Everyone Eats! extends meals through December
BRATTLEBORO - Organizers say the first month of Everyone Eats! has been such a big success that the program now has received state funding to continue the free meal distribution program through Dec. 11 and to expand the number of meals it can serve.
This federal stimulus program helps support Brattleboro restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing meals to anyone in Brattleboro, Guilford, Vernon, Dummerston, or Putney who has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis due to unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, or other challenges.
Nine Brattleboro restaurants are providing meals for Everyone Eats! - A Vermont Table, Dosa Kitchen, Duo, Hazel, Indian Masala House, MamaSezz, The Porch Too, The Works, and Yalla.
Each restaurant will contribute meals at least two days a week.
Each person for whom a meal is requested will receive one individually packaged, ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve dinner. Meals will be distributed cold, so if you are driving a distance, delivering to other households, or distributing through your organization, consider bringing a cooler.
Everyone Eats! distributes up to 650 meals a day on a first-come-first-served basis Mondays through Thursdays, from 4 to 6 p.m. Organizers say the additional funding will allow them to increase that number to 850 meals a day.
Individuals may pick up their meals at the C.F. Church building at 80 Flat St., Brattleboro, while organizations will pick up their means at Mama Sezz on Marlboro Road in West Brattleboro.
The meals are free, but monetary contributions to help make more meals possible for others are welcome. If you have extra produce from your garden, there will be a wheelbarrow so you can drop it off in on your way out of the pickup site. Participating restaurants will use the donated produce in making more meals.
The success of Everyone Eats! in Brattleboro has attracted national attention, and other towns around Vermont are planning to start up their programs, including the Bellows Falls area, in September. The state is allocating $4 million to expand Everyone Eats! statewide to help restaurants prepare more than 400,000 meals for distribution in the coming months.
For more information, or to learn how to volunteer or donate to make more meals available, visit brattleboro.com/everyoneeats or contact Frances Huntley at frances@brattleboro.com.
Extra 3SquaresVT food benefits coming in September
WATERBURY - According to the Department for Children and Families (DCF), many 3SquaresVT households will get a higher benefit in September. This extra help is part of the federal Coronavirus Relief Bill. The increase is temporary - to help during the health crisis - and so will not permanently change a household's monthly benefit.
Households already getting the maximum 3SquaresVT benefit, or a zero benefit, will not get an increase. Everyone else will get an increase that brings them to the maximum benefit for their household size.
3SquaresVT households don't need to do anything to get the increased benefit. If eligible, they'll automatically get it the same way they get their benefits now: on an EBT card, through direct deposit or by check.
Learn more about 3SquaresVT at dcf.vermont.gov/benefits/3SquaresVT.
Book sale benefits Westminster West library
WESTMINSTER - The Westminster West Public Library is holding its annual book sale on Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., on the library grounds at 3409 Westminster West Rd.
There will be a huge selection of adult and children's books, and proceeds will be put toward the library's automation project.
According to the library website, the automation project - projected to cost $7,000, of which $5,000 needs to be raised - will electronically catalog its holdings, which will make available essential services for patrons online.
“When the library automates its collection we will join the Catamount Library Network, connecting us to approximately 20 other libraries in the state,” the website explains. “When you search our online catalog, you can also search the online catalogs of CLN member libraries and request books to be shipped here to West West - thus opening up over 500,000 additional titles to you, our patrons!”
The library has posted a number of updates about the automation project on its Facebook page.
Face coverings are required, and signs and instructions will help to maintain physical distancing.
Historical society to hold estate sale fundraiser
GRAFTON - The Grafton Historical Society (GHS) will hold a special fundraising estate sale on Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with proceeds to benefit its operating expenses.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the museum remained closed for part of its operating season and cancelled its fundraising events as well as its annual bake sale on Labor Day.
Now the museum at 147 Main St. is open on its usual days (Fridays through Sundays, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. through Indigenous Peoples Day weekend), but the historical society needs to raise money to continue its operations.
A member of the GHS has donated a number of items for the estate sale, which will be held on private property at 1065 Chester Rd. The sale will be run by the GHS and all proceeds will go to the society.
Offerings include furniture, home furnishings, household goods, tools, and a few vintage items, including a 1962 Silvertone radio/hi-fi, an old oak icebox, vintage linens, and clocks.
Other items for sale: dining table sets, a bedroom set and furniture, tables, lamps, bookcases, home decorating items, kitchen items, linens and quilts, and tools and garden tools.
A few fine art pieces from the owners' former gallery will also be on sale.
Attendees are asked to park in a specially designated area across from the property and not on the road and to enter via the driveway opening.
COVID-19 restrictions will be enforced, with a limited number of people allowed in at one time.
For further information, contact the historical society at 803-843-2584 or grafhist@vermontel.net.