AMHERST — Michael Salter is not one to sit on the sidelines once he identifies a problem area. If a child, parent, or veteran in New Hampshire is in need, time and again he has come forward, through actions and donations, to fill the void.

For these reasons Salter is one of four recipients of the 2012 Granite State Legacy Awards, presented by the New Hampshire Union Leader/ Sunday News and sponsored by Centrix Bank. The other honorees are Dean Kamen, Lewis Feldstein, and Jack Middleton.

“I am very honored and humbled to be chosen, when you look at the company I am in,” said Salter, an Amherst resident. “When you look at the other recipients, I feel like I'll be taking the stage with Iron Man, two Captain Americas, and I'm their chauffeur. But in all honesty, I am truly humbled by this.”

Salter was chosen for his efforts on behalf of Easter Seals and Veterans Count, a program that supports veterans and their families.

“Michael decided to make a difference while in retirement and served on the Easter Seals board,” said Ellie Cochran, director of philanthropy for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. “He is the type of person who, if he sees a void, he tries to come up with a solution to fill it. He realized that returning veterans and their families were not being well served and decided to change that.”

Cochran said that one of Salter's grandchildren was so inspired by him that they donated their allowance to help fund an Easter Seals Child Development Center.

Since 9/11, thousands of New Hampshire military service members have deployed to the Middle East. To assist service members and their families through the challenges of a deployment cycle, Easter Seals NH launched the Veterans Count Club, with the help of Salter, in 2007 to serve as the fundraising arm of the Deployment Cycle Support Program, a partnership between Easter Seals NH, the New Hampshire National Guard and the state Department of Health and Human Services. After five years of fundraising, donations from hundreds of businesses and private citizens have allowed the Easter Seals NH Veterans Count Club to distribute $1.1 million to veterans and their families in need of emergency services.

“Veterans Count Club exists because philanthropist and Easter Seals Board Member Michael Salter had a vision to help our veterans. The community embraced the vision with their time and financial assistance and the results speak for themselves,” said Veterans Count Club Chairman R. Bruce Wilson. “The club has addressed a gap that New Hampshire service members and their families needed and deserved to have filled.”

Salter has expanded the Veterans Count network to Nashua, pulling community leaders there into the process, and hopes to expand the network to the Seacoast region next.

Salter has served on the Easter Seals NH Board of Directors since 1997.

“Michael's passion for helping veterans is infectious,” said Linda L. Sirak, vice president of major gifts and planned giving for Easter Seals NH. “He expertly rallies staff, volunteers and his personal network of business colleagues, friends and family on behalf of Easter Seals to garner community awareness and philanthropic support. The results have been phenomenal. The impact for military families in New Hampshire has been tremendous. Financial support has included transportation, housing, rent, fuel assistance, utilities, vehicle repair, gasoline, food, child care, tuition and medical products. There are literally thousands of veterans and family members whose lives have been impacted by Michael's relentless pursuit of ensuring no service member falls through the cracks. He is dedicated to going the extra mile in order to improve the quality of life of others.”

“Establishing Easter Seals NH Veterans Count took courage and compassion,” continued Sirak. “Nothing like this had ever been done successfully before in New Hampshire. Michael's actions and deeds were the impetus to build a program that has forever changed the system of how we provide care to families. Because of Michael's compassion, veterans and their families are getting the hand up they desperately need.”