Patricia Martin of Rindge has a long list of organizations she volunteers for. She’s on the town’s Energy Commission and is part of the Rindge Conservation Corps, spending time cleaning up trails. She drives a route for the Jaffrey-Rindge Got Lunch program that keeps students fed during school vacations, runs a weekly walking group and spends her Fridays in Jaffrey holding signs advocating for climate justice.
It’s her wide range of activities and endless energy that makes Martin the Ledger-Transcript’s Hometown Hero for August, and it’s what made her friend and fellow Got Lunch volunteer Maura Keegan of Rindge nominate her for the position.
“She just does so much,” said Keegan. “She’s very diversified. She just doesn’t stop.”
“I just have a lot of time on my hands,” Martin said, jokingly.
Several of Martin’s volunteer efforts go toward conserving energy and the planet. She said it’s an important subject for her.
“We have all the technology available to fight the climate crisis. We just need the political will,” she said. To that end, about five years ago, when students from Conant High School started a weekly climate strike called “Fridays for Future” in Jaffrey, Martin signed on. It’s an effort she still takes on every week, along with a small but dedicated group of volunteers. She’s also put change into action in her own life, switching her house to fully electric, and installing heat pumps and purchasing an electric vehicle.
She’s a member of the town’s Conservation Corps, an organization that supports the Conservation Commission through assisting with efforts like trail clean-up days. Martin said she was flabbergasted to have been named the Conservation Commission’s Conservationist of the Year in 2024.
“I thought is was so funny to be nominated,” Martin said. “I’m almost useless — all I can do it use the loppers, and move sticks out of the trail. [Conservation Commission Chair] David Drouin likes to tease me that I’m way too enthusiastic about the wood chipper.”
Martin is also active civically, being a common face in attendance at both the Rindge Select Board and Jaffrey-Rindge School Board meetings. She said she’d like to become more involved in advocating for the district’s public schools.
Martin is a member of the Rindge Woman’s Club, which she joined when she was 50. She said it’s been great for developing friendships, and several of her fellow members have also become part of a weekly walking group that Martin started. The group takes walks around Martin’s neighborhood in the summer and at the athletic center at Franklin Pierce University in the winter.
“Walking and talking like that, we know it’s good for us. The socialization, as well as the exercise,” Martin said.
Socialization, she said, has been one of the main benefits of being as busy as she is and involved with so many organizations.
“That’s the thing with volunteering — you get to be around the most wonderful people, who really want to make a difference. We need more of it. All the organizations seem to be struggling to keep members. People are busy, some working multiple jobs, juggling family, but the community suffers for not having these organizations. It really is a pleasure, and it doesn’t cost me a thing,” Martin said.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.