WeCAN Story Hour Cafés begin at 118 Elliot
BRATTLEBORO - The folks who gathered nearly 40 organizations and 400 people for Windham County's WeCAN Action Fair last spring are launching their second follow-up event, a series of “WeCAN Story Hours Cafe's” on Third Thursdays throughout the winter.
The first one in Thursday, Jan. 18, at 118 Elliott Street, from 7 to 9 p.m. Learn more at www.facebook.com/events/582591242077436.
These WeCAN Cafés are designed to build community and help community activists “fill their spirits” through information sharing, celebration, and connection. All activists, including anyone wishing to learn about organizations and start participating in resistance efforts, are encouraged to attend. This event is free and open to the public.
There will be storytelling, discussion, food, music, poetry and a cash bar. Each of the monthly winter WeCAN Cafés will feature a different topic - class, healthcare, race - and start with a story hour to listen and share stories of class, money, jobs, and justice, followed by a policy discussion led by Vermont activists.
There will be time to connect with representatives from different organizations, eat, chat, and enjoy local musicians. For more information, contact admin@wecantogether.net.
Dummerston Historical Society meets
DUMMERSTON - “Growing up in Dummerston: Remembering our Roots” is the program for the annual meeting of the Dummerston Historical Society on Thursday, Jan. 18. The business meeting is at 7 p.m., with the program to follow at 7:30 p.m.
Dummerstonians of any age are invited to share their reminiscences of growing up in town. Reminiscences are one of the most fun and best ways of learning and transferring historical information from generation to generation, and to the many curious folk who did not have the privilege of “Growing Up in Dummerston.”
The raffle drawing will also be this night. In case you missed it, the Historical Society is raising funds to paint the exterior of the old schoolhouse.
Prizes include two half-gallons of maple syrup, donated by Steven White and Debbie and Dennis Baker, a $50 gift certificate for flea/tick medication from VT-NH Vet Clinic, a $50 gift certificate from Walker Farm, a drawing entitled “Ode to Miller Road” by Linda Rubinstein, and a pottery bowl donated by Ahren Ahrenholz of Partridge Road Pottery.
All items will be on display at the Historical Society. Tickets are three for $5 and can be purchased at the annual meeting or by contacting Jody Normandeau at 802-254-9037 or Gail Sorenson at 802-254-9311.
Senior meal in Halifax
HALIFAX - On Friday, Jan. 19, at noon, the monthly Halifax senior meal will be served at the community hall at 20 Brook Road in West Halifax.
The menu this month is turkey pot pie with pastry crust, baked potatoes, jello veggie salad, vegetables, and dessert. Sponsored by Senior Solutions.
Book swap time in Marlboro
MARLBORO - The 17th annual January Thaw Book Swap will be held Saturday, Jan. 20, from 9 a.m. until noon at the Town House.
Bring your best-quality, clean books (no textbooks) in a box and browse and take home as many books as you like. You can take books, even if you don't bring books. Enjoy a hot beverage and home-baked goods, compliments of the Marlboro Alliance and community volunteers.
All remaining paperbacks will be recycled, and hardcover books will be disposed of by the Alliance. Also, everyone is encouraged to bring canned or nonperishable food items for the food bank.
If you would like to bake something to share, or help with set-up or clean-up, contact Sarah Lavigne at lavignephotography@yahoo.com or call 802-689-0593.
The new Marlboro Community Cookbook will be on sale for $10, to benefit the Alliance. Find out more at www.marlboroalliance.com.
Putney Mountain Association to meet
PUTNEY - The Putney Mountain Association holds its annual meeting on Sunday, Jan. 21, at 4 p.m., at the Putney Community Center, 10 Christian Square.
The featured speaker is Vermont Fish and Wildlife Biologist Jaclyn Comeau, who will give a talk on living with bears.
The purpose of the talk is to increase awareness about bears, their habits and needs, and to help Vermonters better coexist with them. Everyone is welcome and light refreshments will be served.
Winter season of Osher Lectures begin
DUMMERSTON - The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute announces its midwinter series of three lectures on “Nature and Artifice,” examining how manmade works are informed by natural processes. The lecturer is Donald Sherefkin, a practicing architect who has taught architecture at Bennington College since 1996.
The first lecture in the series, on the ways in which agriculture shapes the earth, will take place on Jan. 22, from 1 to 3 p.m., at the New England Youth Theatre, 100 Flat St., Brattleboro, Vermont. The fee for the lectures is $6 per lecture. Light refreshments will be served.
For further information, contact Julie Lavorgna at 802-365-7278, or julielavorgna@gmail.com. Feb. 12 has been scheduled as a snow day. In case of inclement weather, please consult 96.7 WTSA-FM or www.wtsa.net.
BMH offers free WRAP wellness workshop series
BRATTLEBORO - Brattleboro Memorial Hospital will offer a Wellness Recovery Action Plan workshop free to the community.
This workshop, conducted in three sessions, provides participants with tools to deal with life's complications and to plan for the inevitable bumps along the way.
Developed in 1997, WRAP helps individuals overcome their own mental health issues and move on to fulfilling their life dreams and goals. The program is now used extensively by people in all kinds of circumstances and by health care and mental health systems all over the world to address physical, mental, and emotional health issues.
BMH's WRAP workshop series will provide participants with tools and insights to manage challenging situations for themselves and others in their lives. The workshop series is also relevant for those who may be in support roles for people struggling with physical and mental issues, and for healthcare providers interested in becoming WRAP facilitators.
The series is scheduled for Jan. 19 (noon to 5 p.m.), Jan. 20 (9 a.m. to 6 p.m.), and Jan. 21 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) in the Brew Barry Conference Room 2 at BMH.
Program is free, pre-registration is required. Contact Elisha Underwood at 802-257-8867 or eunderwood@bmhvt.org for more information or to register.
Ecopsychology is topic at Climate Change Café
BRATTLEBORO - Climate Change Café presents “Ecopsychology: The Human Psyche with the Earth in Mind (& Body)” on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main St., from 6 to 8 p.m.
With integrative psychotherapist Dave Cohen as guide. participants will explore a broad overview of the fundamental ingredients that make up the vital work of ecopsychology.
This is an approach that deeply considers humans - our minds, bodies, and senses - and one's felt relationships to the ecological and social worlds we inhabit, as well as the ways in which the industrial worldview is redefining who we are and perhaps even hacking into our status as human beings.
Free, light refreshments available. For more information, contact bereal@vermontel.net.
Conservation Commission looks at 'Leaving a Land Legacy'
DUMMERSTON - On Jan. 24, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the Dummerston Conservation Commission will present a free workshop about a very timely issue for woodland owners.
Many woodland owners want to pass their land on to their heirs. Unfortunately, due to a lack of planning or inadequate planning, the majority of woodland ends up being sold outside of the family.
Succession planning expert Mary Sisock, will present “Leaving a Land Legacy: What you really need to know to make it work.” This event will talk place at the Dummerston Congregational Church, at the corner of Middle and East-West roads in Dummerston Center. This event is also sponsored by the Vermont Woodlands Association.
Girl Scout Cookie season begins
BEDFORD, N.H. - Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains throughout New Hampshire and Vermont are participating in the Girl Scout Cookie program, which teaches essential entrepreneurial skills and is the largest girl-led business in the world.
This year, Girl Scout Cookies will sell at $5 a package and as always, 100 percent of the net revenue from GSGWM cookie sales stays local to fund local programming, while girls and their troops decide how to invest in community projects, personal enrichment opportunities, and more.
Past projects funded by cookie sales have included acquiring donations for local food banks, expanding STEM programming and outdoor adventures, and planting community gardens.
Girls also will sell cookies through the Digital Cookie platform, an innovative and educational web-based addition to the cookie program that helps girls run and manage their Girl Scout Cookie businesses online.
Now in its fourth year, the Digital Cookie platform continues to bring Girl Scout programming into the future by providing girls with invaluable business and science, technology, engineering, and math skills that prepare them for 21st century leadership. For more information, visit www.girlscoutsgwm.org or call 888-474-9686.