Stories

The decision of our government to shut down our economy as had a direct impact on the lives of so many people, people I love. The first is the shut-down of our freedom to join together to freely worship, something guaranteed by the Constitution of the USA. I suppose it is easy for people to simply stay home and turn on some device to “do church” in their jammies, but call me old fashioned, a zealot, out of touch—who cares—the truth is that God’s people are the “called out ones” for a reason. We are to make an outward testimony

I had two restaurants. One in Marlborough (www.piedrafina.com) and on in Dublin (audreyscafe.com). I had to close them both. We have been closed since mid-March. We tried take out but being in a remote location it just did not work out. There is no delivery services in the area either. From what I hear they will “allow” restaurants to reopen on May 25th but at 50% capacity. I would think that in my locations where the tables are close together, particularly at the bar, they will not even allow that. I had a lot of money invested at both locations

I have a salon in New London New Hampshire that needs to open ASAP. I took a week to process the shut down of my business and then after that week I went right back into the salon and prepared for the safety of my staff and my clients never did I think my salon would be closed for this long. It’s a disgrace the beauty industry is one of the most regulated industries but unfortunately a lot of times it’s not enforced. The state board needs to lock down on these renters these are just hairdressers having a hobby

I have been the owner of a large health club in NH for over 25 years, employing approximately 100 people. We provide a healthy lifestyle to thousands of members and are a valuable part of the community.  We will soon be entering our third month of forced closure with no definitive end in sight. How does the governor expect a business to survive that? Although my revenues have come to a complete halt my expenses have not. I have been forced to layoff a large percentage of my employees and I am still expected to pay my rent, taxes, utilities, loans….. The PPP program, while well

I am the owner of McCartney Bookkeeping, www.mccartneybookkeeping.com, and I have had all of my clients cancel contracts with me due to this shutdown. They have all had to temporarily shut down their own businesses and thus, could not afford to continue paying their bills. Because of this, all the time and money I spent building up my business over the past 5 months has gone to nothing. I can only hope these businesses will be able to resume normal activities after the stay at home order has been lifted, but I highly doubt it. It will be a long

I am in the process of starting my own personal training business. The forced closing of in person operations for fitness centers and boot camps in NH is jeopardizing my ability to get my business off the ground. I need to interact with people in person to market, sell and provide personal training services. I have worked so hard on my business startup and I am on the brink of signing on new clients, but I need to do in person talks in order to do so. I wrote this presentation yesterday. Today I made the presentation virtually for the

It’s a simple story. I have a hernia. In February I saw a surgeon, and scheduled an appointment to have it fixed. That was supposed to happen in three or four weeks time. But, Chinese Virus Time intervened.. I wait for something to break, either my abdomen, or the rules keeping me from having an hour long out-patient procedure before the thing blows up down there, and I have to spend a month or two in a bed. Peter Gallaher Nashua, NH

I am an HSP (highly sensitive person) with a general anxiety disorder. I’ve lived in New Hampshire for 15 years. I have grown to count on simple activities to help me learn to appreciate the positive things about our area: a stroll along the beach, a visit to our favorite local brewery taproom, a swim at the YMCA, a hike at my favorite local trail network, visits to museums, and attending Renaissance faires and steampunk festivals. I can’t do any of these things at the moment because even my favorite local nature reservation trail system is closed. I have been

I’m a mom of 3 boys ages 8 and under. I’ve worked in the restaurant business for the last 18 years. (Additionally, during that time I was a radio personality in the Boston market for 8 years). … Not only has this [lockdown] affected our family financially but what toll is this going to have on our children? They can’t even play at the taxpayer-funded parks without the cops being called. I regretfully voted for this governor, a mistake that won’t happen again. Bethany LaBonville Manchester , NH

I am one of the “lucky” people who has to be hospitalized for pregnancy during Covid long-term. While I have been here, I am missing my very young children terribly, who are not allowed to visit. I had been told I could go outside of the hospital for fresh air, but that I couldn’t have my children come by OUTSIDE to say “hi” to me while I was out.  Yet, the same day, the hospital allowed a restaurant to set up camp on its property to make and serve food to employees all day. That completely violates the “no visitors”