Local volunteers and companies team up to landscape yard of Laconia soldier

On May 17 a group of volunteers from a landscape company in Meredith descended upon the residence of an Army National Guard member's home in Laconia in a coordinated effort to renovate the landscape there. Sixteen people came together with the backing of several local businesses on Armed Forces Day to complete the project for Paul Kristoferson, his wife Tammy and daughter Heidi as way of giving thanks to the service he has given to our country’s efforts to eradicate terrorism.

The idea was born from the day the Guard buried one its own in Littleton back in April.

"I personally got upset at the news of his death and became more infuriated when, on the day of his funeral, I overheard some people complaining about the price of gas," said Mike Normandin of Color Scapes. "To me it was not appropriate to be so concerned about gas when a man had just lost his life for our country. As the day wore on I was so maddened by the circumstances that I decided I needed to re-channel my anger into something positive before I reached home for the evening. I spoke with my co-worker Shannon Williams about it and she agreed to assist."

By the end of the day, Normandin and Williams had issued a challenge to employees at Color Scapes with the following idea: Impact a local guardsman’s family in a manner that we could most utilize employee's talents. "After several discussions we decided to renovate the landscape of a guardsman’s home to the extent we could in a single day," said Normandin. "We developed the following criteria for the project; the man or woman had to have been deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan at some point, be married with child or children and needed to have a location that we could work with. With the help of Elizabeth Harding and Ken Grey at the New Hampshire National Guard Child and Youth Program in Concord we were able to locate a local family that fit the criteria."

With support from The Belknap County Sportsmen’s Club, Winnipesaukee Marine and Construction, Gilbert Block, Laconia Savings Bank, MB Tractor, Piche’s Ski and Sport Shop, Appletree Nursery, Petal Pusher’s Farm, Body Covers, Whitcher and Whitcher Builders, D&D Country Market, Airport Country Store, Smoke and Barley and Color Scapes Landscapes LLC, the volunteers were able to accomplish a great deal of work during the course of the day. From start to finish the volunteer crew removed an old, unsafe stonewall and rebuilt it with new block donated by Gilbert Block, installed a new 20-foot flagpole complete with Old Glory and an Army National Guard Flag donated by the combination of The Belknap County Sportsmen’s Club, Ralph Scribner and his crew from Winnipesaukee Marine and Dennis Whitcher from Whitcher and Whitcher Builders.

The employees of Color Scapes LLC, along with their friends and family members, provided the expertise and labor to remove dangerous, unsightly trees and saplings, clean up the entire yard, edge all of the planting beds and create new ones.

"Additionally we were able plant two crabapple trees donated by Appletree, offer to the homeowner five flower arrangements provided by Petal Pushers Farm, revitalize an old herb garden and install fresh mulch throughout," said Normandin. "All day long we were refreshed with several cases of water and Gatorade donated by Mark Dickson of D&D Country Market, Airport Country Store and Smoke and Barley.

Body Covers provided complimentary camouflage t-shirts with “Camo Crew “ on the front and a yellow ribbon on the back with the words ”I’m giving back” over it. MB Tractor and Laconia Savings Banks provided several hundred dollars each to help offset the cost of mulch and perennials. At the end of the day, a formal flag raising ceremony was held with Captain Wayne Boutwell of the National Guard attending.

"The main purpose of this effort was, of course, to do something nice for a soldier and his family," said Normandin. "The second intent, now that the project is complete, is to let everyone know that it would great for some other people to jump in and do something similar. If you may have had thoughts of doing something for a military family and have yet to act on it, I encourage you to revisit it. Find some help to coordinate it. Get a group together and do it. You will never regret it. Unless of course you ate as many hamburgers as I did during lunch that day! The family cooked for us and welcomed us into their home during the day."

Normandin said he kept track of the time it took for me to set this whole project up and pull it off. It broke down as follows: 27 phone calls, 18 e-mails, three site visits, one board of director’s meeting, all totaling roughly 8 hours.

"The day of the event we labored a total of 104 hours," Normandin recalled. "We raised $1150 and had $811 of materials donated. With labor and materials the project would be worth over $7500. Aside from the birth days of my four children and my wedding day, this ranks as number six on my all time best day’s of my life.

The list of attendees included Mike, Denise, Julia (8), Laurel (7),Austin (3) and Addison (1) Normandin; Kendall Boisvert (7); Mike Normandin, Sr.; Craig & Shannon Williams; Mark and Diane Williams; Jane Dunbar (drove up from Townsend, Mass.); Peter Bourbeau Jr.; Candee Neirson; Nick Bernier; John Hammond; Ralph Scribner and Captain Wayne Boutwell.