GUILFORD — Broad Brook Community Center in Guilford has just finalized partnership agreements with Guilford Cares, Inc., and the Town of Guilford, in addition to an earlier such agreement with Broad Brook Grange.
In announcing the agreements in a news release, Don McLean, chair of the Center's Programs and Partnerships Committee, noted that these relationships both provide support for the Community Center and guarantee that there will be plentiful ongoing activities in the building.
“Our Partnerships are intended as two-way relationships with important Guilford institutions,” McLean said, “which allow us to support these groups' traditional uses of the Center while providing them with a reliable schedule for an annual fee, rather than piecemeal rentals.”
The building was constructed by the Broad Brook Grange organization in 1896, which was steward of this major community resource until 2018, when the Grange sold the property to the newly-formed nonprofit Broad Brook Community Center, Inc.
“The Grange hall was used for myriad town functions for over a century,” McLean continued, ”ranging from Town Meeting and General Election polling, to Library summer camps, square dances, and weddings. In fact, those dances and the weddings were sometimes related, as a number of Guilford couples first met at the dances!”
The Broad Brook Grange organization continues as the first partner of the Community Center, and is still headquartered in the building.
Among the familiar Grange-sponsored events that will still take place there are the annual Sugar on Snow Supper, the free Community Thanksgiving Dinner, and plays produced by Guilford Center Stage. Visit the Grange at facebook.com/Broad-Brook-Grange-151.
At Town Meeting this year, voters approved the partnership fee that formalized the second of the partnerships, with the town of Guilford.
In addition to hosting general elections, the building will continue as the traditional site for such town functions as Green-Up Day and four weeks of Guilford Free Library summer day camps, which are free for Guilford children.
The Guilford Recreation, Planning and Conservation Commissions will also have use of the site. Find out more at www.guilfordvt.net.
McLean points out, “many area towns, such as Dummerston, Putney, and Marlboro, have a town-owned Community Center, with a building directly supported by the town treasury. Guilford does not have such a municipally-owned facility, and so Broad Brook Community Center fills that gap, and thus it made sense to us to have some town support.”
The third finalized Partnership is with Guilford Cares, Inc., which functions as Guilford's social service agency, and which operates the Guilford Food Pantry, which provides supplemental food to Guilford families every Thursday, from 5 to 6 p.m., through the year.
Guilford Cares provides rides to medical appointments, loans equipment, and assists vulnerable townspeople in many ways. Guilford Cares also promotes wellness, for example with tai chi classes beginning Thursday mornings in April. For more information, visit guilfordcares.com.
The Center is also available for rent for private parties, dances, and weddings. For more information, visit broadbrookcommunitycenter.org or call 802-451-0405.