Windham County Action Network (WeCAN)

“If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But, if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
Lilla Watson (b.1940)
Lilla Watson is an Indigenous Australian or Murri visual artist, activist and academic working in the field of Women's issues and Aboriginal epistemology. Lilla Watson is a Gangulu woman who grew up on the Dawson River, Central Queensland and she holds an Honorary Doctorate from the Queensland University of Technology

     As we come to the close of October we'd like to thank all of you, WeCAN friends and family, for making these past few Weekly Email Updates some of the lengthiest we've ever sent out. Impressive is not only the number of organizers that have submitted items, but also the number of community members who go out of their way to support and attend these meetings and events. Without your hard work and dedication progress and positive change in Windham County wouldn't happen. Thank you!

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HAPPENING TODAY, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27th, 2019

Share the Harvest 
hosted by Edible Brattleboro
Sundays through October 27th, 2019 at the Edible Garden at Turning Point (corner of Elm Street and Frost Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 11am-1pm. For information please email [email protected]. Please bring your own bags.
Edible Brattleboro’s "Share the Harvest" stand is open every Sunday from 11am-1pm, in their help-yourself garden at Turning Point, corner of Elm and Frost Street (diagonally across from NYET). All produce is free. 
Thanks to the generosity of local farmers and gardeners, Edible Brattleboro distributed approximately 2500 pounds of free produce last summer. Feel free to drop off produce from your garden during the Sunday hours. You may also visit either of Edible Brattleboro's two public help-yourself gardens to harvest whatever is ready. Simply look for the green flags and instructions on how to harvest. The two public gardens are located at the Co-op (rear parking lot) and Turning Point. Edible Brattleboro is fully volunteer run. If you would like to help out or would like more info, contact Marilyn at [email protected] or visit www.EdibleBrattleboro.org.

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HAPPENING THIS WEEK, MONDAY, OCTOBER 28th, 2019-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd, 2019

Mother Up! Monthly Meet-Up 
Monday October 28th, 2019 at KidsPLAYce (20 Elliot St., Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 5:30pm-7:30pm. A vegetarian meal and childcare for ages 10 and under will be provided. RSVP helpful, but not required. Contact Abby Mnookin for more info at [email protected].
Mother Up!: Families Rise Up for Climate Action is a project of 350Vermont that brings together families to talk about the tough realities of climate change and to participate in the transition to a healthier and safer world.

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Film Screening & Discussion: Paris to Pittsburgh
presented by the Guilford Energy Committee
Tuesday, October 29th, 2019 at Broad Brook Community Center (3940 Guilford Center Road, Guilford, VT, 05301). 6:30pm-9:30pm.
The Guilford Energy Committee invites you to a screening of the National Geographic film Paris to Pittsburgh. There will be refreshments and a discussion to follow, with Rep. Sara Coffey who will update us on what's happening at the statehouse, and Guilford resident and energy committee member, Thayer Tomlinson, who will talk about her work with the United States Climate Alliance. This event is free and open to the public.
About the film: “From coastal cities to America’s heartland, Paris to Pittsburgh celebrates how Americans are demanding and developing real solutions in the face of climate change. And as the weather grows more deadly and destructive, they aren’t waiting on Washington to act.”

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Keene State College Rally with Bernie Sanders
hosted by Bernie Sanders
Wednesday, October 30th, 2019 at Keene State College (48 Madison Street, Keene, NH, 03435) in the Mabel Brown Room, Young Student Center. 6:30pm-8pm. Doors open at 5pm. RSVP HERE: https://act.berniesanders.com/event/event-bernie-sanders-attend/35196. This event is free and open to the public. RSVPs are encouraged. 
Join Sen. Bernie Sanders for a rally at Keene State College on Wednesday, October 30!

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Protest Vigil at TD Bank
sponsored by Post Oil Solutions
Friday, November 1st, 2019 (and every Friday) at TD Bank Brattleboro (215 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT). In front of the building. 12pm-1pm. Signs will be provided
TD is a major investor in Tar Sands. TD helps to fund the Dakota Access Pipeline. What You Can Do (besides attending the vigils): If you’re a TD depositor, change banks! Founded in 2005, Post Oil Solutions is a 501c3 community organizing project in Southeastern Vermont whose mission is to help empower the people of the Central Connecticut River Valley bioregion in this era of global warming and climate change to develop sustainable, resilient , collaborative, and socially just communities leading to a self- and community-sufficient post petroleum society.

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Sheet Mulching with Edible Brattleboro: A Hands-On Workshop 
Saturday, November 2nd, 2019, in Brattleboro’s Help Your Self Garden at the Brattleboro Food Coop (2 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 10am-11:30am. The address will be provided upon registration. Free; donations accepted with gratitude. Email [email protected] to register.
Fall is the time to prepare new beds for spring planting. We will teach this method of building healthy soil while we create a new bed in our Help-Yourself garden at the Brattleboro Food Co-op. Come ready to move organic matter, move soil and get a little dirty. If you can, bring garden gloves and a spade.

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Rally to Support Impeachment
Sunday, November 3rd, 2019 at Pliny Park (intersection of Main Street and High Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 2pm-5pm.
Stand Up for Our Democracy!
Stand Together to Support the Impeachment of Donald Trump! Bring your signs, your banners, your friends, and your VOICES!We will be signing a resolution to be shared with our Congressional Delegation. Open microphone will be available for 1-minute speeches on Democracy.

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Southern VT Sister District Fundraiser
Sunday, November 3rd, 2019 at Next Stage Arts (15 Kimball Hill, Putney, VT). 4pm. Tickets are available at the door at a sliding scale of $15-50 / adults or $5 / children. We will be serving homemade soup, salad, bread, and a cash bar with a silent auction for some exciting Save Our Nation Vacation rental properties. 
Southern Vermont Sister District presents a silent vacation auction of Save Our Nation rental properties, afternoon concert with the Seymour Sisters and Bourbon Shuffle, and dinner.
We will have available some of our past favorites including the Berkshire condo, Maine lake house and a cottage in the Hamptons and are also excited to add rentals in new locations including southern California wine country, Maui and Oaxaca Mexico. Vacation locations are still coming in and you can peruse all of the offerings when the online auction goes up at the end of October. To get early notification when the auction goes live or to bid online, sign up at: http://SaveOurNationVacation.org
We are excited to welcome back one of last year’s musical guests the Seymour Sisters. They started as a couple of friends who got together weekly for dinner and music. Later they played in the Northeast Kingdom during summers on Lake Seymour and branched out to house concerts.  The band features Kate Wolff on dobro, Laura Williams on guitar and lead vocals, Betsy Williams on bass and Beth Spicer on banjo, mandolin and guitar.  Specializing in synchronized rhythm and harmony, the quartet found music had a healing effect and helped them find and spread joy in difficult times.  They play a blend of Bluegrass, Old Time, Gospel and Folk music. They especially enjoy playing tunes by Red Molly and Gillian Welch, as well as their own original compositions.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Windham County NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner
hosted by the Windham County NAACP
Saturday, November 16th, 2019 at the American Legion (32 Linden St., Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 5pm-9pm.
Tickets are now LIVE for our first annual Freedom Fund Dinner. This is our first Windham County NAACP fundraiser. All proceeds go to fund the branch and our youth scholarship initiative.  
To buy tickets and RSVP visit the link! https://windhamnaacp.app.rsvpify.com/
Agenda:
5pm-6pm: Public Lecture
6pm: Reception 
6:30pm: Dinner and Formal Reception

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Climate Reality November Huddle
hosted by The Putney Huddle
Sunday, November, 17th, 2019 at Putney Public Library (55 Main Street, Putney, VT, 05301). 1:30pm-3:30pm.
Doug Grandt will present Climate Reality “24 Hours of Reality: Truth in Action”  in a World Cafe style format. World Café facilitates small groups of 3-4 people discussing 3 or 4 questions, in a musical chairs type rearranging of groups so different groupings of people address each subsequent question. Questions begin broadly (high level) and progressively get more specific and local, maximizing individual closure on the topic. It’s fun, engaging and productive!
Climate Reality - OUR MISSION IS TO CATALYZE A GLOBAL SOLUTION TO THE CLIMATE CRISIS BY MAKING URGENT ACTION A NECESSITY ACROSS EVERY LEVEL OF SOCIETY. The Earth is facing a climate crisis, driven by fossil fuels. At Climate Reality, we’re here to make urgent action a necessity. In politics. In business. In every aspect of our lives. Everywhere.
Urgent action to cut greenhouse gas emissions and speed the global shift to renewables. Urgent action to halt the Trump Administration’s radical fossil fuel agenda. Urgent action to make world leaders strengthen and honor their Paris Agreement commitments.
Led by former US Vice President Al Gore and CEO and President Ken Berlin, we do it by empowering everyday people to become activists, equipped with the tools, training, and network to fight for solutions and drive change planet-wide.
The result is over 20,000 Climate Reality Leaders mobilizing communities in over 150 countries. Branches in 10 critical nations and regions around the Earth. 100 activists chapters (and growing) pushing for practical clean energy policies across the US.
Together, they add up to a powerful movement growing by the day. One by the people. Of the people. For the planet. Join us.

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US Immigration Policy in Historical Perspective
hosted by Vermont Humanities Council
Wednesday, December 4th, 2019 at Brooks Memorial Library (224 Main Street, Brattleboro, Vt, 05301). 7pm-8:30pm.
One would think that current anxieties about immigration in the US have never been more intense, but history teaches us otherwise. Dartmouth professor Richard Wright examines the present-day contradictions of US immigration policy and places them in historical perspective. Part of the Vermont Humanities First Wednesdays free lecture series.

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Radically Rainbow Queer Quilt Raffle: A Virtual Drawing to Benefit Out in the Open (formerly Green Mountain Crossroads)
Thursday, October 31st, 2019 is the last day to purchase raffle tickets. Tickets can be purchased here: https://secure.givelively.org/donate/out-in-the-open/2019-quilt-raffle and start at $5.
Halloween 2019 is your last day to get raffle tickets for this radically rainbow, subtly snuggly quilt created with love to support our rural LGBTQ community.
Your donation(s) benefit Out in the Open - formerly Green Mountain Crossroads and our rural LGBTQ-centered events (like the Pride Family Picnic, Queer Meditation Group, the Trans Femme Chill Club, and The Out in the Open Summit), media projects (like the Andrew’s Inn Oral History Project and the Out In the Open Radio Hour), community collaborations and more, are all made possible with your support. 
And on top of all of that, one of you will win this fabulous quilt! Immense gratitude to Chelsea Wiehl for making this beautiful, one-of-a-kind quilt, and to all of you who buy tickets, share this link, and invite your friends. Thank you!

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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.

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STANDING REGULAR MEETINGS  

Women Veterans Weekly Coffee and Tea Social
Thursday Mornings at Brattleboro Legion Post 5 Inc. (32 Linden Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301). 9am-10am.
All female veterans are invited to join in the Women Veterans group coffee held at the American Legion.  All women veterans are welcome. You do not need to be a Legion member.

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Youth 4 Change
Meetings are held on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the month from 5:30pm-8pm. 
For more information please contact Youth 4 Change at [email protected].
Agenda:
5:30pm: Drop in homework time and art making
6:00pm: Food
6:30pm: Meeting and Organizing
Youth 4 Change is for local-area youth 12-22 interested in political organizing around local/state/national social justice issues that are important to them. Brattleboro area advocates and educators are holding a space, and assisting youth in building a strong personal tool kit to organize for change. Using a variety of creative methods, we aim to enable youth with tools for resilience, courage and compassion, while fostering their ability to speak up about issues that matter to them, and to take action in the name of love and liberation for all people.  Come explore issues of racial, economic and gender justice through art, movement, first-hand accounts and contemplative practices. Connect with area youth around the issues that matter to you and strengthen your tool kit for action! 

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Windham County NAACP Regular Meetings
Monthly community meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month at The Root Center for Social Justice (The Whetstone Studio for the Arts, 28 Williams Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301) on the First Floor from 6pm-7pm. For more information please email [email protected]. All are welcome. 
The meetings are open to anyone interested in racial justice. The Mission of the NAACP is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

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ONGOING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMMING 

Indigo Radio
Sundays at 12pm on Brattleboro Community Radio 107.7FMTo 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. 

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     Until next week, friends. We look forward to seeing you at an event or meeting soon! 

Joanna and Leslie
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