs.
Local farmers know this better than most. You buy fuel and fertilizer on global markets you have no vote in and no say over. Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, causing record high prices for fertilizers globally, all because Russia is the world’s top exporter and suddenly it wasn’t exporting. And while that news cycle is long buried, remember that the Iran war has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a third of the world’s seaborne fertilizer travels. Diesel recently crossed $5 a gallon, which large trucks that move food and tractors rely on. Fertilizer went from $500 a ton to $850. One tractor cost $350 more than it did last year. You did not start either of those wars, yet you pay for both of them. And that is not even accounting for the sharp sting of tariffs on the inputs you depend on to plant next season.
Chapter 12 farm bankruptcies rose 55% in 2024. Then another 46% in 2025, and those numbers only count the farms that qualified for Chapter 12, which requires the majority of family income to come from farming. The ones that don’t qualify quietly disappear, not even a balance sheet to mark the years of struggle, labor and community these farmers gave. They just stop. Since 2018, this country has lost more than 158,000 farms, with every size category shrinking except operations over a million dollars in annual revenue. Those are still growing, and will do so as long as the policy is written to grow them. Another example of an unlevel playing field where the rich get richer.
To be clear about something: large-scale agriculture feeds a lot of people and nobody sat in a room and decided to destroy the small farm. But does intent matter when these are the results? The system produces what it was designed to produce. That is exactly the problem. It was not designed with you in mind, and after enough years of that, the results look intentional even when they are not.
I got involved locally here because I believe western New Hampshire has everything it needs to feed itself and then some. Four thousand farms, nearly half a million acres, led by a direct-sales culture that leads the entire country. What is missing is not the land or the people or the will. What is missing is a representative who walks into bill negotiations fighting for the farmer on Route 12 instead of the operation collecting a $900,000 subsidy check in a state they have never visited, and pretending it actually helps their constituents.
I have a specific plan for how existing federal dollars already flowing into this district get redirected toward processing, storage and regional market access that actually serves the farms here. No new appropriations. No new programs. A full breakdown is at livefreenh02.com/food-independence.
Daniel Webster, born thirty miles from where I am writing this, put it in the Capitol: “The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization.” Washington and Webster were not just statesmen. They farmed. They understood what was at stake when the land stopped producing for the people who worked it. The authors of the 2026 farm bill apparently do not.
Robbie Mahrou is an independent candidate for U.S. Congress in New Hampshire’s Second District and a Walpole resident. She can be reached out robbie@livefreenh02.com.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Concord on Friday to discuss a new health initiative to prevent and combat Lyme disease.
The visit was part of the “Take Back Your Health” campaign tour, a multimillion dollar initiative to promote dietary changes and exercise as preventative measures for chronic illness. Kennedy has been traveling the country to outline projects, including changing federal dietary guidelines, gut microbiome research, and addiction recovery.
Kennedy said his goal was to reduce Lyme disease by 25% by 2035.
Kennedy announced that over $2 million of federal funding will be up for grabs for projects focused on the prevention and treatment of Lyme disease. The grants, through a program called LymeX, will be available to businesses, scientists, and the public.
At the press conference Friday, Kennedy said the grants will go to projects including education tools and public awareness campaigns, front-line solutions like medication, and AI technology.
“This initiative will harness artificial intelligence and open data to help patients with Lyme disease and other invisible illnesses. Get answers faster and connect to care sooner,” he said.
Lyme in NH
New Hampshire has long been one of the epicenters for Lyme disease. The state has the seventh highest rate of Lyme disease in the country, according to the most recent data from 2023.
Read more: It’s tick season in New England. Here’s how to stay safe.
Tick season is a well-established time of year in New England, with an increase in cases and hospital visits in April and May. Research from Dartmouth shows half of adult blacklegged ticks in the Northeast carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
In a health advisory issued on Wednesday, State Epidemiologist Benjamin Chan pointed out that Lyme disease is one of the most common infections spread through tick bites. Other tick-borne infections include anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and Powassan virus.
Lyme is also the most common tick-borne illness in America, with an estimated 476,000 people getting the disease each year nationwide, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Service.
Kennedy’s record on Lyme disease
In the past, Kennedy has promoted a conspiracy theory that Lyme disease was bioengineered by the U.S. military. Late last year, he advocated for an investigation into a possible link between the military and the disease as part of a provision in a new defense bill, Scientific American and Politico reported.
Around that time, Kennedy said many patients’ claims were ignored, and he announced that “the gaslighting of Lyme patients is over.”
As an anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy launched a bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2024. He then ran briefly as an independent before quitting and endorsing Donald Trump.
Trump later nominated him for health secretary, and he was confirmed by the Senate in early 2025 on a party-line vote.
Kennedy is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, and a son of Robert F. Kennedy, who was slain during his campaign for president in 1968. In his own bid for the White House, RFK Jr.’s name was never on the ballot in New Hampshire. In mid-2024, a UNH Survey Center poll found he mustered only 3% support among likely voters.
More resources
What to do if you’ve been bitten by a tick: Step one, don’t panic.
Tick season: How not to get bit
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment in a series honoring Seacoast veterans’ military service and the organizations who support veterans sponsored by Service Credit Union. It appears each Friday. Nominate a veteran you know to be profiled by clicking on this link or using the form below. More than 85,000 veterans live in New Hampshire, according to the state’s Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services. Here are some of the many services available to veterans, their families, caregivers and supporters in the state.
New Hampshire Division of Veterans Services
This is the state’s starting point for veterans’ assistance. It can be reached by phone at 603-624-9230 or 800-622-9230, and online at nhveterans.nh.gov/veterans-services. On this site, you can find an important guide to services for veterans and their families. The N.H. Guide to Veterans’ Services is a PDF that can be viewed online or downloaded and printed out, and contains a plethora of important information about all aspects of a veterans’ life. https://www.nhveterans.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt401/files/inline-documents/2021-07/nhes-031320-vets-dir-guide-final.pdf
N.H. Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services
New Hampshire’s Department of Military Affairs and Veterans Services (DMAVS) has mission to oversee and support the Service Members of the New Hampshire National Guard (NHNG) and to provide quality services to the state’s veterans and their families, according to its website. Call 603-225-1200 or find it online at https://www.nhveterans.nh.gov. There is a list of the state’s regional Veterans Services Officers and how to reach them or make an appointment at nhveterans.nh.gov/veterans-services/vsos-and-sites
Veterans Count
Veterans Count, a program of Easterseals NH Vets Count, provides mental health counseling, care coordination, housing stabilization, substance use treatment coordination, benefits and resources connection, and emergency financial assistance to all who have served in the military regardless of service era, discharge status or VA eligibility. The program connects veterans and their families with the help and resources they need confidentially. Email intake@vetscount.org or call 603-315-4354 or learn more at vetscount.org. The statewide Veterans Count program has four regional chapters. You can reach the Seacoast chapter at vetscount.org/chapters/seacoast. Vets Count presents local events and fundraisers like the upcoming Veterans Count Pack & Boots 5K Road Race on Sunday, July 5 from 8 to 11 a.m. beginning on Pierce Island in Portsmouth and ending in Prescott Park. Service members, veterans and community members are invited to participate in the fitness event designed for all ages and abilities, which will include a Survival Run-All, where runners carry a pack equal to 10% of their body weight; a Kids Fun Run 100-Meter Dash, and a 5K Road Race. Register at https://vetscount.org/events/veterans-count-pack-boots-5k-road-race/
Veterans Inc.
Veterans Inc. is the largest provider of support services to veterans and their families in New England. Email info@vertansinc.org, call 800-482-2565, sign up for its electronic newsletter and visit veteransinc.org.
Veterans Benefits Administration
A good source of information for the federal government’s veterans’ benefits and where you can search to locate a variety of local offices for federal services. Visit benefits.va.gov/benefits.
Pease ANGB Retiree Activities Office
The Retiree Activities Office at Pease provides information, services and programs to military retirees — all ranks, all services. Its mission is to act as an interface between the active-duty and retired communities; keep retirees updated on various matters; provide information and services as necessary or appropriate; and to represent retired members at the base and Air Force level, according to its website 157arw.ang.af.mil/About-Us/Retiree-Activities-Office/ where you can sign up for a periodic newsletter. The office has limited weekly hours so check its website for when it’s open or call 603-430-2636 and email peaseangb.rao@gmail.com.
Community-based Military Programs
The mission of the state’s Division of Community Based Military Programs is to collaborate, coordinate, and communicate with military and civilian provider groups to promote the delivery of quality health care services to New Hampshire veterans, service members and their families. Visit nhveterans.nh.gov/community-based-military-programs.
National Social Work Program local representatives
There is a social work leader in every VA health care system to help veterans get the care they need, according to the VA website, and connect them to the appropriate VA employee to assist them. New Hampshire’s social work leader is Kristin Maxwell. Contact Kristin. Maxwell@va.gov or call 603-624-4366. Visit socialwork.va.gov/Social_Work_Leaders.asp#NewHampshire.
Veterans Crisis Line
Veterans in crisis or someone who is concerned a veteran is in crisis can reach immediate help by dialing 988, then press 1. This is the National Suicide Hotline and by pressing 1, you’ll reach those specifically trained in veterans’ needs and resources. Veterans don’t need to be enrolled in VA benefit or health care to access this help, and it’s completely confidential. Free and available 24/7 every day. The Crisis Line can also be reached at its previous number, 800-273-8255, by text at 838255 and through chat at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat.
Veterans Councils
Many cities and towns in New Hampshire have a Veterans Council to assist its residents. An example is Rochester’s Veterans Council at rochesterveteranscouncil.com or
Veterans Groups and Meetings
Community meetings and socials are a great resource for veterans looking for information and help. The Rochester NH Veterans for Veterans (facebook.com/groups/1258228782144974) meets every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to noon at the Rochester Community Center and is sponsored by Rochester Recreation. All Veterans are welcome to attend the open discussions, which sometimes host a guest speaker from a veterans organizations to help members find resources. The Portsmouth Senior Activity Center hosts a Drop-In Veterans Social at 1 p.m. every Wednesday sponsored by the local Daughters of the American Revolution. All are welcome.
Assistance for veterans
There are many non-profits that provide a specific service to veterans. Some are:
Vouchers for Veterans
This non-profit, which was founded in Rochester, N.H., recognizes and thanks veterans for their service by providing voucher so they can purchase locally grown and prepared food directly from farmers and growers at local farmers markets. Visit vouchersforveterans.org or find them on Facebook at Vouchersforveterans.
Roofs For Veterans and Roof-A-Vet
Two non-profits will provide veterans with a new roof. Find more info at roofvets.com/roofs-for-veterans and roofavet.org. There are many organizations like these that will assist a veteran with home repairs or renovations.
Northeast Passage
Northeast Passage, based at the University of New Hampshire, provides adaptive sports and recreational opportunities for veteran and active-duty service members of all service eras and all ability levels. Many programs are free through funding from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, a partnership with Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Operation Hat Trick and local organizations, according to its website. It offers veteran-specific events, group outings and competitive teams in sled hockey, wheelchair rugby, wheelchair lacrosse or power soccer. Visit nepassage.org/veteran-recreation.
University of New Hampshire Military and Veteran Services
UNH provides service and support to student veterans, service members and other military-affiliated students such as dependents. Contact Kalyn Ryll, director of military and veteran services, at Kalyn.Ryll@unh.edu or 603-862-3480.
Local VFW and American Legion posts
Find a local American Legion post at mylegion.org/PersonifyEbusiness/Find-a-Post. Find a Veterans of Foreign Wars post at vfw.org/find-a-post.
Elks programs for veterans
Many local Elks lodges have events or programs for veterans. The Elks have made a pledge “So long as there are veterans, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks will never forget them.” Its Elks National Veterans Service Commission helps local lodges provide services locally. The Portsmouth lodge is very active in helping veterans. Find more information at elks.org/vets/default.cfm?m=programs.
Service Credit Union thanks veterans for their military service and remembers all those service members currently deployed around the world. R.E.D. Friday stands for Remember Everyone Deployed on Fridays when some wear red to honor service members deployed worldwide.
-
North Dakota11 seconds agoBankruptcies for North Dakota and western Minnesota May 30, 2026
-
Ohio7 minutes agoOhio woman broke into ex’s home while he was sleeping, started shooting: police
-
Oklahoma10 minutes agoH-E-B hooks up eight Spurs Jackals superfans with tickets to Game 7 in Oklahoma City!
-
Oregon15 minutes agoCruise ship rescues stranded mariner off Oregon coast
-
Pennsylvania22 minutes agoMan accused of using excavator to destroy home with family inside
-
Rhode Island25 minutes agoRhode Island high school yearbook printed with the word ‘school’ misspelled on its cover: ‘Shocking to see’
-
South-Carolina30 minutes agoSouth Carolina Democrats celebrate redistricting win as governor hopefuls clash
-
South Dakota37 minutes agoSouth Dakota’s annual History Conference returns to Fort Pierre
