Editor’s note: This is the third in a continuing series about volunteers in our communities.

GOFFSTOWN - Elizabeth Dubrulle arrived in Goffstown in 2004 after Mary Ellen and Carroll Berg suggested that Goffstown was a great place to live.

Her husband, Hugh, had just received tenure in the history department at Saint Anselm College, and the couple realized they would be spending the next 30 years in Southern New Hampshire.

“I wanted to make Goffstown my home, and have stake in this community. I wanted to feel like I belonged,” she said.

So she jumped right into volunteering, joining the Historic District Commission in 2005.

“With my interest and background in history, the HDC seemed like a perfect fit. Initially, the commitment was very small, but once I got involved it was amazing how easy it was to just throw myself into it,” said Dubrulle. “Pretty soon, I was volunteering or getting asked to do all sorts of things, and they all seemed interesting to me.”

By 2007, Dubrulle was chairman of the Historic District Commission.

In addition to running meetings and doing all the paperwork for the town, such as the operating budget and writing the annual report, she writes grant applications and press releases, researchs local history, writes the historical markers, works with the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources to further their projects, oversees the restoration of Grasmere Town Hall, works with the property owners of the 12 properties protected by a local historic district designation, does fundraising and tries to find ways to promote greater awareness and appreciate for Goffstown’s history.

“In all of this, I’m helped by a wonderful committee,” said Dubrulle. “We all come from different backgrounds, but we have a great deal of respect for one another and work well together.”

Dubrulle has woven herself into the community in a variety of ways besides the HDC. She’s served on the Goffstown Historical Society Executive Board since 2010, she manages the website for the Tri-Town United Travel Soccer program, she volunteers on the yearbook committee at Maple Avenue Elementary School, is a team mom for Goffstown Babe Ruth Softball and is currently serving as an elected member of the Budget Committee through 2014.

Residents of Goffstown likely also recognize Dubrulle as the co-chairman of the 250th Anniversary Committee.

“Our committee was responsible for putting on a full year’s worth of activities and events that highlighted Goffstown’s past, present and future. In the end, we had about 12,000 people attend at least one event during the 250th year. And with the block party, we threw what was probably the biggest party this town has ever seen. As time consuming as it was, it was one of the most gratifying efforts I’ve ever been involved with.”

Dubrulle is enthusiastic about her adopted hometown and stresses that volunteering is the best way to make yourself at home.

“I love knowing people in town; I love knowing what’s going on and feeling like what I do makes a difference. I know it sounds corny, but volunteering is one of the most emotionally rewarding things I do,” she said.