Town seeks to fill board vacancies
BRATTLEBORO - The town is seeking residents to serve on the following committees and boards: ADA Committee; Agricultural Advisory Committee; Arts Committee; Cemetery Committee; Citizen Police Communications Committee (CPCC); Conservation Commission; Development Review Board (member and alternate); Energy Committee; Fence Viewers; Inspector of Lumber; Shingles; and Wood; Planning Commission; and the Senior Solutions Advisory Council.
Applications can be found at bit.ly/631-boards-application; more information on the town and town government is available at brattleboro.org; or by calling the town manager's office at 802-251-8151.
Submit your application online; send it by email to Jessica Sticklor, executive assistant, at jsticklor@brattleboro.org; or mail or deliver the application to Town Manager's Office; Attn: Committee Vacancy; 230 Main St., Suite 208; Brattleboro, VT 05301.
Manitou hosts healing walk
WILLIAMSVILLE - The Manitou Project will hold a healing walk on Friday, Sept. 24, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. The walk, led by Mike Mayer, will include poems or other readings, as well as chances to share about the experience.
Held rain or shine, healing walks take place on the second and fourth Friday of each month until October.
The Manitou Project seeks to foster community with nature on its 235-acre land preserve at 300 Sunset Lake Rd.
For information, contact Mayer at 802-258-8598.
Genealogy Interest Group meets online
BRATTLEBORO - On Saturday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to noon, the Windham County Genealogy Interest Group will present an introduction to the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands database.
According to ancestry.com, the federal agency, commonly known as the Freedman's Bureau, “was established in 1865 as a means to provide aid to newly emancipated people transitioning from slavery to freedom.”
The genealogy site notes that the bureau “supported more than 4 million people, which included some impoverished white people and veterans of the U.S. Colored Troops,” a regiment of African American and other minority soldiers.
After the four-year struggle of the Civil War, much of the South's economy was in shambles. The Freedman's Bureau was a huge effort, especially directed to the former slave states, to construct a new economy.
The most lasting legacy of the Freedman's Bureau were the schools established to educate the children of formerly enslaved people. It also offered hospitals, employment, work transportation, and food to those in need.
The group will introduce this 28,340-record resource, released in August and available for free even to those who do not have an Ancestry.com subscription.
“Whether or not you have enslaved people as ancestors, or family who were touched by the assistance of the Freedman's Bureau, you will get an insight to what these records can provide,” the genealogists write.
They will explore pensions, letters, labor contracts, marriages, and other record sets. Part of the session will be devoted to sharing genealogical research questions and planning topics for the next meeting.
To register for the meeting, which will take place via Zoom, visit bit.ly/WindhamGen6. For more information, contact Jerry Carbone at windhamcountygig@gmail.com.
RFPL hosts non-violent communication course
BELLOWS FALLS - Mark your calendars for an upcoming six-week course in Non-Violent Communication and Restorative Circle Practice offered by the Humanity Network, Restorative Community Practice of Vermont, and the Rockingham Free Public Library.
According to a news release, this course “is offered in an effort to help nurture the quality of well-being and relationality in our communities.”
Dan DeWalt and Laurie Rabut will guide participants “through the consciousness and basics of Non-Violent Communication and the Restorative Circle process as it is used for conflict resolution in our daily lives, in families, communities, and between businesses and neighbors.”
“Participants will come away with a practical understanding of this work, through participatory practice activities and role playing,” they write.
The six-week course will run on Thursday evenings starting on Sept. 30, from 7 to 9 p.m., on Zoom. To receive an invitation, contact the library with your phone number and email address at programming@rockinghamlibrary.org or 802-463-4270.