Just before Christmas in the North Country town of Sugar Hill, Santa Claus makes a stop at the Meeting House.
Every child in town gets a present, courtesy of Santa, but with a little assistance from a group called the Willing Workers.
In Sugar Hill, it?s a Holiday tradition.
But Sociologists like to label it a form of Social Capital?..or community connectedness.
Small town New Hampshire tends to rich in Social Capital, but as Rebecca Brown reports, it can?t be taken from granted.
Lead: Just before Christmas in the North Country town of Sugar Hill, Santa Claus makes a stop at the Meeting House. Every child in town gets a present, courtesy of Santa, but with a little assistance from a group called the Willing Workers. IN SUGAR HILL, IT?s A holiday tradition. BUT SOCIOLOGISTS LIKE TO LABEL IT A FORM OF social capital, or community connectedness. SMALL TOWN NH TENDS TO BE RICH IN SOCIAL CAPITAL, BUT AS RB REPORTS, IT CAN?T BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED.
SFX: SOUND OF PARTY????? MUSIC 1.
No one in Sugar Hill, population about 450, can remember a time when there was not a town Christmas party.
LOCAL WOMEN, CALLING THEMSELVES THE WILLING WORKERS ORGANIZE IT.
THE GROUP WAS FOUNDED IN 1920 TO FOSTER A SPIRIT OF HELPFULNESS.E GROUP
SYLVIA HUTCHINSON IS THE GROUPS PRESIDENT.
SYLVIA 1 We?re depended on. A lot of people call us up, ?would you do it?? other people say ?well, who can we get to help?? well, call the Willing Workers. That?s us.
Every year THE WILLING WORKERS COLLECTS AND gives away several thousand dollars.
THE MONEY GOES FOR scholarships, families in need, cancer patients, orphanages; its members visit homebound residents, they arrange funeral receptions, they take plants and gift baskets to the elderly.
THEY RAISE MONEY BY SELLING THEIR HANDIWORK AND BAKED GOODS.
Background noise CUT NOISE
On a Sunday afternoon in her den, Hutchinson and other members are doing what Willing Workers have done for over 80 years, wrapping presents for the town Christmas party.
SYLVIA 2 When this started out were buying for children whose parents couldn?t afford things. Then Santa starting bringing things. We gave them from the town, it?s supposed to be from Santa, now I guess a lot of them know that we do it but they didn't then.
THE holiday party, and ALL the other services the Willing Workers provide, play an important role in town. It?s part of what SOCIOLOGIST CALL social capital. IT?S THE glue HOLDING communities together. BUT THOSE SAME SOCIOLOGISTS ARGUE THAT GLUE SEEMS TO BEEN WEAKENING IN AMERICA. PEOPLE JUST DON?T JOIN CIVIC ORGANIZATIONS OR PARTICIPATE IN THEIR COMMUNITIES THEY WAY THEY USED TO.
New Hampshire buckS that trend TO SOME EXTENT. A recent national survey indicates that residents here do get involved more than people in other states. But that INVOLVEMENT might not be STRONG enough for groups like the Willing Workers. The simple fact is that its members are getting older, and are not being replaced.
LORRAINE 1 It?s like all organizations everybody, younger people don?t come anymore because they?re working.
Lorraine Hunt has lived in Sugar Hill all her life. Her mother was one of the original Willing Workers. Now in her 70s, or Hunt is its oldest member.
LORRAINE 2 In my day we stayed home, we didn?t work. We don?t have any new members coming in, we don?t meet at night. The younger people have kids, they?re tired after working all day and there?s too much to do.
Nancy Smith is one of the younger Willing Workers, and one of the newest.
NANCY 1 I joined the Willing Workers approximately eight years ago. I moved up here, didn't know a soul, and I went to one of their sales. And I though, hmm, this is interesting, I wonder what I can do.
Elaine Burpee?S MOTHER was ALSO an original Willing Worker. She says offering newcomers a role in town has always been an important GROUP function. So has been HELPING whoever needs it. She PULLS OUT THE GROUPS SCRAPBOOK AND reads from one of the many thank you letters INSIDE. (DO YOU KNOW THE DATE OF THIS LETTER???)
ELAINE 1 Here in this letter they say, ?you are the only group in Sugar Hill that is always looking out for everyone. It?s nice to know that in this devisive world there is one place where one counts as a member of the community, no matter what their social position may be. Thank you my friends for caring about all of us in the community.? So, right down from the farmer?s wife to the wealthy retired lady, this is the group.
Burpee remembers when the Willing Workers provided a social center for the community.
ELAINE 2 It was a social thing also, the husbands were involved. Maybe once a month they used to have oyster stew suppers, they used to have chicken pie, and people used to be lined up clear out to the road waiting to get in because Sugar Hill had the reputation?good cooks lived here!
But those days are over. The women meet monthly for lunch, and also for work sessions where they make aprons, potholders, dolls, and the other handicrafts sold for fund raising. But a group that used to claim over 70 members is down to less than 25. BURPEE TURNS TO A scrapbook photograph of the Willing Workers taken just a few years ago.
ELAINE 3 This woman has died; this woman is in a nursing home, this woman isn't doing very well, this one?s in a nursing home, woman is a little gaga. You can just go through these pictures and see they?re falling by the wayside.
NANCY 2 If these all these people who are getting elderly now are phasing out, we?re not going to have anything, so the whole idea is to recruit and new people and keep them going.
How does NANCY SMITH PLAN TO recruit new members?
NANCY 3 Oh, I say, if you want to hear some gossip and stuff like that, or come and join, and if you want to meet the people in the community just try it. Anybody out there-men?sew, you?re more than welcome.
NOEL MUSIC 2 DO WE HAVE OTHER SOUND OF PARTY OR SOMETHING???
DESPITE THE LAGGING MEMBERSHIP, THE GROUP STILL HELPS THROW THE EVENT OF THE YEAR?.THE town Christmas party. It brings out young and old. A 20-FOOT TALL CHRISTMAS TREE STANDS IN THE CORNER OF THE MEETING HOUSE. IT WAS CUT BY THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND DECORATED BY VOLUNTEERS. OTHERS BROUGHT cakes and cookies. LOCAL MUSICIANS PLAY FOR LOTS OF smiling parents and excited kids. It?s been this way for generations. Selectman Harry Reid recalls parties when he was a boy.
HARRY It was a big deal back in the thirties. In the height of the Depression I can remember going to the Christmas party and getting an orange, a popcorn ball, and a small present. They had the same singing groups. Some of them that sing today and play musical instruments, their parents and grandparents were playing.
FOR FAMILIES IN SUGAR HILL, THIS party is still a big deal. BUT LOCALS WONDER IF IT WILL SURVIVE, IF Willing Workers don?t. PUTTING it on is an enormous effort. Maybe some of the children enjoying it today will take over the tradition. Maybe some of them will even become Willing Workers.
MUSIC TWO in here somewhere
Reporting from Littleton, I?m Rebecca Brown for NHPR News.
