BRATTLEBORO — Groundworks Collaborative is returning to a virtual broadcast for its annual Camp for a Cause fundraiser.
The event, which in pre-Covid times sought an annual permit to lift the town's public camping restriction on the town Common for one night each May, will happen virtually again this year on Friday, May 21.
Organizers are encouraging participants to camp at home - on lawns, in garages, on balconies and decks, in cars, on couches, etc. - and in so doing, raise funds that Groundworks reports it needs “now more than ever.”
“While we've made incredible advances over the past year in our mission to end homelessness household by household, the scope of need for housing has grown intensely due to the pandemic,” Groundworks Executive Director Josh Davis said in a news release.
Groundworks closed its Drop-In Center and Seasonal Overflow Shelter in March 2020 - moving all shelter guests and a few residents of Groundworks Shelter into local motels to allow for proper social distancing throughout their programs.
Motels have been home to roughly 2,700 Vermonters experiencing homelessness over the past year, a temporary policy change in the Emergency Housing program administered by the state Department for Children and Families. As a result of the pandemic, the program has been “less strict and not dependent on the weather,” according to the program's website.
Brattleboro motels have, at some points over the past year, hosted more than 200 people, and Groundworks says it continues to provide support to roughly 172 individuals in 160 households sheltering in this manner.
The organization is wrapping up work on the newly constructed Groundworks Drop-In Center on South Main Street, which will be ready to open its doors when the motel program unwinds.
A proposal in front of the Legislature would mean some individuals would be ineligible for motel rooms as early as June 1, with those already in motels subject to new eligibility rules as of July 1.
Davis says he served on the statewide Motel Working Group to advise the Legislature on how to proceed.
“The proposal was drafted with the assumption that Gov. [Phil] Scott's plan to spend $249 million of Vermont's American Rescue Plan Act funds on affordable housing units would mean we're moving people out of motels with the understanding that housing would be available soon,” said Davis, who adds that Groundworks continues to monitor the situation closely.
This year's camp organizers hope that as the weather warms and more people are vaccinated each day, families and individual participants will be ready to get outside - potentially in small groups - and consider the question: What has it meant for you to be “Safe at Home” during the pandemic?
The event brings participants and the community together for a live broadcast on BCTV, Facebook, and YouTube on Friday, May 21 at 7 p.m. The livestream, which will include a live discussion with staff and music from the DiTrani Brothers, will be available at GroundworksVT.org and its YouTube channel.
To register, donate, and learn more, visit GroundworksVT.org. Donations can also be mailed to: Groundworks Collaborative, P.O. Box 370, Brattleboro, VT 05302. (Please write “Camp” in the memo line.)