Lebanon — Spark Community Center honored several Upper Valley first responders, military personnel and nonprofit leaders with a banquet and award ceremony earlier this month, as part of the Sept. 11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.

“These seven folks are all making a difference in their community and in the world,” a news release from the Lebanon-based community center said.

They included Eric Clifford, a Hartford police officer; Janet Thomas, a school nurse with the Hartford School District and retired Air Force Col.; Jeff Libby, Lebanon Fire Department deputy fire chief; Peter Begin, vice president, security and fraud prevention officer at Mascoma Savings Bank, and Lebanon police officer; Jennifer Frank, Windsor Police Department detective; Philip Eller, a Spark board member and retired executive director of the Special Needs Support Center in Lebanon; and Mitch White, a Hartford firefighter.

The roughly 30 attendees included the award recipients’ friends and families, as well as Spark participants, co-founder John Fenley, and executive director Brett Mayfield.

— Staff report