Community Heroes Concert set for Friday in Woodstock
When the pandemic first arrived in Vermont, no one knew what would happen, but Vermont communities met this new challenge with perseverance and putting their neighbors first. On Friday, a concert in Woodstock is celebrating the constant efforts of so many Individuals, nonprofits and essential workers who helped the community survive the past 18 months.
The Community Heroes Concert will be held at Woodstock’s East End Park on Friday, starting at 5 p.m. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
When the pandemic first arrived in Vermont, no one knew what would happen, but Vermont communities met this new challenge with perseverance and putting their neighbors first. This Friday, Aug. 27, a concert in Woodstock is celebrating the constant efforts of so many individuals, nonprofits and essential workers who helped the community survive the past 18 months.
The Community Heroes Concert, organized by Pentangle Arts, takes place at the East End Park. The music begins at 5 p.m. with the opening act of The Eames Brothers and features Kat Wright and the Indomitable Soul Band from 6 to 8 p.m. At about 5:45 p.m., local workers, groups and individuals will be recognized and some will share remarks. The concert is free with a suggested $10 donation.
For those on the front lines of the community’s response to COVID-19, the memories of having to quickly reorganize, learn brand new health protocols and proceed into a new and uncertain reality remain fresh in thought.
Deanna Jones, executive director of the Thompson Senior Center, recalled the rapid effort to arrange contactless meal delivery to seniors, as well as their curbside service, after the senior center closed to all in-person programs. But they also delivered medical equipment and prescription drugs to seniors, and also added a shop-and-delivery grocery service.
A major theme was people helping the senior center, and quickly. Right off the bat, over 40 people volunteered as new delivery drivers, and over 100 people volunteered to support essential services for seniors. Jones said it’s hard to express the profound inspiration from seeing the community respond so quickly to help during the pandemic.
“I just can’t imagine anything in my career previously or in the future that would be more moving or fulfilling,” Jones said.
From March 2020, the senior center had seven delivery routes (at its peak), an increase of more than 2,500 Meals on Wheels, and provided a total of over 20,000 meals. Jones said the staff and volunteers showed an incredible level of dedication through all the challenges.
“It’s just amazing to see how people come forward, and especially the staff, too. They just put the Thompson’s mission so high up on their priority list,” she said. “Even when they would've loved to be home, they were still there. It’s just so incredible to be a part of.”
David Green, Woodstock’s fire chief and health officer, said he and his fellow first responders would help check on community members isolated at home. Any request for help was amply met — which is normal, he said, for this region.
“Woodstock and actually all of Vermont are very outstanding in helping their neighbors in times of need,” Green said. “I put calls out, like, ‘I need groceries delivered to this house.’ And I got 60 responses within minutes.”
Helping to make deliveries, Green and his colleagues got a chance to interact with people and gauge how they were doing.
“Most people were pretty resilient. They didn't like being locked down, they didn't like wearing a mask, but they all made it through,” he said. “Hopefully we don't have to again."
From the start, Green said one of the biggest changes for his department was following the strict health guidelines around how to interact with patients. Those are rules they’re still following now, he added.
In March 2020, delivering meals to students also became a great need. Gretchen Czaja is the school nutrition program director for the WCUUSD, the school district serving Woodstock, Barnard, Bridgewater, Reading, Pomfret, Killington and Plymouth. When school shut down and went remote due to the pandemic, the district-wide food service team had a week to consolidate operations into the Woodstock Union High School kitchen, create a menu, and make a delivery plan.
From March to June 2020, district staff distributed 250-300 meals per day to students district wide. Along with the food, however, they delivered familiarity — a chance for the students to see, from a distance, the people they’d usually see in their school days.
“It did help to keep some kind of normalcy in their school day,” Czaja said. “At one point we were getting thank-you notes and signs they would leave outside, saying how much they were enjoying the food.”
Most of the students who received deliveries were receiving free and reduced-price lunch. The federal government eventually instated universal free meals, and the district’s food program was able to provide curbside meals during the summer of 2020. In the holidays, Czaja and her team put together food boxes with holiday meals to deliver for Thanksgiving and Christmas. The universal free meals are continuing into this year, Czaja said.
The high school was also a site sponsor for Veggie Van Go, a statewide Vermont Foodbank program delivering produce for free, which went curbside during the pandemic and added key items like milk and eggs.
“We were able to have a great number of volunteers to help load people’s cars with food,” Czaja said.
She also noted the efforts of local community partners working to reduce hunger, such as the Woodstock Community Food Shelf and the Ottauquechee Health Foundation.
“This community is amazing, the way people step up,” Czaja said.
From helping seniors to other community efforts, the younger generations also had a role in the COVID response. Over this past winter, the nonprofit Change the World Kids, which provides service opportunities for local youth, joined with Ken Woodhead and the Soup Kit Project to deliver warm soup to seniors and families in the cold months. Adi Wilson, a high school senior this year in Woodstock, and about 10 of her fellow students participated and worked in shifts to help make the soup and deliver it.
With the group’s Anti-Cabin Fever Dinner called off, Wilson said the soup deliveries were a great way the students could help their neighbors.
“It seemed to be the best way we could help the community in a safe way and also make that connection through food,” she said. “It was so nice to be able to connect with the community again. It was the first time I had done that in months.”
— Gareth Henderson
State launches hazard pay program
The applications are adding up quickly after the state of Vermont launched a hazard pay program for frontline workers in several sectors.
A view from High Pastures Road in Pomfret, Vermont. (Gareth Henderson Photo)
The applications are adding up quickly after the state of Vermont launched a hazard pay program for frontline workers in several sectors.
After the online portal opened at 9 a.m. Tuesday, 130 applications got rolling over the next 15 minutes, according to Human Services Secretary Mike Smith. The Legislature approved a total of $28 million for the Front-Line Employees Hazard Pay Grant Program, using federal pandemic relief money.
The funding is being awarded on a “first-come, first-serve basis,” Smith told the media on Tuesday. Employers must apply to the new program and then pass the awarded amounts on to eligible employees. Eligible workers must have been working in a job with an elevated risk of exposure of COVID-19 during the period from March 13 through May 15, 2020. Smith said the program focuses on public health, human services and public safety employers.
“While there have been many employees throughout the state of Vermont who did amazing work during this crisis, this program is for specific employers and employees, as defined by the authorizing legislation,” Smith said.
Gov. Phil Scott was questioned about why other workers, such as employees at grocery stores and gas stations, were not included in this program. Although that was part of the original plan, Scott replied, the guidelines of the federal CARES Act focused on the health care sector, and the federal aid wasn’t allowed to cover grocery stores and some other essential services.
“We’re thankful for them going to work every day in those conditions,” Scott said. “They were on the frontlines as well, in the grocery stores and otherwise.”
Further details about the hazard pay program and eligibility requirements are available at the Agency of Human Services’ website, where applications are available.
“We are encouraging employers to apply to make sure these critically important employees receive recognition and the compensation to reflect the work they did keeping Vermonters safe during the crisis,” Smith said.
— Gareth Henderson