Public tree inventory begins in Brattleboro
BRATTLEBORO - The town is working with the Vermont Urban and Community Forestry Program this month to inventory the public trees along streets downtown, along residential neighborhoods, and in parks.
Over the next couple of weeks, foresters from the state Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation will be collecting data on the location, species, size, and condition of the trees within the public right-of-way in Brattleboro.
The inventory will help town leaders understand, steward, and manage the tree population more effectively.
Public street trees and trees in green spaces are a component of the community infrastructure that provide many benefits, including enhancing air and water quality, mitigating stormwater runoff, providing shade and recreational opportunities, and improving residents' quality of life and well-being.
For more information, visit www.vtcommunityforestry.org or contact Elise Schadler at elise.schadler@uvm.edu or 802-881-1256. To learn more about trees in Brattleboro, contact Brattleboro Tree Warden Dan Adams at 802-254-3502.
New book on war, love, and faith featured at Brooks
BRATTLEBORO - On Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Brooks Memorial Library, Vermont author Tereska Buko and Brattleboro artist Lerna will speak about Buko's newly published book, The General's Barber and the Seamstress (Red Barn Books of Vermont).
Buko, a former resident of Marlboro and Brattleboro, and a graduate of the School for International Training, retells the World War II story of her Polish parents. When Hitler invades Poland in 1939, her parents - married merely a year - are catapulted into a sudden, heart-wrenching seven-year separation. They survive separately without knowing the other's fate, facing life-threatening situations demanding courage, faith, and resilience.
Each chapter is illustrated with pen and ink sketches by Lerna. Copies will be available for purchase, and there'll be time for questions and answers.
Healing Walk at Manitou
WILLIAMSVILLE - The Manitou Project will hold a Healing Walk on Friday, Sept. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. This meditative walk on Manitou's Sanctuary Trail, led by Ryan Murphy, will include poems or other readings and chances to share about the experience.
Healing walks will be held every second and fourth Friday of each month until October. Meet at the parking lot at 4 p.m. For more information, contact Murphy at 802-257-0775, ext. 106 or ryan.murphy@brattleborohospice.org.
House sharing issues explored at meet-up, potluck
BRATTLEBORO - Live alone? Pressed by the cost of housing? Often spend chunks of time where you don't talk to anyone? Any of these would be better with a home-mate.
Looking for a shared housing situation? Come explore how you might find one at a meet up on Saturday, Sept. 12, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the Dunham room of St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 16 Bradley Ave. If you already share housing, come and tell how it works for you.
This meet-up is for or people who are interested in exploring the option of sharing a home. It's a place to meet others who are interested in the idea, to talk about how it could work for you, and to learn.
The event is led by Annamarie Pluhar, author of Sharing Housing, a Guidebook for Finding and Keeping Good Housemates. Bring a dish for the potluck. Call 802-451-1941 or write annamarie@sharinghousing.com.
St. Michael's Episcopal hosts Sunday School Open House
BRATTLEBORO - On Sunday, Sept. 13, St. Michael's Episcopal Church hosts a Sunday School Open House from 9:15 to 10 a.m. on the church's front lawn on Bradley Avenue.
All who are interested are invited to come and check out St. Michael's programs for children and youth. There will be food, crafts, and a bounce house. The Sunday School Open House is free. All are welcome.
The church's programs for children and youth include nursery care for young children (covers the 10:15 service on Sunday mornings); Godly Play, a Montessori-based Christian formation program incorporating Bible stories through the use of objects, wonder, and play, for ages 3-11; Youth Forum, a mix of study, activities and service work for students in grades 6-8; and My Faith, My Life, for high school students, a time of exploring questions about what it means to be a Christian.
A Choir School for youths 8-14 is open to all in the community who love to sing and who want to gain skills of musicianship.
For more information, call the church office at 802-254-6048 or visit www.stmichaelsvermont.org.
Grace Cottage offers nutrition classes
TOWNSHEND - Join Grace Cottage Health Coach Elizabeth Harrison for a four-week nutrition series hosted by Neighborhood Connections. At these free classes you will learn basic steps for improving your life and well-being.
Topics focus on good nutrition; shopping for and preparing nutritious foods; the effect of sugar and processed food on your health; and the importance of exercise, sleep, and vitamins.
Come to one class or come to all; you are not required to attend all sessions. Classes are held on four Mondays: Sept. 14, 21, and 28, and Oct. 5, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Meeting Place, Mountain Marketplace Shopping Plaza, Route 100. Free. For more information, call 802-824-4343.
Olsen to host legislative forum on property taxes, education reform
LONDONDERRY - On Monday, Sept. 14, at 6:30 p.m., Rep. Oliver Olsen, I-Londonderry, will host a legislative forum on property tax and education reform at Flood Brook School, featuring Speaker of the House Shap Smith, D-Morristown, and Rep. Dave Sharpe, D-Bristol, chairman of the House Education Committee.
This forum is open to all and will address concerns about rising property taxes, along with questions about the future of education reform under recently enacted legislation (Act 46).
Flood Brook School is at 91 Vermont Route 11 across from the Mountain Valley Medical Clinic.
Guilford Chamber Singers seek new members
GUILFORD - The Guilford Chamber Singers, directed for a fourth season by Tom Baehr, begin rehearsals on Sept. 14 for Friends of Music at Guilford's annual Christmas at Christ Church concerts on Dec. 11 and 12.
Rehearsals are on Mondays at 7 p.m. in Guilford Community Church, 38 Church Dr., just off Rte. 5 near the Country Store.
This year's program, a mix of sacred and secular seasonal music, includes familiar and not-so-familiar arrangements of Carol of the Bells, Bethlehem Spiritual, Deck the Halls, Winter Wonderland, and Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy, as well as Llegaron al Portal (They Arrived at the Door), a recently rediscovered Baroque-era carol from Bolivia.
The Guilford Chamber Singers is a mixed chorus of 16 voices with room for more. All voices are welcome. There is no formal audition, but prospective singers are asked to speak with Baehr at 802-387-2796 before joining.
Free tobacco cessation class at Grace Cottage
TOWNSHEND – Ready to give up tobacco? Grace Cottage's FreshStart Tobacco Cessation Class can help. Free nicotine replacement products are available for any Vermont resident enrolled in this program.
This free class will be held on six consecutive Mondays, Sept. 14 through Oct. 19, from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Grace Cottage Community Wellness Center, 133 Grafton Rd. (Route 35).
Terri Kneipp, Tobacco Program coordinator at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, leads the group. To register, call 802-251-8456.
Historical Society to explore town's publishing, printing heritage
BRATTLEBORO - The Brattleboro Historical Society and Friends of Brooks Memorial Library are collaborating to generate ideas about how to increase community interest in Brattleboro's 200-year-old printing and publishing heritage.
All interested in this topic are invited to a brainstorming session on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. at the Brattleboro History Center in the Masonic Center, 196 Main St.
The purpose of the meeting will be to gather ideas for ways to interest and engage our community in learning more about the influential roles that Brattleboro's publishing and printing industries have played throughout our history.
By the early 1800s, Brattleboro was recognized as a major printing and publishing town in Vermont and New England. These industries and businesses have made major economic, cultural, and social contributions to the town and community.
Today, with the emergence of digital publishing and printing, Brattleboro continues its leadership in the incubation and innovation of the industry's electronic world of printing and publishing.
For more information, visit brattleborohistoricalsociety.org or write brattprintpub@gmail.com.
Medicare Boot Camp offered in BF
BELLOWS FALLS - Senior Solutions provides unbiased information about the Medicare system during its Medicare Boot Camp on Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 9 to 11 a.m.
This class is great for anyone enrolled in Medicare or planning to sign up soon. Family members who help elders may also find this class useful.
Medicare has strict enrollment periods, and this session will help participants make timely decisions about drug plans, supplemental plans, and other issues.
This class is popular, so pre-registration is required. To register or get full location details, call the Senior HelpLine at 800-642-5119. To peruse additional Medicare class offerings, visit www.seniorsolutionsvt.org.
SEVCA announces free 'Financial Fitness' classes
BRATTLEBORO - Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA) has space available in its upcoming Financial Fitness class, to be held at Marlboro College in Brattleboro starting Sept. 16.
This seven-part workshop series will help participants improve their relationship with money, develop strong financial habits, and take steps towards prosperity. Topics covered include saving, spending, credit, paying for college, purchasing a home or car, insurance, and retirement.
The instructor will review credit reports and provide recommendations for you to take steps to build healthy credit and resolve credit issues.
The class is free and open to the public. It begins Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 3 to 5 p.m. and continues Wednesdays through Oct. 28. The workshops are held at Marlboro College Graduate School, 28 Vernon St.
Pre-registration is required at 802-722-4575, ext. 151, or kwoodcock@sevca.org.
RPG League starts fall season at RFPL
BELLOWS FALLS - The RPG League at Rockingham Free Public Library starts its fall session on Wednesday, Sept. 16, from 5 to 9 p.m. It runs on consecutive Wednesdays through October.
The RPG League is a free gaming program open to adult gamers of all levels - whether you haven't played for years, are currently gaming, or just want to try something new.
RPG, which stands for role playing game, is best described as an interactive storytelling game. Guided by a game master, each player takes on a character and tells their part of the story through the game's process of decision making.
One of the most famous games is Dungeons & Dragons, which was published in 1974.
Current teams include a Gothic Horror Ravenloft campaign and a Pathfinder/GURPs game. Join a team or start a campaign of your own.
Free and open to the public. For more information, call 802-463-4270, write sam@rockinghamlibrary.org, or stop by the library at 65 Westminster St.
Free parenting program offered this fall in Townshend
TOWNSHEND - This fall, West River Valley Thrives, a local non-profit organization dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyle choices by young people, hosts a new program for local parents.
Active Parenting of Teens is an engaging, evidence-based program for parents of children ages 11-18. Parents learn about the issues unique to adolescence and the skills needed to parent their “tweens” and teens most effectively.
This curriculum is an excellent opportunity for parents of teens entering seventh grade who are looking for information and guidance to help their child transition, as well as any parent interested in connecting with other parents and enhancing their parenting skills.
The program has six sessions, including information about styles of parenting, problem solving and communication, responsibility and discipline, building courage and self-esteem, drugs and violence, and development and sexuality.
Classes will be held on Thursdays, Oct. 1 through Nov. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m., at Leland & Gray Union Middle & High School. Free childcare is available with advance notice. Snacks will be provided.
For more information, contact Katelynn Venne, program manager for West River Valley Thrives, at 802-365-4700 or wrvtdirector@gmail.com.