Hassan, Hosmer assist mobile food pantry

LACONIA — On Tuesday afternoon, the Lakes Region Community College parking lot was chock-full of vehicles, each waiting their turn to receive items from the New Hampshire Food Bank’s mobile pantry. Hundreds attended the event, receiving packages and bags loaded into trunks by volunteers. 

“We usually do about 300 (families here) or so here, give or take,” said Kristi Deneault, an agency relations representative of the New Hampshire Food Bank, “last time we were here, we did about 330.” 

“Each family gets a box of produce, dry goods and pantry staples, and today we have some frozen foods from a restaurant,” said Natalie Watt, an agency relations coordinator. 

According to Deneault, Laconia has a very high turn out when it comes to mobile pantries.

“Last time, we gave everything out before coming home,” Deneault said, “we usually do in Laconia.”

The parking lot was divided into several lines, with each vehicle bearing a laminated tag with a number indicating their number of requested packages. Some individuals were picking up multiple orders for those that couldn’t attend the event.

“We have people who pick up for family members, elderly neighbors, people who can’t drive,” said Deneault, “we encourage all of that.”

While the scene of such charity is heartwarming, especially this time of year, it also underlines how many residents are struggling. For politicians, it is also an opportunity for direct community involvement.

Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer and U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan were among the neon-vested volunteers, loading food packages into trunks and back seats. 

“This is really an example of what Granite Staters do when we pull together and help each other,” Hassan said, “it’s an important time of year for people, but it’s also really important to recognize that we have folks in need and we have to do everything we can to help each other.”

One piece of legislation that Hassan and other politicians say has been essential to working families during the pandemic is the recent child tax credit extension under the American Rescue Plan. The March legislation increased  the child tax credit to $3,600 for children ages five and under, and $3,000 for children aged six to seventeen.

Plans for expansion and extension of the tax credit are under threat if the Biden Administration's Build Back Better infrastructure and spending bill fails to pass the Senate. The bill is teetering on a knife’s edge of party lines, and democrats need every single vote they can get for the bill to pass. The legislation was dealt a likely lethal blow on Sunday, when democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia stated on Fox News and that he could not support the bill. Manchin’s comments surprised White House officials, who were under the impression that after months of negotiations with Manchin, they were close to reaching a compromise.

When asked about the child tax credit and the future of the legislation, Hassan stated, “I think it's important to continue that child credit extension and expansion. We’re going to continue to work together in our caucus to find ways to do that.”

Hassan continued, confident that a compromise and the goals of the bill could be reached, stressing that it was important to focus on New Hampshire’s primary concerns, many of which Hassan says are addressed within the federal legislation. 

“Lowering the cost of prescription drugs for example, is really important to Granite State families, lowering cost of child care generally and helping people get back to work with workforce training. Those are all things that are in this plan and I’m going to continue to try to find consensus around a plan that we can get through. And I welcome colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the republicans to join us too,” Hassan said. “What I want people to know is that I’m committed to addressing the priorities that people in New Hampshire have told me that are so important to them, and that’s lowering costs and taxes and making sure people can get back to work.”