WWAC talk focuses on Auschwitz
BRATTLEBORO - On Friday, Jan. 22, at 7:30 p.m., at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., the Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) presents Thomas M. White, who will give a talk entitled “The Power of Place: Encountering Auschwitz 70 Years After Liberation.”
White, the coordinator of educational outreach for the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College, quotes Henry Appel, an Auschwitz survivor who warned, “There is one thing worse than Auschwitz itself...and that is if the world forgets there was such a place.”
How does one encounter the killing site of Auschwitz? What can we learn? How do we “remember?” White's presentation will be based on his visit to Auschwitz I and II in November 2014 with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR). He will explore how ordinary people commit extraordinary evil.
This talk is free and open to the public. Coffee, cookies, and conversation will begin at 7 p.m. Read more about WWAC and its future speakers and events at windhamworldaffairscouncil.org.
Flu shots available at Grace Cottage
TOWNSHEND - Grace Cottage Family Health will be offering a flu shot clinic on Saturday, Jan. 23, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. No advance appointment is needed; walk-ins are welcome.
Flu shots are also available weekdays by appointment, call 802-365-4331. Grace Cottage Family Health is located at 185 Grafton Rd. (Route 35).
An annual seasonal flu vaccine is the best way to reduce the chance that you will get the flu and that you will spread it to others. It takes about two weeks for protection to develop after vaccination.
For more information about flu shots or the flu in general, visit the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc.gov), the Vermont Department of Health website (www.healthvermont.gov), or call the Vermont helpline at 2-1-1.
Putney Mountain Association talk celebrates Hawk Watch
PUTNEY - The speaker for the Putney Mountain Association Annual Meeting will be John Anderson, drawing upon his extensive hawk watching experience over the decades.
The meeting is Sunday, January 24, at 4 p.m., at the Putney Community Center, 10 Christian Square. There will be a brief business meeting with an update on their Buckthorn grazing project and a review of the year's events, as well as light refreshments.
Anderson and approximately 20 other dedicated volunteers maintain a continuous presence on the Putney Mountain summit from Sept. 1 to Nov. 15. For nearly 30 years, they have kept records of the number and kinds of hawks, temperature, wind, and weather, all of which they report to Hawk Migration of North America.
As a result, Putney Mountain has become the most important hawk watch site in Vermont and is significant for the entire Northeast.
Putney Library hosts presentation on Vermont's Death with Dignity Law
PUTNEY - On Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m., join Linda Waite-Simpson, the director of Vermont's Compassion and Choices, to learn more about End of Life Care and Vermont's Act 39, the Death with Dignity Law at Putney Public Library, 55 Main St.
In this program, which is free and open to the public, Waite-Simpson will cover a variety of topics relating to end of life care, including unwanted medical treatment, voluntary stopping of eating and drinking, and Vermont Patient Bill of Rights for Palliative Care and Pain Management.
Waite-Simpson served for three terms as Essex Junction's representative to the Vermont House and sat on the House Judiciary Committee. She was the committee's voice on the floor as the Aid in Dying bill was working through the legislative process. She was hired as the Vermont state director for compassion and choices in December 2014 where she works to ensure that Vermont's Act 39 is both meaningful and accessible to Vermonters.
Free fresh produce at Putney Meadows, Grace Cottage Hospital
On Thursday, Jan. 28, the Vermont Foodbank will hold its monthly free food distribution program for those in need at Putney Meadows and at Grace Cottage Hospital.
Distribution at Putney Meadows (white building across from the Co-op and Fire Station) takes place from 9 to 9:45 a.m., while distribution at Grace Cottage (in the ambulance garage behind the hospital) will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Food items available may include squash, potatoes, carrots, kale, apples, yogurt, and more. Pallets of fresh and frozen food will be unloaded. Participants are asked to take only what they need for their own household and to bring reusable shopping bags or a cardboard box as plastic bags may not be available. All are welcome, no questions asked.
This free food distribution program will continue at both locations on the fourth Thursday of every month.
Active Parenting workshop begins
TOWNSHEND - This winter, West River Valley Thrives, a local coalition dedicated to “promoting healthy lifestyle choices with an emphasis on the prevention of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use by youth people,” will host a new program for local parents.
This workshop, called Active Parenting of Teens, is an evidence-based program for parents of children in fifth grade and up, where parents will discuss issues unique to adolescence and the skills needed to parent their “tweens” and teens most effectively.
The workshop will include information on parenting styles, problem solving and communication, responsibility and discipline, building courage and self-esteem, drugs and violence, as well as development and sexuality.
Active Parenting of Teens will be held over the course of four Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon at the United Church of Christ in Townshend, 46 Common Rd. Pastries and coffee will be provided. Free childcare will be made available with advanced notice. Also, all participants will receive a gas gift card worth $20 as a thank you for coming out on a Saturday morning to engage with other local parents on the topic of parenting.
Interested parents should contact Kate Venne, Project Coordinator for West River Valley Thrives, at wrvthrives@gmail.com or 802-365-4700 to register.
Transition Dummerston holds monthly meeting
DUMMERSTON - Transition Dummerston's monthly potluck and program will be on Friday, Jan. 29, from 6 to 9 p.m., at the Dummerston Congregational Church.
The program will be a showing of the film, Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective, a documentary introducing permaculture: a design method that offers an ecological lens for solving issues related to agriculture, economics, and more - a new way of relating to the Earth.
The film presents a glimpse into what is possible, including many projects underway in the Northeast and Midwest. It was screened at last November's Brattleboro Film Festival.
For more information, contact Bill at 802-257-1020 or Ken at 802-387-5288.