New Hampshire
Europe Braces for Trump 2.0
Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s SitRep! Jack and Robbie here. In case you missed it, the U.S.-U.K. special relationship is in a bit of hot water after a U.S. scientist recommended putting salt in your tea, causing an uproar in Britain. The U.S. Embassy in London then weighed in, denouncing the “outrageous proposal” but cheekily standing by the American penchant for microwaving tea. The Brits have now countered with military retaliation in the form of a video depicting U.K. soldiers, sailors, and pilots making a proper cup of tea on deployment. Next up: settling once and for all what constitutes a “biscuit.”
Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Europe looks to ensure U.S. ties against a possible second Trump term, the U.S. Navy fends off more attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, and South Africa’s laundry list of saying “yes” to human rights no-nos.
The Trump Factor Looms Over Europe
Call it “Trump derangement syndrome.” Call it bracing for impact. Call it preserving the alliance.
Whatever you want to call it, former U.S. President Donald Trump’s 11-point margin of victory over former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday has put the onetime commander in chief atop the field for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
It’s also left current and former European officials who are still shell shocked from the first Trump administration scrambling to ensure that the transatlantic relationship can survive a second iteration of The Donald in the White House, which looks like more than a 50-50 proposition at this point, depending on which opinion polls you look at.
“With the Trump reelection looming, I think there is a behind-the-scenes brewing [conversation] of ‘OK, what can we do to make decisions, to lock things in, to commit to before that eventually happens,’” said Camille Grand, a former NATO assistant secretary-general.
SitRep talked to a dozen current and former U.S. and European officials about how Trump’s reelection campaign will influence the tilt of transatlantic policymaking for the next year. Many of them requested anonymity, fearing retaliation from Team Trump.
“We’re getting a lot of the what-ifs,” said Jim Townsend, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe and NATO. “What happens at NATO? They’ll say, ‘Do you think we here in the U.K. or in Europe are going to have to spend more on defense, because the U.S. isn’t going to be around? What is this going to look like?’”
“It’s discussed every time I meet with someone from Europe,” he said. “They start talking about that in hushed tones.”
Bad blood. Of course, these fears don’t come from nowhere. There’s a history. The first time out, Trump pushed for plans to remove 12,000 U.S. troops from Germany, the Pentagon’s second-largest overseas military deployment. Trump openly questioned whether NATO, the cornerstone of the post-World War II security architecture in Europe, should even exist. His bashing of U.S. allies even cost him his first Pentagon chief.
And we’re still not exactly sure what he told Russian President Vladimir Putin behind closed doors in an infamous two-hour meeting in Helsinki nearly six years ago that was only attended by their interpreters.
The art(icle 5) of the deal. On the flip side, Trump is all about the art of the deal and getting his name on things. Like many U.S. presidents before him, he pushed for NATO nations to spend more money on defense, and he boasted that he got them to cough up more money than his predecessors after playing brinkmanship with the alliance’s self-defense clause, Article Five. At the start of the Trump administration, just five NATO countries were hitting the alliance’s defense-spending benchmark of 2 percent of GDP. By the end, that number had nearly doubled, to eight countries.
Candidate Trump, at least the 2024 edition, has been a bit vaguer. His campaign website slams “the corrupt globalist class for dragging our country through endless foreign wars” and warns of a capital-A “nuclear Armageddon” if great powers go to war, but he only commits to “fundamentally reevaluating NATO’s purpose,” not to withdrawing from the alliance.
Trump has claimed he could end Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in one day if he returns to office, but the comment has prompted eye rolls in both Kyiv and Moscow. The former president also appears to be maneuvering behind the scenes to kill the bipartisan supplemental budget deal on Capitol Hill that would link border security money with more U.S. military aid to Ukraine.
Low priority. And even if Trump really wants to exit NATO, cut off U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and put Putin in a bear hug and the allies on ice, experts and congressional aides think that Trump will end up being pretty busy with other priorities.
“If Trump were to come in on the first day, he won’t be talking about NATO. He’ll be talking about the [U.S.-Mexico border] wall; he’ll be talking about the woke; he’ll be talking about the culture war stuff,” Townsend said. “NATO and Europe and the transatlantic community, that’s not no. 1 or no. 2 or no. 3 on his list.”
It ain’t over till it’s over. Moreover, a second Trump presidency is anything but set in stone. Haley—who supports giving U.S. military aid to Ukraine—is licking her wounds from New Hampshire, her best shot at taking a win from the Trump column during the early primary season, and skipping Nevada. But she’s not throwing in the towel just yet.
Haley plans to reconstitute her efforts around South Carolina, where she served as governor before Trump picked her to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She is trying to make the case to less fringe general election voters—a wide majority of the American public still views NATO and Ukraine favorably—that she can be a steady handy at the tiller.
Some European officials, who don’t think the Biden administration is applying enough leverage on Congress to break the deadlock over the $60 billion proposed U.S. military aid package to Ukraine, think President Joe Biden should also be trying to cut through the noise of pro-Trump voices on Capitol Hill.
“When it comes to the Democrats, our message has been: Use some muscle. Stop bunkering down. Don’t let the Republicans set your agenda on foreign policy,” a British lawmaker who traveled to Washington told reporters last week.
Point, counterpoint. Congress already passed a bill in 2023 preventing any U.S. president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO without a two-thirds majority of the Senate or congressional action. The British lawmaker said that congressional staffers have indicated that Ukrainian accession to NATO will not be on the table in a second Trump term.
And in some parts of Eastern Europe, where Trump warmed to putting a U.S. military base in Poland named after himself, the former U.S. president is remembered a little bit more fondly. In fact, some officials are worried that Europe will knee-jerk into anti-Americanism if Trump is elected without feeling him out first.
“What I’m afraid of is that if Trump is elected, without Trump doing anything, European leaders will turn their backs to him,” said one Eastern European official. “And then, you know, we’re up for grabs for Russia and China.”
Let’s Get Personnel
Biden has tapped Tracey Jacobson to be the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
Tamara Cofman Wittes will join the National Democratic Institute as its new president in March, the nonprofit and U.S.-government funded organization announced this week. Wittes was director of foreign assistance at the State Department, and before that the Biden administration’s pick to be a top U.S. Agency for International Development official for the Middle East until her nomination in the Senate stalled due to Republican opposition.
The Asia Society has announced that Kyung-wha Kang, former South Korean foreign minister from 2017 to 2021, will join the organization as its next president and CEO.
Ivo Daalder, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO and head of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, has joined the influential public affairs firm WestExec Advisors as a senior advisor.
Biden made a bunch of appointments to federal boards and commissions after we published last Thursday, too, but let’s be honest: That’s not why you’re reading this newsletter.
On the Button
What should be high on your radar, if it isn’t already.
Undeterred. A U.S. Navy warship downed two missiles launched from Yemen by the Houthis, the latest sign that the militant group remains undeterred from attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea, despite the ongoing joint U.S.-U.K. military operation intended to do just that.
USS Gravely, a destroyer, shot down the two anti-ship ballistic missiles on Wednesday, according to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). CENTCOM said in a statement that the Houthi attacks are “fully enabled by Iran.” Back in Washington, the Treasury Department on Thursday announced new sanctions against four senior Houthi officials.
Desperate for friends. Russian ships were caught by U.K. eyes in the sky loading up supplies at a North Korean port, another indication that Moscow is stocking up on North Korean munitions to fuel its war in Ukraine. The United Kingdom sent satellite photos of Russian cargo ships that are under Western sanctions docking and loading up at North Korea’s Najin port to a U.N. panel of experts on North Korean proliferation.
Russia has cozied up to North Korea in its desperation to get more weapons and ammunition to its forces bogged down in Ukraine, and so far North Korea has been accused of providing ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Moscow. Putin recently met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui in Moscow.
Cleaning house. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is privately venting about the failure of India’s armed forces to curb cost overruns and project delays. In a Jan. 13 meeting with a handful of top national security officials, Modi called on the Indian Armed Forces to conduct a wholesale audit of the weapons it already has in production before asking for more money, according to an account of the meeting in the Hindustan Times.
The dressing down comes after a scathing internal report called out India’s Defense Research and Development Organization, charged with researching new platforms, for undertaking ambitious, costly projects that may already be technologically obsolete.
Snapshot
The remains of posters of Israeli hostages on a wall in central London, on Jan. 24. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hot Mic
South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) party, which has governed the country since Nelson Mandela was elected president in the first post-apartheid election in 1994, is leading the legal charge against Israel’s actions in Gaza. But Joshua Meservey, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, argues that its voting pattern at the United Nations reveals a poor record when it comes to supporting human rights.
One of Russia’s key friends in the global south and a leading critic of Israel, South Africa has abstained on more than two-thirds of contested and condemnatory U.N. votes on human rights situations in nations like Syria and Iran, according to an analysis Meservey released last week. South Africa also supported all 99 anti-Israel resolutions it could vote on.
“Bottom line is that no one should take South Africa and the ANC’s claim to be principled actors seriously,” Meservey told SitRep in an email. “They are deeply cynical about human rights as evidenced by their consistently awful record at the U.N. and their defense and support of the likes of Hamas, [former Sudanese dictator] Omar al-Bashir, [Gen. Hamdan “Hemeti” Dagalo], ZANU-PF, and Iran.”
Put on Your Radar
Thursday, Jan. 25: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s four-country tour of Africa proceeds to its final stop: Angola. Blinken has been pitching African nations on U.S. military aid as an alternative to Russia’s Wagner Group. In Angola, high on the agenda will be continuing the Lobito Corridor railway initiative, a key linkup to get elements such as cobalt and copper that are vital to building electric car batteries into Western markets.
French President Emmanuel Macron begins a two-day trip to India. Just north of that, Nepal will be holding elections for its upper house of parliament.
Sunday, Jan. 28: NATO member Finland is set to head to the polls to elect a new president, after 12 years under Sauli Niinisto, who is term-limited. Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb of the center-right National Coalition party is neck-and-neck in the polls with the Green League candidate, former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto.
Monday, Jan. 29: Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian makes a high-stakes visit to Pakistan, just days after a lethal round of tit-for-tat missile and airstrikes between the two neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, over in South America, Colombia’s latest six-month cease-fire with the Marxist insurgent National Liberation Army group is set to expire.
Tuesday, Jan. 30: Macron is back on the road, this time traveling to Sweden, just a week after Turkey’s parliament ended its holdout and voted to ratify Stockholm’s NATO accession. (The last remaining holdout is Hungary.)
Quote of the Week
“[A]s ridiculous as it may sound, it seems that North Korea is a more efficient partner to Russia than friends who try to supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition. And that’s ridiculous.”
—Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba gives North Korea a backhanded compliment about its artillery supplies to Russia in an interview with the German tabloid newspaper Bild.
This Week’s Most Read
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Inscrutable. Finns are known for their long periods of silence—and then quickly getting right to the point—and that hasn’t changed after joining NATO last year. After winning the U.S. Army’s annual competition to find the best European snipers, a Finnish team was as deadpan as ever about becoming card-carrying members of the alliance. “It’s good,” the Finnish snipers said.
Wardrobe malfunction. Pope Francis is once again lighting up social media after the wind lifted up a section of his robes, making the pontiff resemble a dog returning from the vet wearing a “cone of shame.” While one viral tweet pushed the notion that popes only conduct such a move in “extreme distress,” FP’s James Palmer responded on X that Francis is simply “signaling to predators that he’s poisonous.” James, seriously, get back to work.
Pizza? Or a cornbread biscuit? In honor of the news that comedian Jon Stewart will return to his old seat at the Daily Show once a week this year for the 2024 U.S. election, we are doing our due diligence and resurfacing his classic rant on Chicago-style deep dish versus New York-style pizza. You can guess which one the New York City native dislikes. “It’s a cornbread biscuit which you’ve melted cheese on, and then, in defiance of God and man and all things holy, you poured uncooked marinara sauce atop the cheese,” Stewart protested. “Atop!”
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.
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