The Concord Family YMCA would like to extend a warm welcome to Anne Omundson as the new development director. Anne brings more than 30 years of experience working with families and children including her past 10 years working for The Friends Program. Anne's proven fundraising skills, strong commitment, generosity and kind heart will help her to build and sustain quality-based programs and services at the YMCA. Anne…

BNI Granite Referrals (a group of business owners and company representatives) meets Tuesdays from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Community Building in Chichester. For more information, call 391-1498

Through the generosity of the community, the United Way of Merrimack County raised $2.12 million during the 2009 campaign. The announcement was made at the United Way's annual meeting. The annual campaign depends on the caring power of hundreds of volunteers and staff. However, it is the vision, determination and leadership of the campaign chair that guides that team to success. Jim Bassett of Orr & Reno, the 2009 campaign chair did just that. Although a challenging year, expectations were exceeded thanks to the hard work of Jim and the campaign cabinet volunteers: Ron Wilbur, Steve Camerino,…

In April, we let Insider ad rep Sherri Cote and ad designer Brenda Larson out of the office to cruise it up. We're not insanely jealous or anything. Here's a picture of the ladies (and friends) rubbing it in that we weren't there. From left: Denise Bickford, Jerry Cote, Sherri, Dale Lafond, Brenda, Madison Cote and Devan Bickford in St. Martin. E-mail your travel pictures to news@theconcordinsider.com.…

If you want pretzels, you won’t find them during Tom Sherman’s weekly yoga class at Concord’s Centennial Senior Center, but you’ll sure feel like one after stretching for 45 minutes. Every Tuesday afternoon, Sherman and the center’s director, Kim Murdoch, invite the surrounding community to find their inner peace. For three bucks a session, participants have a chance to regain a steadfast calm that can get lost in the daily grind. “It feels good, and good for my aging body,” said participant Anne McCullough, 67, who’s performed yoga for nearly 20 years. “At the beginning, I…

Hi Ya Guys, “Ball & Chain” is a good column – like a Dear Abby only by men this time. That’s okay. “The Elders” column was great, but change is a fact of life; time to move on. I’ll be reading Ball & Chain but probably will not submit questions. I don’t have relationship problems. I only associate with birds and squirrels these days. They never give me a hard time. I must say it’s ironic: The last question to the Elders was from me – about pets – and then the column was put to sleep. Two weeks later, so was my cat. And by another (Monitor) columnist of the paper:…