The Sunshine Project

MEREDITH – For 30 years, veterans from the Lakes Region and beyond have gathered at the flagpole in Hesky Park to raise awareness of service m…

What lessons learned through military service are important to pass down to grandchildren? Lakes Region veterans’ responses ranged from making…

When Tevis Bryant, a PhD candidate in education, arrived at Plymouth State University 18 months ago, he hoped for academic rigor in a bucolic …

In his 50 years, Isiah Anderson, a businessman and basketball coach, has never been called the N-word – a mercy he attributes to luck, and to …

LACONIA — At local nonprofit organizations that serve human needs, donations are down and calls for help are louder and more frequent, compare…

LACONIA — With his warm smile and easy demeanor, and uncanny ability to recall the names of people he’s met, Major Mike Davis is a natural bri…

GILFORD — It was far from the recruitment-poster experience Bruce Richardson envisioned when he joined the Marine Corps in 1979. He was 17, an…

GILFORD — Post-tramatic stress disorder affects more than veterans and first responders, and occurs as the body’s and brain’s response to more…

GILFORD — Camp Resilience is a game changer for Christine Matott.

LACONIA — Vape shops abound in the Lakes Region. They are visual extravaganzas much like candy stores: rows and shelves of sleek tools and tas…

Free or low-cost flu vaccines are available at drug stores, walk-in care clinics, primary care providers, and even some pharmacy counters in s…

LACONIA — John Prickett, a registered nurse and emergency preparedness coordinator, has seen plenty of flu seasons in his 39 years at Lakes Re…

CLAREMONT — When Mayor Charlene Lovett surveys her hometown, she sees a history-rich city on the brink of change: Mill buildings on the Sugar …

According to New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, which has abated lead paint in 1,399 housing units statewide since 1998, many property o…

FRANKLIN — Owen Bendixsen had no idea he was opening the hatch to lead poisoning when he decided to salvage a basement door. It was a routine …

LACONIA — Christine McNeil knew something was wrong when her infant son suddenly went from consuming a bottle of formula plus two jars of baby…

LACONIA — On the eve of his reassignment to lead the Manchester Salvation Army, Captain Scott McNeil reflected on his six years in Laconia, th…

LACONIA — They are modest, compassionate to strangers and dedicated to serving people who struggle on society’s fringe – including many who ar…

GILFORD — Over the past 11 years, Pub Mania at Patrick’s Pub & Eatery was billed as “the world’s greatest barstool challenge." And with go…

LACONIA — Every Wednesday at 9 a.m., Tricia Tousignant, parent education manager at the Family Resource Center of Central New Hampshire, teach…

LACONIA — Homemade chocolate, strawberry and vanilla cakes are Victoria Abate’s hobby, as well as her favorite school project. But it was her …

LACONIA — The uppermost room at the Laconia Police Department is devoted to simulating crimes in progress. Interactive videos flash on a six-f…

GILFORD — When he was four months old, Chris Remick came to the United States from South Korea. Adopted by white parents and raised in Gilford…

ALTON — Rose Blanchard, 82, had all she could manage buying weekly groceries. It was a significantly steep hurdle bringing them up the five st…

Abby Allen’s summer job requires waking up at an hour most teenagers would consider unthinkable.

GILFORD – Will Perry just turned 18, but he’s amassed wisdom beyond his years – mostly because he did an about-face in high school, when he wa…

According to Save the Children’s report on global children's health released earlier this month, the US ranks 43 out of 180 nations – tied wit…

LACONIA — Officer Eric Adams, the Laconia Police Department’s prevention, enforcement and treatment coordinator, walks into situations that ar…

Last year, no one would have considered Brooklynn Benwell a star student – least of all herself.

LACONIA — ”Black lives deserve more than a Twitter rant. Silence = Violence.”

LACONIA — It’s a place in the woods that features touches of home. Plastic flowers in exuberant colors form a garden on either side of a strea…

TILTON — Like everyone else, Joe Bennett has good and bad days. But April 26 was especially sunny for the centenarian at the New Hampshire Vet…

LACONIA — At a time when nursing home residents nationwide are quarantined in their rooms to keep them safe from the coronavirus, the Mother’s…

LACONIA — Sixteen years years after the abuse began, the local mother profiled in this story has a full-time job that allows her and three chi…

LACONIA — She was 19 and starting college. He was 24 and seemed to be in control of his life.  After she dropped out to marry him and have chi…

On Monday night in Laconia, a significant other returning from work got into an argument over his girlfriend not doing the laundry.  He hit he…

LACONIA — In telehealth sessions via phone or computer, Jayme Sullivan, a therapist at Lakes Region Mental Health Center, gives her patients t…

LACONIA — Social worker Jayme Sullivan treats people with borderline personality disorder – a mental illness that leaves them teetering betwee…

The research is indisputable and shouldn’t be ignored: social isolation is bad for your physical and mental health. Loneliness makes you more …

LACONIA — For many of the 150 children who belong to the Boys and Girls Club of the Lakes Region, Monday now means baking with Mike, a familia…

LACONIA – Carolyn Brown’s professional landscape has changed for the foreseeable future. 

Two weeks ago, Trisha Eisner’s 56-year-old husband started experiencing alarming symptoms: fluid retention and shortness of breath that could …

LACONIA — It’s an unorthodox setting for physical training, but Alison Whitham, an instructor at the Downtown Gym, is making it work. Flanked …

LACONIA — The virtual supermarket outside the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s food pantry and thrift store on Union Avenue  features a smorga…

TILTON — Tilton-Northfield Fire & EMS advertised for six weeks for someone to replace a firefighter who left in January for an opening at …

LACONIA — At the Laconia Fire Department and others around the state, COVID-19 has changed protocols, training and dress codes for first respo…

LACONIA — It’s a mainstay for the city’s most financially vulnerable. For the first time in its nearly-40 year history, the Laconia Salvation …

LACONIA — Two weeks ago, Erika Willette of Gilford got a call from her elderly grandmother in Epsom.  The 88-year-old was completely out of bo…

TILTON — Market Basket Manager Joe Whalen said close to 100 people were waiting outside the Tilton store at 5:30 a.m. on Thursday.

LACONIA — Two Laconia police officers who are patrol partners are in quarantine after one tested positive for coronavirus over the weekend, Ch…

LACONIA — At the Belknap County Jail and House of Correction, educational programs and on-site visits with inmates have been suspended for fam…

LACONIA — In concert with government safety directives, gatherings at the Laconia Senior Center are now limited to 10 people, weekday meals at…

LACONIA — For local restaurants, business is slower or limping, safety precautions are ramped up to new levels of caution, and eateries are sw…

When an eating disorder arises, parents shouldn’t blame themselves or their children, said Beth Shehadi, a counselor at Plymouth State Univers…

LACONIA — Faith McEvoy cringes when she recalls the drama of her teenage years: losing and gaining friends, feeling uncomfortable in her own s…

MEREDITH — When she came to the U.S. in 1972 as the 26-year-old wife of an American engineer working in Japan, Kazuko Okubo shared her mother’…

LACONIA — Albertine D’Almeida, a sophomore at Laconia High School, knows social inclusion takes time, especially in a community that is not pa…

LACONIA — When Albertine D’Almeida arrived in the United States at age four, the refugee from Ghana experienced two kinds of shock. First, the…

GILFORD — Before a room of more than 30 residents, including supporting and opposing voices, the Gilford School Board voted 5-1 on Monday to a…

GILFORD — Critics of school transgender inclusion policies in Gilford and Franklin are leery of what they perceive as an invasion of privacy i…

GILFORD — Across New Hampshire school districts, policies to prevent discrimination and promote inclusion of transgender students have sparked…

For Dave and Tammy Flanders, finding a right-size, mid-price home in the Lakes Region was as much a dream come true as it was a stroke of luck…

GILFORD — Grace Alden of Plainfield retired in 2016 after 20 years with the Lebanon Police Department, much of it spent as a male detective – …

HAMPTON — Cam Martin, 21, of Hampton, works at a local Panera Bread restaurant, where he’s in charge of the dining room, busing dishes, replen…

LACONIA — After his father died many years ago, Clyde Trask, now 53, had no place to live and no one to live with. A local family took in the …

GILFORD — At age 36, Matt Fink is capable of much more than his family and friends ever thought possible. He lives alone, takes high school eq…

PLYMOUTH – Brint Woodward, 48, passes out business cards wherever he travels. That includes Las Vegas, Seattle, the Hoover Dam, Detroit, Minne…

LACONIA — The store’s merchandise is fetching: Gold foil-wrapped pea shooters with multi-colored balls. A pocket-size coloring book called “32…

LACONIA – Stephanie, who is 42, wants to be identified by her first name only – so she doesn’t embarrass her sister who lives here.  She came …

LACONIA — The Laconia Salvation Army is requesting architectural drawings for an annex to its Carey House homeless shelter on Spring Street. I…

LACONIA — As principal of Pleasant Street Elementary School, David Levesque receives a trickle of letters from children — and a bounty of feel…

Research on youth suicide prevention efforts in schools and communities shows that such programs reduce self-harm, suicide and suicide attempt…

LACONIA — Rates of youth suicide are increasing nationwide, growing most quickly in youths age 10 to 14  — especially for girls, blacks, and c…

TILTON — Faith Gosselin, 16, of Sanbornton, a junior at Winnisquam Regional High School in Tilton, is trained to recognize signs of depression…

FRANKLIN — For Olivia, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Franklin Middle School, recess was a daily dose of cruelty. It was also a test of emotio…

GILFORD — The parents of a Gilford transgender student who is struggling to assert her identity issued a heartfelt plea for inclusion — withou…

(Second of two parts)

LACONIA — In the past year, The Laconia Daily Sun has reported on several topics that often don’t get the attention they deserve: A series fro…

LACONIA — The wall outside the kitchen at Temple B’nai Israel features a memorial of love and blessings: a mobile of bright origami birds, and…