Sandwich Civic Profile Meeting

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Center Sandwich - Friday, 5:30 p.m.

All was ready. Basketball hoops were swung out of the way toward the ceiling. Long tables and benches were unfolded from storage closets along the wall of the gym. Van Adriance and his kitchen crew directed the incoming casseroles, salads, cookies - mountains of food - in buffet tables.

Down the hall in the classroom where fifth graders usually hung out,
Della Clark was giving last-minute instructions to 20 men and women who would act as "facilitators." It would be a tight schedule. Four hours
tonight. All day tomorrow.

As people poured into the gym, there was an air of fun behind a serious purpose: The Town of Sandwich, population about 1,100, was about to
undertake an intense analysis of itself. What are the town's strengths?
What are its weaknesses? What are its dreams? What is its future! How
do we get from here to there?

Over that Friday evening and all day Saturday 250 of the towns 1100
residents participate in this Civic Profile to plan the future of their community. By late Saturday afternoon the group had agreed upon specific actions, and set up work groups to carry out each one.

Over the past nine years 68 of New Hampshire's 232 communities, ranging from its smallest (Waterville Valley) to it largest cities - Manchester and Concord - have run Civic Profiles. A dozen other communities are on the waiting list. The Profiles originated under a Commission set up by then Governor and now US Senator Judd Gregg, adapting an idea developed by the National Civic League. The program is now run statewide by the Cooperative Extension Program at the University of New Hampshire.

Each community has been different, some rich, some poor, some urban, some rural. But there are compelling similarities. Concern for the future is universal. Conflicts between newcomers and old timers recur without fail. Nearly all seek better communication within their communities.

The basic theme is straight forward: to be a healthy community a town must
have a place for people to "bump into each other, to get together and chat... we have to continually break old barriers down" and the future of
communities rests on their success in engaging newcomers and new generations.

As the Center Sandwich moderator said when he closed the meeting that
Saturday afternoon, "From here on , kids, its all up to you. Good luck."