Transition Dummerston hosts potluck and community conversation
DUMMERSTON - Transition Dummerston will host its second public event, a community potluck and discussion, on Friday, Feb. 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Dummerston Congregational Church in Dummerston Center.
This event is for people in the community to get to know one another, enjoy sharing a good meal, and learn more about the Transition movement, which seeks to build local resilience for a positive future in the face of peak oil, climate change, and economic disruption.
The discussion at this event will consider community needs, interests, and resources for resilience in meeting the challenges of these times.
For the potluck, dishes using local food are encouraged, but not required. Bring enough for about six people.
The potluck will end at 7 p.m. The discussion will be preceded by a short presentation on the Transition Movement. For more information, contact Susanna (802-257-0544 or susanna@griefen.com) or Fred (802-287-2681 or rtaylor@antioch.edu).
African supper at Guilford Church raises funds for youth trip
GUILFORD - Guilford Community Church will host an East African Supper on Saturday, Feb. 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. as a fundraiser for the Brattleboro Area Interfaith Youth Group's mission trip to Kenya next month.
Tickets will be available at the door until sold out. To make reservations or for more information, call 802-254-9329 or email skowings@gmail.com.
The supper also serves as a memorial for Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya, who recently died. The members of the group had been planning to meet for the third time with Maathai during their April 2012 trip.
Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her work in connecting environmental activism with human and social justice and world peace. She inspired woman around the world to plant more than 30 million trees to help improve the environment by stopping desertification.
Instead, the group of 12 youth from five churches in Windham County, accompanied by eighth adults, will learn firsthand in Kenya about the Green Belt Movement and lend a hand to children living in the district of Nyeri and who are orphaned by AIDS.
The documentary film Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai will be shown during dessert, and the trip participants will be available for questions. East African music will play during the meal.
The price of the meal is $10; children ages 11 and under pay $5; ages 5 and under, free. The maximum charge per family will be $25.
The menu includes traditional meat and vegetarian dishes such as fried plantain, African roasted vegetable soup, Samosas, Chicken Tikka, beef stew, vegetable curry, spiced red beans in coconut milk and cornbread, with Maandazi, a sweet donut, served for dessert with ginger tea.
Dummerston authors discuss their work at Historical Society
DUMMERSTON - Dummerston Historical Society's “Authors of Dummerston” exhibit, featuring works of 35 local writers, continues its special openings in February and March with presentations by several authors each date.
The exhibit displays the works of published authors who either wrote their books while living in Dummerston or who are living now in Dummerston but published their works while living elsewhere.
On Sunday, Feb. 26, Joyce Marcel, Marjorie Pivar, and John Sommer will be featured. The exhibit will be open from 2 to 4 p.m., with the authors speaking between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Each of the authors will discuss the theme of their books, the challenges they face in writing and having their books published, and their plans.
There will be an opportunity for questions and to visit with the authors. Additional authors might be added to the program. The exhibit and program is free and is handicapped accessible.
For additional information, contact Cindy at 802-257-0674.
County Democratic Committee to meet Feb. 27
DUMMERSTON – The Windham County Democratic Committee (WCDC) will meet Monday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Dummerston Community Center on West Street in West Dummerston, just off Route 30.
Tim Stevenson of Post Oil Solutions and Paul Levasseur and Simon Renault of Transition Putney will be featured guests. The WCDC will also hear legislative, committee, and officer reports.
The meeting is open to the public, with refreshments provided by the Democratic Committee of Dover. Further information is available from WCDC Chair Bill Johnson at 802-257-1020.
Senior luncheon served in Putney
PUTNEY - Join your friends and neighbors for lunch and conversation at noon at the Putney Cares Activities Barn on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Student volunteers from the Grammar School will help serve and clean up the lunch.
The lunch will be prepared by Pamela Cubbage and is sponsored by Putney Cares and Senior Solutions.
On the menu is chicken soup with vegetables and tortellini, focaccia, cowboy cookies, coffee, and tea.
To reserve a seat, call 802-387-5593 or email putneycares@svcable.net.
Community supper, gardening conversation presented at Kurn Hattin
WESTMINSTER - The Greater Falls Great Food Community Conversation (GFGFCC) will host a free community supper at 6 p.m., on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in the faculty room off the main dining room at Kurn Hattin School on Kurn Hattin Road.
The menu will feature a variety of hearty soups, bread, cider, and dessert, followed a community conversation at 7 p.m.: “How do we eat healthy and local in the winter?”
Embracing the towns of Rockingham, Westminister, Athens, and Cambridgeport, as well as the villages of Bellows Falls and Saxtons River, the mission of of the GFGFCC is to make locally produced and healthy food more accessible to all members of the community.
In addition to hosting community suppers and conversations about food sufficiency, the GFGFCC has also initiated a Greater Falls Community/School Garden committee, whose purpose is to develop and support neighborhood, community, and school gardens.
The group is also in the process of organizing an ongoing series of cooking workshops.
For more information, contact Tim Stevenson at 802-869-2141 or info@postoilsolutions.org.
Marlboro College Graduate School offers free tech workshop
BRATTLEBORO - “Make Your Presentations Zing!” will be offered at Marlboro College Graduate School on Vernon Street on Wednesday, Feb. 29, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The free event will focus on how to use existing digital images and short videos to create engaging media presentations through tools like Animoto, Stupeflix, and Prezi. All tools demonstrated at the workshop offer free and premium versions for use.
The class is presented by the Grad School's EdTech Program and is part of its “HOT (Hands On Tech) Workshops” series.
This is a hands on workshop and participants should bring their own laptops.
Will deBock will conduct the class, and he may be contacted at debock@marlboro.edu or 802-451-0674.
Free tobacco cessation class at Grace Cottage
TOWNSHEND – Ready to quit smoking? Grace Cottage Hospital's “Your Quit. Your Way” tobacco cessation class can help you do it.
This free class will be held on six Tuesdays, March 6 to April 10, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., in the hospital's Community Wellness Center, 133 Grafton Rd. (Route 35).
“If you have tried to quit but are still smoking or chewing tobacco, you are particularly encouraged to attend this class,” organizers of the class write.
Free nicotine replacement products are available for any Vermont resident enrolled in this program.
Sindy Hassig, Grace Cottage physical therapist and tobacco treatment specialist, leads the classes.
Call 802-365-3649 to register.