Jeanne Robillard, CEO of Tri County Community Action Program, told the Tamworth Select Board on Jan. 13 that Tri County’s 2026 appropriation request is $6,327 and outlined service changes including a new vestibule at the Tamworth Resource Building and the temporary closure of the Tim Hort dental center after staff departures.

“We lost our dentist,” Robillard said, explaining that staff turnover and high dental staffing costs made the program unsustainable under current funding. She said two outside entities are negotiating to reopen the clinic and that Tri County expects an operating transition “before the spring.” Robillard reported the agency served 446 individuals in 266 households last year, delivering $456,566 worth of services (this figure excludes food delivered onward by local pantries) and noted Tri County’s fuel-assistance work remains its largest program.

Maureen Dimon, co-chair of the Community Food Center for Chambers and Sandwich, described a sudden improvement in the pantry’s finances: a $9,000 donation from Rivo Casino and unusually strong individual donations allowed the board to vote on Jan. 7 to reduce its 2026 town request from $5,000 to $2,000. Dimon said the pantry served 97 unique households in Tamworth and Sandwich in 2025 and that USDA in-kind product availability has fallen.

Cathy Livingston, director of Family Connections Resource Center at Children Unlimited, asked for level funding of $3,822 and said Children Unlimited worked with 67 Tamworth families last year through a mix of clinic, preschool and early‑childhood programs. She highlighted partnerships that provided diapers, holiday gifts and playgroups that help connect families to services.

A Starting Point outreach specialist (transcript: "Grama Estados") described the domestic-violence service’s countywide crisis hotline, hospital and court advocacy, emergency shelter capacity and prevention work in schools; Starting Point reported it provided roughly 900 services to 37 Tamworth clients and stressed that each ‘service’ can include intensive, multi-contact assistance.

Board members pressed presenters for clarifications on counts and processes. Robillard said Tri County aggregates pounds of food delivered to pantries and reports those distributions to Belknap‑Merrimack CAP; the agency does not count secondary recipients downstream from pantries. On service access, Robillard noted fuel assistance operates under state timelines and applications are not acted on until the program opens (typically Dec. 1). Dimon said recent private and organizational donations have materially improved the pantry's short-term outlook.

The board did not take a formal funding vote at the Jan. 13 meeting; several presenters noted they will amend petitioned warrant articles from the floor at town meeting where applicable. The Select Board’s budget hearing and final warrant language will determine the town’s appropriation decisions later this winter.