Every other week on NHPR, we like to put a spotlight on people and places doing interesting things around the state on Give Back NH.
Learn more about all that New England Disabled Sports has to offer, including volunteer and donation opportunities here.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Just up the Kancamagus Highway in Lincoln, nestled on Loon Mountain, is New England Disabled Sports. Since 1987, NEDS, as it’s affectionately referred to by its staff, has been providing adaptive sports instruction to students of varying abilities at both Loon Mountain and Bretton Woods.
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Jessica Harney is the board chair at New England Disabled Sports. It was her father who co-founded the organization in 1987. His reason for doing so? To involve her sister in family activities.
Jessica Harney: I have a younger sister who lives with a cognitive disability, and we were here as a family, vacationing. She didn’t have tremendous motor skills at the time, and my dad was trying to teach her how to ski with bungee cords and a walker and two skis.
She says the impact adaptive sports — skiing in particular — had on her family was life changing.
Jessica Harney: It gave us the opportunity to have something to do as a family outside in recreation. And, you know, it quickly became that we could go anywhere in the world and be able to ski together. And skiing became biking and biking became swimming. And I truly believe that because of the motivation and the power of skiing and how it drives the motor skills and social skills, she gained other opportunities in life.
Vance Perry, development director at New England Disabled Sports, says the joy families feel is what keeps him coming in to work every day.
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Vance Perry: A family came up with a child that has a disability, and they never thought that they would be a skiing family. I was able to take that kid out on the hill, show them what skiing is all about. And now the family kind of opened up their eyes to say, wow, we actually can be a skiing family.
For Geoff Krill, working at NEDS hits a bit closer to home.
Geoff Krill: So I started as a student actually in 1995, after I had my spinal cord injury accident and I was skiing ten months later and kind of started to build a career around it, you know, made those first few turns and next thing you know, I’m like, I really love this. It was all here for me. And I’m like, this could be a career for me. So it kind of then just evolved from that.
Geoff is the senior sports coordinator at New England Disabled Sports. He says that while teaching people to ski is what they do, it’s more than that.
Geoff Krill: You’re teaching people that they can do something they thought they might not have in their lives anymore. And to just be a part of a community together of people that understand, but also normalizing disability at the same time.
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That is what drives Vance as well.
Vance Perry: We’d love to teach ourselves out of a job, right? If a family comes in here with maybe a child that has a disability, our goal is to get them to be able to ski as a family, and they don’t need NEDS anymore. They can go out there and say, hey, I’ve gotten the base skills and now I can take it out with my family and go ski independently, and I don’t have to come in for a lesson anymore.
One of the learning areas at New England Disabled Sports.
During my visit, I was able to see all that NEDS has to offer from several pieces of adaptive equipment designed to fit every need, to the slopes in the back where they teach students, and even downstairs into the locker room where I met Tom Walsh, a volunteer with NEDS. He says that volunteering is rewarding to him when he sees the progress the students make.
Tom Walsh: Everybody shows some signs of progress, and that’s very rewarding. And it’s fun for us to get out and ski.
It’s volunteers, like Tom, Jessica says, that make the organization feel like a family.
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Jessica Harney: It’s amazing. You know, we have over 200 volunteers here, and it’s like having 200 family members with you every weekend year round. It really is about the family aspect. Everyone is here for the same mission, vision, goals and that is to have fun through sport and recreation, whether that be the winter or the summer.
CONCORD – While Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said she opposes increasing highway toll rates across the state, the Senate voted Thursday to increase rates for out-of-state license plate holders.
It now goes to the House for consideration.
This would be a $1 increase for those who have out of state plates going through the tolls at Hooksett, Hampton and Bedford for out-of-state plates, a 75 cent hike for those taking Hampton’s Exit 2 and on the Spaulding turnpike at Rochester, and a 50 cent hike for those taking the exit off I-93 to Hooksett.
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An analysis in the bill shows that this would increase toll revenue by $53.3 million in fiscal year 2027 and go up each year to generate $81.4 million a year in 2036.
Senate Bill 627 passed on a voice vote with two Republicans, Senators Regina Birdsell of Hampstead and William Gannon of Sandown opposing.
Senator Mark E. McConkey, R-Freedom, moved to take the bill off the table and offered an amendment. He said the last time there was a systemwide increase to the turnpike toll was 19 years ago.
“I am sure we could all agree the cost of operations…has continued to escalate when revenue is not rising with it,” and he noted that with an enterprise fund, the state can only spend what it takes in.
The state has just completed a 10-year highway plan and there was a $400 million shortfall in projects that could not be paid for under the current income.
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McConkey said the measure would not increase tolls for New Hampshire drivers with a state license plate.
“Why don’t we ask our neighbors,” to pay a toll increase. “We are getting the best of all worlds,” by passing the bill, he said, including “protecting our residents” and having resources for improvements to the turnpike system.
Sen. Gannon, R-Sandown, asked McConkey if there are any studies on impacts near the border on businesses.
If implemented, McConkey said the state will be the 27th lowest in per mile cost still. McConkey said the bill would also increase from seven to 14 days the amount of time for those with NH license plates to pay for a toll adding there are other states that also have different rates for out-of-state users.
The Hampton toll cost would go from $2 to $3, while Hooksett and Bedford would rise from $1 to $2 for out-of-state plates.
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New Hampshire currently has the lowest rate per mile among states with tolls roads. The governor said she does not support a toll increase.
“We are not going to put a burden on drivers for a toll increase,” Ayotte said. “Families are struggling.”
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
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