Sandwich resident Mark Longley receives community service award

SANDWICH — Sandwich resident Mark Longley was honored with a Community Service Award at the Lakes Region Planning Commission’s 2025 Annual Meeting on June 23. This award has been given annually since 2015 to individuals who have made exceptional and sustained contributions to their community.

In his remarks during the award presentation, Executive Board vice-chair Dave Katz said, “Mark Longley is one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of dedicated community volunteers across New Hampshire that make a local difference…Service to one’s community takes many forms. Often, it’s the small things that make the biggest difference.”

Since 2017, Longley has led a group of volunteers running the Wood Share program, who cut and deliver wood to the elderly, while maintaining a large store of seasoned wood at the Sandwich Transfer Station for town residents who can’t afford other heating sources. Since 2022, he has also focused on Styrofoam recycling, setting up collection bins at the Transfer Station and transporting the Styrofoam to the Gilford Solid Waste Center for processing.

The Town of Gilford is the first NH hub location for foam collection and recycling, receiving products from other Lakes Region towns. All acceptable types of foam (No. 6 recycle symbol) are densified down into ingots by chopping, heating and removing the air in a densifier unit patented by Foam Cycle, LLC. The ingots are then repurposed into new materials, thereby reducing the polystyrene going into the waste stream, our waters and our landscapes.

In his announcement, Katz also said, “Mark earned the High Watch Award from the Green Mountain Conservation Group in 2022 for his commitment to ground water monitoring and protection in Sandwich and across the Ossipee watershed.”

Longley continues to collect and transport water samples from area residents to the DES laboratory in Concord for testing.

For more information, visit lakesrpc.org.