PUTNEY — The 36th annual Putney Craft Tour slated for Thanksgiving weekend is not only an official Vermont Chamber of Commerce top-10 winter event, it's also helping to fight hunger in the community.
The tour is partnering with the Putney Foodshelf by using art to help provide food for those in need. Each studio on the Putney Craft Tour will showcase an object for sale, with the proceeds going to the Foodshelf.
According to Nancy Calicchio, an artist on the tour who spearheaded the project, “Many of the studios are open year 'round, some by appointment, and the tour wants to be a resource for our community in ways that we can.”
This part of Vermont is no stranger to hunger: Roughly half of the students at Putney Central School qualify for the free and reduced-price lunch program.
Twice a week at its location in the Putney Community Center, the Putney Foodshelf provides healthful supplemental food to area families in need. Through its Family Food Bag program, Putney Foodshelf sends home a bag of food to now 10 families every Friday - enough to feed these families for the weekend.
Organizers say The Putney Foodshelf counts on donations to help those struggling to feed their families. Volunteers seek canned foods - think fish, fruit, soup, chili and vegetables - and cereals, pastas and pasta sauce, and peanut butter, and boxed meals such as macaroni and cheese and rice.
The Putney Craft Tour runs Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 28, 29, and 30, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Twenty-six artists are preparing their working studios for visits by community members and out-of-town guests. The idea, organizers say, is to inform, interest, and enliven.