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Tatum’s Totes 2020 Holiday Drive a Success

Carrie Stahler Leave a comment

Thank you to our incredible community partners, our Department for Childre & Families partners, and the intrepid GMUW staff for making this joy a reality for over 210 children this year! 2020 had its challenges but you met them all with an hope hard and that extra level of effort that this year has demanded of all of us, please know this made a difference for so many foster children and their foster families!

Thank you to our business & community group partners:

  • Union Mutual Insurance
  • VSECU
  • Edward Jones offices
  • Noyle Johnson Insurance
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont
  • Hickok Boardman Insurance
  • The Barre Rotary Club
  • The Montpelier Rotary Club
  • The Northfield Rotary Club
  • The First Congregational Church of Berlin
  • Warren United Church
  • Bible Baptist Church, Barre
  • And many individual donors who supported this work this year

Special thanks to the Resource Coordinators and Caseworkers at the Department for Children and Families for being part of our Elf Corps, and to Granite Group in Barre for sending a van to be our delivery sleigh! And thanks to the folks at Hunger Mountain Coop for their contribution to our gift boxes!

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Tatum’s Totes Back-to-School Item Drive

Carrie Stahler Leave a comment

We are taking the opportunity of the delay in the start of school to hold a back-to-school drive for foster children and children experiencing homelessness. Please see the list of the items we need below. All items can be dropped off in the drop box at our new office located in the Green Mountain Community Fitness building, 652 Granger Road, Barre, first floor. Ideally we would like to have items delivered by September 8 so we can get them to children across our five-county region.

Thanks to Bear Pond Books in Montpelier. You can purchase age-appropriate books through their website and leave them at Bear Pond for our staff to pick up! Support a local business by supporting children in our community, win-win!

Buy Books

Items needed for Back-to-School Drive

  • Child-sized masks
  • Backpacks – child and teen sized, gender-neutral and all colors
  • School Supplies:
    • Markers
    • Pens
    • Pencils
    • Pencil Sharpeners
    • Pocket Folders
    • Spiral Notebooks
    • Composition Books
    • Erasers
    • Calculators
  • Age-Appropriate Books – list available to buy at bearpondbooks/tatumstotes
  • Arts and Crafts Items:
    • Colored Pencils
    • Watercolor Pencils
    • Brushes and Watercolors
    • Sketchbooks
    • Journals
    • Origami Paper
  • Playing Cards
  • Games
  • Puzzels
  • Mad Libs
  • Maze Books
  • Activity Books
    • Math Activities
    • Literacy/Spelling
    • Map Activities
    • Other activity books

Questions about the back-to-school drive? Email Carrie at cstahler@gmunitedway.org.

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K.E.E.P. Financial Coaches Fall Networking and Forum Opportunities

Julia Davis Leave a comment

Join us! This fall we are holding two virtual meetings for our KEEP Financial Coaches to provide chances to connect, learn, share, and shape the future of our KEEP Financial Coaching program. We want to hear from you!

1. “Networking and Story Sharing Event” – Thursday, September 17th – 10:00am – 11:30am

How has your experience been? How have things changed for you as a financial coach? Bring your experience with your role, changes to your work, and how you’ve been able to use your financial coaching skills and knowledge during the pandemic with clients and your community.
This has also been a time of amazing opportunity for growth and creativity. Bring your COVID-19 struggles, triumphs and innovations – we want to hear all about your experiences as pandemic Financial Coaches and connect you with other coaches as well.

RSVP Here

2. “Shaping the Future” – Thursday, September 24th – 10:00am – 11:30am

This second meeting is centered around the ways financial coaching intersects with YOUR work and focus areas. We are offering the opportunity to participate in smaller group discussions facilitated in breakout sessions. Your breakout session topic will be based on your survey responses and direct feedback about what you’d most like to talk about with fellow coaches in a facilitated discussion format. Our goal is to understand how this program can successfully translate to a virtual space and how we can continue to support you and your work with clients.

RSVP and Survey Here

Questions? Email Julia Davis at jdavis@gmunitedway.org

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Orleans-Northern Essex County Mask Project

Carrie Stahler 3 Comments

In partnership with the Orleans Northern Essex County Response Team, we are working to supply the community in our region with masks for free. We have been generously supported by Vermont Teddy Bear Company & many community volunteer stitchers. Masks are currently being distributed at locations throughout the region and we are doing the best to continue to supply these locations with masks for patrons or community members who need them.

If you need a face covering, the BEST place to contact is one of the towns on the Vermont Emergency Management list of municipalities who are working with the State of Vermont to distribute thousands of donated face coverings – sizes are good for smaller adult faces or larger adult faces:

Find your city or town

Local locations where you can get free face coverings:

  • The Glover Store, Newport Center
  • Shaws, Derby
  • Hillikers Store, Newport Center
  • Hoagies, Newport & Derby locations
  • Helmersons Restuarant, Newport
  • Boutin’s, Troy
  • Newport Jewelers, Newport
  • Hobo’s, Island Pond
  • Dollar Tree, Newport
  • Troy Country Store, Troy
  • West Main Deli, Newport
  • Vista Foods, Newport
  • The Brown Cow, Newport
  • Wendy’s, Newport/Derby
  • West Side Deli, Newport
  • Domino’s Pizza, Newport/Derby
  • NEKCA Youth Services, Newport
  • NEKCA – Main Street, Newport

Hoagies Newport

Hoagies Derby

Helmersons Restaurant Newport

Hillikers Store Newport Center

Glovers Store Newport Center

Wendys Newport

Dominos Newport

Hobos Island Pond

Newport Jewelers Newport

Dollar Tree Newport

West Side Deli Newport

Brown Cow Newport

Seniors in the NEK in need of masks can contact the NEK Council on Aging’s helpline to get a mask: 802-748-5182 or 800-642-5119

We are always looking for stitchers to join our project.

If you are interested in stitching masks, please use the form linked below to volunteer and we will be in touch to get you kits to sew!

Volunteer to Stitch Masks

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Internet Connectivity

Carrie Stahler Leave a comment

Resources, Updates, and Suggestions for staying connected during COVID-19

Since March, the internet has become a new “Basic Need” for almost everyone in our communities. Whether you’ve worked or schooled from home, tried to order groceries from the local store, Zoomed into your local Select Board meeting, met friends for “Virtual Coffee”, or accessed telehealthcare services, you likely now depending on reliable, high-enough-speed internet to help life go on during the pandemic.

Our work with the Central Vermont Family Connectivity Project has brought us face to face with what happens when the lack of reliable internet does not offer the continuity that most of us enjoy from regular internet access. It means that kids can’t get the care they need, expecting moms can’t get the healthcare they, kids in foster care can’t see their biological parents… it means that life is even more drastically different than it is for those of us who have internet access (like you do if you’re reading this blog!).

Knowing this struggle is not going away, I’ve put together a list of potential resources anyone can use to bridge the internet gap. Let’s be clear, this information is meant to give you options if you can’t afford cable, or the DSL line ends right before your house, or the back road you live on is nowhere near high-speed internet territory. These are temporary solutions at best, and it is our hope that the many projects currently in the works in our rural region are able to help solve these problems in the long term! For now, try these:

There’s no high-speed internet at my house

We hear you, and the Department of Public Service want to know where you are, so put yourself on the map! https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/interactive-broadband-map

Try a public wifi hot spots near you: https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/wi-fi-hot-spot-project

If the lines are close, the Line Assistance Customer Assistance Program (LECAP) provides funding to extend broadband to homes (there are limits) https://publicservice.vermont.gov/content/vermont-covid-19-line-extension-customer-assistance-program

Do you get cell service? If so, find a cell provider who supports using your phone as an internet hotspot (we’ve tried Visible but there are others out there)

Affordability

If it is difficult for you to afford high-speed internet, check out these programs to see if you might qualify. If you are not sure, call them anyway:

Lifeline Telecommunications Program https://publicservice.vermont.gov/publications-resources/consumers/lifeline

Comcast Internet Essentials https://www.internetessentials.com/

Spectrum Internet Assist https://www.spectrum.com/browse/content/spectrum-internet-assist

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Our Response to Racism and Unrest

Carrie Stahler Leave a comment

Dear United Way supporters, friends, partners, and colleagues,

The tragic deaths of Black Americans George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many others have shocked and outraged people around Vermont, around the country, and around the world. Their deaths have been a representation of the insurmountable loss created through the undeniable systematic racism within our nation. As an agency whose mission is to fight for the well-being of all people, we have a responsibility to stand up and speak, because silence is not an option in the face of this tragedy. With that understanding, we want to be explicit in saying we honor and value the voices and experiences of those in our community who are Black, Indigenous, and persons of color. We stand with you and your fight for equality in our communities, our state, and our country. This tragedy has opened a space for conversations about inclusivity and opportunities for accountability. We heard the call when Governor Phil Scott, in creating Vermont’s Racial & Equity Task Force, said that each of us must take action to make change.

We also consider this a call to hold ourselves accountable, not just in words, but in action in order to create pathways to ensure that opportunity is accessible to all Vermonters. We understand that this work will require courage, discomfort, and an honest look at the ways we as a community are perpetuating or benefitting from these systems and the power we have to change them.

We pledge to do better. We urge you to join us. Together with our volunteers, our partner nonprofit agencies, all members of our communities, we are dedicated to making our Vermont UNITED. We invite you to join us in this work to create the equitable and inclusive communities that we have been called to create. The power one person holds is strong, the unified power of a diverse and responsive community is invincible.

With Gratitude,

The team at Green Mountain United Way

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Donate a Device to Help Families

Carrie Stahler Leave a comment

Do you have a device that you are no longer using? We are looking for device donations so we can clean, refurbish, and set up these used devices for families who do not have a device to use to stay connected on the internet. Families now need devices to access services like health care, wellness, social connectivity, and social & educational services and we see this need continuing throughout this crisis.

We are seeking devices that are newer than 5 years old. We are accepting cell phones, tablets, and laptops. Please use the link below to access a Fillable PDF with information about your device, then email it to connectivity@gmunitedway.org.

Thank you in advance for your help in keeping families safe and connected during the COVID-19 crisis. Click Donate Now to access the PDF with device donation information. When you have completed the form, please email it to Carrie Stahler at connectivity@gmunitedway.org.

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