West B Association to meet Oct. 10
WEST BRATTLEBORO - On Thursday, Oct. 10, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., the West Brattleboro Association (WBA) will hold its monthly meeting at The New England House, 254 Marlboro Rd.
The Association will finalize planning for its Columbus Day Weekend Chicken Barbecue on Saturday, Oct. 12. Fire Chief Mike Bucossi will be on hand to discuss plans for the West B fire station, which might mean a less expensive option of the construction of a new building instead of adding on and renovating the existing one.
The meeting will continue with discussions about bulb planting on the Village Green, signage for West Brattleboro, and a vision for a regional arts center located in West Brattleboro. As time permits, the group could also take up the question of whether to use Front Porch Forum or iBrattleboro as a free online community-building service.
The following monthly meeting of the WBA is Thursday, Nov. 14, time and venue to be announced.
Empathy Café: A Free Wellness-in-Windham Health Education Workshop
BRATTLEBORO - The Empathy Café is a community forum that is educational, experiential, and presented in an atmosphere that is fun and nourishing. It's designed to help people walk away feeling more connected to themselves and to people in their community.
Join presenters Wendy Webber, Cara Benedetto, Mary Zabriski, Robin White-Diamondstone, and Julie Plummer as they show participants around the Empathy Café “menu” of activities which build on each other. Participants will also gather concrete tools to continue the practice.
This community forum takes place on Thursday, Oct. 10, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Brattleboro Retreat's Education Conference Room, 1 Anna Marsh Lane. Free. Space is limited to 25. Registration is required by calling 802-258-3785.
Wardsboro Public Library to host open house
WARDSBORO - Wardsboro Public Library, 170 Main St., is celebrating the reopening of the library following a renovation which has more than doubled its size.
Join them on Friday, Oct. 11, at 6 p.m., and tour the newly renovated library and attached barn. Refreshments will be provided. Sponsored by Wardsboro Public Library Trustees.
For more information, call 802-896-6988.
Healing walk at Manitou
WILLIAMSVILLE - The Manitou Project will hold a healing walk on Friday, Oct. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. This meditative walk on Manitou's Sanctuary Trail is guided by Kirsten Edelglass, and includes poems and other readings and opportunities to share perceptions of the experience.
Healing walks will be held every second and fourth Friday until the end of October. For more information, call Kirsten at 802-579-4496.
Marine Corps League hosts Toys for Kids Jamboree
BRATTLEBORO - The Marine Corps League Brattleboro Detachment and Auxiliary Unit 798 will hold its annual Toys for Kids Jamboree on Sunday, Oct. 13, at the VFW Post 1034, 40 Black Mountain Rd., from noon to 6 p.m.
Donation for the afternoon of raffles, music, dancing and a silent auction is $5. Playing Possum will again be host band, and will be joined by several friends aiming to help the worthwhile cause.
This is the main fundraiser for Toys for Kids, which raises funds for holiday gifts to be given to children in need throughout the area. Associated with Toys for Tots, the Vermont-based organization raises funds and purchases gifts only for area children.
More than 1,200 age-appropriate toys and games were given as gifts during late November and early December in 2012, according to organizers.
Fall Osher lectures continue
DUMMERSTON - The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), Brattleboro Chapter, will hold the second in its fall series of lectures on Monday, Oct. 14.
In the morning session, Amer Latif, professor of religious studies at Marlboro College, will discuss how different religious traditions view divine qualities of love and compassion.
The afternoon program, “American Politics through Film,” will discuss “Rendition” and the treatment in U.S. films of the growth of state power and decline of civil liberties. The presenter will be Michael Krasner, a member of the political science faculty at Queens College, SUNY.
Morning lectures run from 10 a.m. to noon; afternoon lectures run from 1 to 3 p.m.
All lectures will be held at the Southeastern Vermont Learning Collaborative, 471 Vermont Route 5, Dummerston. Parking and handicapped access are available, and light refreshments will be served. For more information, including cancellations, call 802-257-8600 or toll-free 866-889-0042.
Windham County Democratic Committee to meet
BRATTLEBORO - The Windham County Democratic Committee will hold a reorganizing caucus Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro Savings & Loan Community Room.
Delegates recently elected by their town committees will meet to elect county officers and state committee delegates. Positions to be filled are county chair and vice-chair, secretary, treasurer and assistant treasurer, state committeewoman and committeeman, and three alternates to the state committee.
Also on the agenda: discussion of program ideas and committee priorities for the next 12 months leading to the November 2014 state elections.
For more information, contact WCDC chair Bill Johnson at 802-257-1020 or billjnsn@sover.net.
AARP chapter hosts Roger Allbee
BRATTLEBORO - On Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m., former state Agriculture Secretary Roger Allbee will be at the Brattleboro Senior Center with slides and projector to present a program about Vermont's ongoing agricultural heritage at the monthly AARP chapter meeting. Programs precede business meetings and the public is cordially invited to attend.
For more information, call 802-387-4060.
Brattleboro Human Services Review Committee to meet
BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Human Services Review Committee will hold its initial meeting on Oct. 15.
Applications and information for fiscal year 2015 Human Services Funding will be made available soon after. Look for updates from the Human Services Review Committee and the Town Manager's office in The Commons and at www.brattleboro.org.
For application process details, call Jan Anderson in the Brattleboro Town Manager's office at 802-251-8151.
Charles Fish to give talk on Kipling in Vermont
DUMMERSTON - Charles Fish will speak on “Vermont and Vermonters in Kipling's Day (1892-1896)” at the Dummerston Historical Society's quarterly meeting following a short business meeting Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m., in Dummerston Center.
Rudyard Kipling's four years in Brattleboro and Dummerston, three of them at Naulakha, were professionally productive, for here he wrote “The Jungle Books” and many other pieces.
In many ways, they were also personally happy times, and he might have remained here indefinitely had not been for the for the growing quarrel with Beatty Balestier, his brother-in-law, which led to a legal hearing. The embarrassment drove Kipling and his family back to England, never to return.
Fish will review this well-known dispute, but will concentrate on Kipling's opinion of Vermonters and the general social, political, and economic characteristics of the state in the 1890s. Free, accessible to persons with disabilities, and open to the public. For more information, call Gail at 802-254-9311.
Guiding Good Choices parent workshop offered in Wilmington
WILMINGTON - The Windham County Partnership for Success, in collaboration with Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, offers the parenting class “Guiding Good Choices” for five consecutive Tuesdays starting Oct. 15, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., at Twin Valley High School.
Guiding Good Choices is a free workshop for parents and/or caring adults of fourth through ninth graders. Topics covered include setting clear expectations and consequences for behavior, managing conflict, strengthening family bonds, and teaching kids “refusal” skills to help them resist peer pressure and make healthy choices.
The course is free and open to parents and caring adults of 4th through 9th graders throughout Windham County. Windham Southwest Supervisory Union parents will receive a $50 stipend for attending. Parent resources and dinner are provided, and child care is available.
Space is limited to 14 participants. Pre-registration is required at www.tvhs.eventbrite.com, by calling Victoria Silsby at 802-824-4200, or by writing victoria@thecollaborative.us.
The Windham County Partnership for Success is a collaboration of the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition, West River Valley Thrives Coalition, Greater Falls Prevention Coalition, Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, The Collaborative, and the Vermont Department of Health.
The Grammar School hosts new STEM after-school program
PUTNEY - The Grammar School is excited to announce a new program open to all students in grades 2-8: The Power of Discovery, an after-school STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) program. TGS invites young people to join innovative, project-based after school clubs led by talented mentors and coaches.
The Power of Discovery will offer 16 weeks of after-school club activities from late October through February, open to all children. The after school clubs will focus on developing skills and interest in STEM areas as well as creative and critical approaches to problem solving. The program will offer young people a fun, safe environment to apply concepts learned during the school day and allow children to take risks through trial and error problem solving in collaborative, team settings.
Some of the clubs offered are: FIRST Lego Robotics Club, Chess Club, Math Olympiads, DIY Maker Scouts, Kids Design and Craft Club, and Future Problem Solvers. A comprehensive listing and registration forms are available at www.thegrammarschool.org/afterschoolclubs.
For more information, visit the website or call Suzanne Rubinstein or David Hull at The Grammar School, 802-387-5364.
Windham Regional Career Center offers fall classes
BRATTLEBORO - The Windham Regional Career Center at Brattleboro Union High School announces its community education and training programs for this fall.
Courses offered this semester include: American Red Cross LNA program, ServSafe certification training, introduction to basic welding, introduction to computer applications, beyond introduction to computer applications, introduction to Microsoft Excel, creating a Google website, creating mobile apps, basic auto maintenance for women, financial workshop, thriving with adult ADHD;, organizing 1-2-3, beginning French, intermediate French, and tile table construction.
The Career Center also offers more than 300 online courses available throughout the year. For more information, visit www.wrccvt.com or call 802-451-3965.
CROP Walk set for Oct. 20
BELLOWS FALLS - The United Church of Bellows Falls is partnering with Our Place Drop-in Center in Bellows Falls and with Church World Service in organizing a CROP/Hunger Walk.
CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Walks are the oldest type of sponsored walks in America. Twenty-five percent of all funds raised will benefit Our Place, with the remainder distributed around the world to help alleviate hunger and poverty.
This rain-or-shine event is happening in Bellows Falls on Sunday, Oct. 20, beginning and ending at the United Church on School Street. Walkers will follow a planned 2.3 mile route along village streets; a shorter route will also be available. Registration begins at 1 p.m. at the church, and walkers will begin the walk together at 1:30 p.m.
Bring a water bottle. Participants of all ages are welcome. This is not a race and does not include bikes, skateboards, etc.
Pledge forms and additional information are available through the United Church, which you can contact at 802-463-4323 and therevjc1@localnet.com.
Hospice auction is fast approaching
BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Area Hospice is sponsoring a Cherished Goods Auction on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the VFW Post 1034 on Black Mountain Road. Like last year's auction, in addition to the usual interesting items, a creative, artistic event has once again been added to the evening. This year it features a bevy of mirrors. This fun fundraiser is your chance to help Hospice in return for the many ways they help our community.
The Cherished Goods Auction with Kit Martin will feature high-quality furniture in good condition, jewelry, paintings, china, glassware, and decorative items. In addition, specially selected mirrors that have been refurbished, hand-painted, and otherwise embellished by local artists will be available for bidding.
There will be both silent and live auctions while guests enjoy wine and hors d'oeuvres and mingle with friends and neighbors. Event starts at 5 p.m., with live auction commencing at 6 p.m. All proceeds directly support care and bereavement services offered completely free of charge by Brattleboro Area Hospice.
Tickets are $20 and are available by calling 802-257-0775 and at the door.