From the time of the American Revolution, New Hampshire residents have never shied from offering their time and bravery so that their neighbors could live freely. This tradition of selfless citizenship lives on
through the men and women who risk their lives each day in order to keep our families and property safe.

As we prepare this month to offer thanks for all that we have, it has been a pleasure in this issue to spotlight just a few of our neighbors who go above and beyond the call of daily duty, whether in service to their country as soldiers or to their towns as volunteer firefighters and emergency medical workers.

It has been said that you make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give. It took moving back here with my family a little more than two years ago to be intimately reminded of just how ingrained volunteer service is throughout our state.

Perhaps a little too intimately reminded, as my memory embarrassingly serves…. As my wife and I settled into our new home, one loose end we hadn’t quite figured out was our fire alarm system. Sure enough, on one of our first nights, the system went off without warning, buzzing and clanking as if there had been a Pentagon breech.

My first instinct was to make sure everything was all right, then to run downstairs and shut the thing off, or pull it out of the wall – whichever came first. This being the middle of the night, all of the activity was being conducted in the dark. And in boxer shorts. It wasn’t five minutes into my efforts that our driveway and living room – and me – were illuminated like Fenway Park, as a full complement of volunteer fire and rescue personnel from our small town descended on the house.

The folks that arrived handled the awkwardness with a decorum beyond what it deserved. Today they remain good friends. What I may have lost that night in pride I gained in both admiration and appreciation for the men and women who’d left the warmth of their own beds or dropped whatever they were doing to answer this call. All of these folks – businessmen, custodians, plumbers, builders – were my neighbors. All of them, for very little pay or recognition, had committed themselves to the safety and security of the community.

All of them do this each day for our communities as volunteers – and as a vital part of “The New Hampshire Way.”