Windham County Action Network (WeCAN)

“We need to immerse ourselves in the world of activism and diverse perspectives. If we only teach a child about one way to live, about the white scientists and the white politicians, they’re not going to grow up and respect the Black ones..."
-Naomi Wadler
13-year-old activist on gun violence and discrimination against African American girls

     Happy 2022, WeCAN readers! We hope you and yours are having a wonderful start to the New Year and are ready to take on all the new adventures and activism that await. There are one or two new additions to this week's email, so please take a moment to take a peek and see what's upcoming in Windham County. Again, with Covid numbers rising steadily, we would like to remind you to wear masks when gathering at events, get your free tests here, and to get your Covid 19 vaccine/booster if you haven't already. You can find a clinic or pharmacy HERE. 

Happy New Year!

Joanna and Sam

______

HAPPENING THIS WEEK:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 27th, 2021-SUNDAY, JANUARY 2nd, 2022

Critical Race Theory: A Lecture with Professor Etan Nasreddin Longo
sponsored by Brattleboro Common Sense
Monday, December 27th, 2021 at 193 Main Street (Brattleboro, VT, 05301).  2:30pm.
Admission free, donation requested. Bring your pencil and paper, and of course, your mask.  
Don't study on Snapchat. A serious classroom-style lecture on Critical Race Theory (CRT)  by Professor Etan Nasreddin-Longo.  
Everyone has an opinion, and no one knows the first thing about it. Critical Race Theory is a subject that deserves a serious learning environment and a qualified teacher. BCS is very happy to present Professor Etan Nasreddin-Longo, so that the people around Brattleboro can have an introductory lesson about it. Professor Longo lectures on race and CRT and has been a visiting professor at Marlboro College. He is currently director of the Vermont Legislative Panel on Racial Disparities and counsel to the Vermont State Police on officer training.  

______

Guilford Cares FoodPantry
Thursday, December 30th, 2021 at the Guilford Fairgrounds (163 Fairground Rd, Guilford, VT 05301). 5pm-6pm. (Hours change to 3pm-4pm after January 1st, 2022. 
If you have questions, concerns or would like to donate groceries or monetary gifts please contact Pat Haine 802-257-0626. For additional questions or more information call 802 579 1350 or email [email protected]. 
Guilford Cares Food Pantry has moved! The Pantry has moved to the First Aid building at the Guilford Fairgrounds. We will be fully stocked with all our usual grocery items.
The Fairgrounds are on Fairground Road, just off Weatherhead Hollow Road. From Guilford Center Road turn onto Weatherhead Hollow Road. Travel 1.7 miles down the road. The Fairgrounds are on the left and there will be a sign directing you up the hill for about .2 miles. The red building is on the left with a sign out in front. Please remain in your car; we’ll greet you,  and give you a shopping list as we have been doing for the past year.
If the Pantry will be closed for any unexpected reason, the closure will be announced on WKVT, WTSA, and Front Porch Forum.
If you cannot come to the Pantry due to illness or high risk, you can call also call Pat to arrange for food delivery by a volunteer.
We know that supplemental food can make such a big difference in one's budget. That is why we are stocking our shelves for our neighbors. All are welcome to come and take home fresh produce, staples, meat, dairy.
Guilford Cares welcomes anyone in need of supplemental food for themselves or their families.

______

Critical Mass Bicycle Ride
hosted by 350 VT and 350 Brattleboro
Saturday, January 1st, 2021 at Piny Park (corner of Main Street and High Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 1pm-2pm.
Questions? Email [email protected] Masks and physical distancing recommended. Kids and families welcome.
Join us to pedal in the New Year! May 2022 be the year of mass mobilization for climate justice!
Critical Mass rides have a unique way of energizing folks around bike mobility, transportation solutions, and amplifying our collective ability and power to begin reclaiming our streets and communities. We need this, and we need YOU!
Schedule: 
1pm: Meet at Pliny Park, get organized, decorate bikes, make and hold signs....
1:30pm: Begin Critical Mass ride. This will be a high-visibility downtown route.
2pm: End ride back at Pliny Park.

______

UPCOMING EVENTS

Vermont Food Bank’s Veggie Van Go Upcoming Schedule
The First and Third Mondays of Every Month in the parking lot across the street from the main entrance to Brattleboro Union High School (131 Fairground Road, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10am-11am. 
Veggie Van Go is a program through the Vermont Foodbank that gives out free produce and local food for people to take home.
January 3rd, 2022

Important information:

• Drive through model- please stay in your vehicles
• If you are walking there: see a Vermont Foodbank associate but please make sure to stay 6 feet back.
• There are no income requirements, registration or paperwork to participate
• You do not need to be present to get food: you may ask someone to pick up on your family's behalf.

______

Lucy Terry Price: Witness, Voice, and Poetics within the American Tradition
presented by Vermont Humanities
Wednesday, February 2nd, 2022, Online. 7pm.
Register for this talk at www.vermonthumanities.org/stjohnsbury
Beginning with Vermonter Lucy Terry Prince, the first known African American poet in the US, poet Shanta Lee Gander explores creative lineage within poetics. Surveying the work of Phillis Wheatley, Laurence Dunbar, Rita Dove, and slam poet Dominique Christina, Gander considers the poetic arc from the past to the modern moment. 

______

The Poetics of Girlhood and Womanhood in America
presented by Vermont Humanities
Wednesday, April 6th, 2022, at Brooks Memorial Library (54 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 7pm.
Poets and writers Diana Whitney and Shanta Lee Gander join Christal Brown, associate professor of Dance at Middlebury College, in a conversation that explores how girlhood and womanhood in America are manifested across the boundaries of poetry, dance, and lived experience.

______

ONGOING EVENTS

Recovery Families
hosted by Turning Point
Fridays at Turning Point of Windham County Recovery Center (39 Elm Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10am-11am. 
Young children welcome!
Join other caregivers for connection and support of your own recovery journey or that of someone you love. 

______

COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RESOURCES

In Home Covid 19 Vaccines and Boosters

If you are homebound and not able to leave your home for medical services, you can get your COVID-19 vaccination and booster in your home. Call your local home health agency or 802-863-7240 to schedule an appointment. www.healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine

______

Covid 19 Pop-Up Testing and Vaccinations

Brattleboro
417 Canal St.
Tue, Wed, Thur, Sat 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Testing and vaccinations are available for all. 
If you need testing or a vaccine, there are a variety of options available to you: your primary care provider, pop-up sites and pharmacies. The Test Site Finder below can help you find other testing near you.
HEALTH DEPARTMENT POP-UP TESTING LOCATIONS
Here are the steps to set up a testing appointment at a pop-up testing site:

• Register to get an account
• Receive an email with your patient ID and use that to confirm your account (check your spam folder if you don't see the email)
• Log in with your patient ID
• Set up an appointment

Register for Pop-Up Testing Here

______

The Village Closet
on the Wintson Prouty Campus (60 Austine Drive, Brattleboro, VT, 05301), in Croker Hall.
Open Wednesdays from 4pm-6pm and Saturdays from 10am-12pm, or
by appointment. For more information, please email [email protected]
Your source for free baby, children, and pregnancy clothing/items. Donations of gently used items accepted. We are collecting new and "like new" children's coats and winter gear for our Kids in Coats partnership with United Way of Windham County.  If you have items to donate, please stop by today if you are able!
On Wednesdays, Everyone Eats will be distributing free dinners on campus from 3:30pm-4:30pm.

______

FREE HEALTHY AND NUTRITIOUS FOOD IN WINDHAM COUNTY

Brigid’s Kitchen, St. Michael’s Church, 47 Walnut Street, Brattleboro 802-254-6800 or 802-558-6072 
Grab-and-go lunches and fruit/nuts on Mon, Weds, Thus, and Sat, 11:30am-12:20pm.

Loaves and Fishes, Centre Congregational Church 193 Main Street, Brattleboro (802) 254-4730
Grab-and-go lunches on Tuesdays and Fridays at 12pm.

VT Foodbank and Veggie Van Go will be at Brattleboro Union High School (Fairground Ave, Brattleboro, VT, 05301), in the parking lot, on the 1st and 3rd Monday of the month, from 10am-11am. Drive up, touchless pickup. Walkers welcome, too. Call VT 211 for more information. 

Foodworks, the food shelf program of the Groundworks Collaborative https://groundworksvt.org (802) 490-2412, [email protected] 
Foodworks has open hours for curbside pickup on Mondays 11am-4pm, Wednesdays 1pm-6pm, Fridays 12pm-4pm, last Saturday of each month from 9am-12pm. Deliveries are available onTuesdays across Windham county. Please email [email protected] or call 802-490-2412 with any questions!
Households in need of food are asked to call or email to coordinate delivery. There is an urgent need for volunteers, and Foodworks has set up protocols to keep staff, volunteers, and clients as safe as possible. Please email us at [email protected] if you are able to help.

Marlboro Community Food Share
hosted by the Marlboro Community Center
Wednesday 10am-2pm; Thursday 10am-5pm; Friday 10am-12pm; Saturday 10am-12pm at the Marlboro Community Center (524 South Road, Marlboro, VT, 05344). 
The Marlboro Community Center invites you to fill a bag with non-perishable grocery items. Food is set up in the main space and is available during our open hours. Eggs and produce on Thursdays as available. No registration or eligibility required. Deliveries can be made through Marlboro Cares for those needing assistance. Please call Marlboro Cares at 258-3030 in advance to arrange a delivery.
To donate food:
Leave non-perishable food in the donation box at the Marlboro Post Office. It will be collected on a weekly-basis. (Please note that this box previously supplied the Deerfield Valley Food Pantry, which is now distributing food exclusively from VT Food Pantry) 
Gardeners and farmers are welcome to donate produce. Wear masks and wash hands when harvesting and handling food. Fresh produce can be dropped off at the Community Center on Thursday between 1pm and 4pm. (Any leftover produce will be taken to FoodWorks the following morning)

Guilford Food Pantry 
Every Thursday at the Guilford Fairgrounds. 5pm-6pm.
We know that supplemental food can make such a big difference in one's budget. That is why we are stocking our shelves for our neighbors. All are welcome to come and take home fresh produce, staples, meat, dairy. Guilford Cares welcomes anyone in need of supplemental food for themselves or their families.

Everyone Eats continues, including grab-and-go meals at these times and locations: 

• There is no longer an Everyone Eats distribution at Turning Point on Sundays, as Edible Brattleboro is dormant in the winter.
• The meals at Retreat Farm are stocked in their farm stand for pick up anytime, first come first serve. We are planning to stock on Tuesdays and Thursdays in December.

Folks receiving services through Foodworks, Loaves and Fishes, and the Brattleboro Community Justice Center can obtain free meals through those organizations.
You can also order Everyone Eats! meals directly from participating restaurants using the Localvore App.

______

ADDITIONAL COVID 19 RESOURCES CAN BE FOUND AT THEIR PERMANENT HOME ON OUR WEBSITE, HERE: https://www.wecantogether.net/covid19_resources

______

RESOURCE FOR WeCAN

Rapid Response Text Alert System

When WeCAN began, Song & Solidarity set up a Rapid Response Text Alert System for WeCAN Groups. Directions for signing up are on WeCAN's website, here: https://www.wecantogether.net/rapid_response. We are grateful to Song and Solidarity for providing this service.

______

ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING 

Indigo Radio
Sundays at 12pm on Brattleboro Community Radio 107.7FM. To stream live, visit: www.wvew.org 
Indigo Radio, deepening understanding and making connections! IndigoRadio is a group of area educators seeking to learn through engaging with others in our community and throughout the world. We will be talking about educational and social issues both globally and locally and connecting them to our lives and Brattleboro community. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indigoradiowvew/. For archive recordings of past shows: https://soundcloud.com/user-654648353. 

______

Happy New Year, WeCAN Community! May 2022 bring us all equality, justice, and peace. 

Your Friendly WeCAN Editors,

Joanna and Sam