Ice cream treats in West Halifax
WEST HALIFAX - The West Halifax Community Club invites visitors to its ice cream wagon, at 20 Brook Rd. (the intersection of Brook, Collins, Branch, and Reed Hill roads) on Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. for the next two weekends.
Enjoy Snow's Ice Cream in a cone or dish, or have a sundae, milkshake, or a root beer float. “Lots of great flavors will be scooped, including chocolate, vanilla, black raspberry, salted caramel, brownie, moose trails, and maple walnut,” club members write.
Conservation Commission presents talk on 1938 hurricane
DUMMERSTON - Join the Conservation Commission for the program “The Hurricane of 1938” on Thursday, Aug. 24 at 7 p.m., at the Learning Collaborative on Route 5.
Steve Long, the author of Thirty-Eight: The Hurricane that Transformed New England, will tell the story of the great hurricane that decimated our area nearly 80 years ago.
Without any warning, the most destructive weather event ever to hit the Northeast pummeled the coast and blasted its way through Vermont and New Hampshire with torrential rain, flooding, and sustained winds of 100 miles per hour.
Long is a journalist and co-founder of Northern Woodlands magazine.
For more information, contact Mary Ellen Copeland at 802-257-0012 or at [email protected].
Healing walk at Manitou
WILLIAMSVILLE - The Manitou Project will hold a healing walk on Friday, Aug. 25, from 4 to 6 p.m. This meditative walk on Manitou's Sanctuary Trail, led by Ro Corbin, will include poems or other readings and chances to share about the experience.
Healing walks take place rain or shine on the second and fourth Friday of each month until October.
For information, contact Fred Taylor at 802-387-2681.
Historical Society of Windham County hosts storytellers
NEWFANE - The Historical Society of Windham County welcomes all to an evening of great food and great stories on Friday, Aug. 25, at the NewBrook Fire Station on Route 30.
Following the society's brief annual meeting, beginning at 5:30, a potluck dinner will be served at 6 p.m. Bring a dish to share; drinks will be provided.
At 7 p.m., four residents of Windham County will share their stories of days gone by in Vermont.
Alan and Everett Bills of Wardsboro will have stories of Wardsboro and the family's lumber mill (and maybe a few jokes interspersed); Bill Toomey of Grafton, whose stories enraptured last year's audience, will be back by popular demand; and Walt Woodruff will share his memories of growing up in Windham.
Admission is free. For more information, news, and event listings, visit historicalsocietyofwindhamcounty.org or call 802-348-7891.
Transition Dummerston hosts community picnic
EAST DUMMERSTON - Transition Dummerston presents its fourth annual Community Picnic and Sing from 6 p.m. until dusk at Dutton Pines State Park on Route 5.
Participants are invited to bring “a dish to share and a comfy chair to sit in,” and to enjoy s'mores and campfire songs with John Ungerleider and Fred Taylor.
For more information, contact Bill Johnson at 802-257-1020 or Fred Ellis at 802-387-2681.
Invasive plant walk in Putney
PUTNEY - Andrew Morrison, an invasive-plant specialist, will lead a guided walk of Putney Mountain trails to familiarize participants with some of the most common invasive plant species.
The walk will include a visit to the Putney Mountain summit to discuss the ongoing project that uses grazing animals to control glossy buckthorn, and to speak about the history of invasive plants in Vermont, the connection between invasive species and our agricultural history, and to predict what the future might bring for invasive plants in New England.
Walkers should meet in the Putney Mountain parking lot on Saturday, Aug, 26, at 10 a.m.
Putney Historical Society to meet
PUTNEY - The Putney Historical Society will hold its annual meeting on Sunday, Aug. 27, at 2 p.m., at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill.
This year's free program will include a short business meeting followed by presentations by Putney Central School Social Studies teacher Leah Toffolon and Next Stage Arts Project Executive Director Maria Basescu.
Toffolon will screen excerpts from Putney Food Stories, a collection of short films made by the Putney Central School class of 2017 about people in the community connected to growing, harvesting, making, and selling food.
For the last three years, Toffolon's eighth-graders have worked with Evie Lovett from the Vermont Folklife Center to learn the fundamentals of ethnographic research, interviewing techniques, and media production.
Basescu will lead a discussion about “LegacyPutney: A Collaborative Celebration of Putney's Arts, History and Culture,” which encompasses a year-long engagement process of eliciting, crafting, and harnessing stories from Putney area residents.
Presentations will be shared throughout the year, culminating in a two-week festival in May that will feature Putney stories and works by and about cultural figures and groups in local and state history that have shaped the Putney of today.
Next Stage Arts Project was awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fresh Sound Foundation and will partner on this project with the town of Putney, the Putney Historical Society, the Putney Public Library, and area schools.
Senior Solutions seeks home visit volunteers
SPRINGFIELD - Do you want to help seniors in your area? One of Vermont's oldest and largest senior citizen social service agencies needs volunteers to provide home visits and fellowship for elderly, homebound clients.
Senior Companions is a home visit program that matches concerned mobile seniors with their aging peers; in southeastern Vermont, the program is administered by Senior Solutions, a nonprofit group serving elders in 46 communities in Windsor and Windham counties. Senior Companions are needed throughout the region, but particularly in Brattleboro and the Deerfield Valley.
Senior Companions provide friendly visits and companionship to help alleviate loneliness. During a visit, companions might help clients write a letter, read, or visit a senior center. Companions provide rides to medical appointments or shopping, share a hobby and occasionally prepare a meal.
Senior Companions must be over age 55, able to serve 15 hours a week, be income eligible, and desire to serve home-bound seniors.
Senior Companions receive orientation and training, mileage reimbursement, a tax-free stipend, and the satisfaction of helping others.
There is no charge to the person visited; the program is federally funded by the National Community Service Corporation.
To learn about Senior Companions or other volunteering opportunities, call the Senior Solutions HelpLine at 800-642-5119 or [email protected].
Senior Solutions is one of five non-profit area Agencies on Aging in Vermont. Formerly known as the Council on Aging for Southeastern Vermont, Senior Solutions has provided Older Americans Act social services to Vermonters 60 years and older, their caregivers, and families for more than 40 years.
River Conservancy presents Quest65, an interactive river adventure
GREENFIELD, Mass. - Do you love traveling, exploring new areas, finding interesting objects? If so, Quest 65 is for you!
The Connecticut River Conservancy (CRC), formerly Connecticut River Watershed Council, has developed “Quest 65: a River Adventure,” a smartphone-based scavenger hunt to honor the organization's 65-year history.
Through Oct. 15, CRC invites the public to join Quest 65 to cross off items from a list of more than 65 things to find, see, and do from the source of the river near the Canadian border all the way to its mouth at Long Island Sound.
Prizes will be awarded.
Visit ctriver.org/Quest65 for details on how to play.
Funding available for Brattleboro-area projects
MIDDLEBURY- Funding is now available for Brattleboro-area projects and organizations through the Crosby-Gannett Fund and the Dunham-Mason Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation.
The two funds were established at the Community Foundation in 2009 to support endeavors that contribute to the betterment and vitality of the Brattleboro area.
The funds' local advisors are interested in supporting projects that focus on innovation, capital improvements, and historical renovation/preservation. Crosby-Gannett Fund grants range from $250 to $1,000; Dunham-Mason Fund grants range from $250 to $500.
The deadline for both funds for this grant round is 5 p.m. on Oct. 11.
Eligible applicants may apply to either or both of the funds at the same time. Visit vermontcf.org/availablegrants to learn more.