Business

The 21st year of the Windham County Heat Fund has been the most unusual year of the organization’s existence. When the heating season began in the fall of 2025 we were forced to consider a world without federal fuel assistance. It looked like the Trump administration was going to eliminate the Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program and we were scrambling to figure out how to raise more money to make up our local share of a potential $21 million dollar loss to Vermont.

We held a concert fundraiser in September and set up a Go Fund Me page. The page and the concert brought in $8915. After a few months of more intensive fundraising the federal government sent the LIHEAP money. But we still believe that Trump wants to eliminate the program and he may do so when the allocation is up for consideration.

South Newfane Vermonter turned entrepreneur, April Wachtel, was featured on NPR’s April 10th, 2025 episode of How I Built This: Advice Line with Guy Raz and Peter Rahal (founder of RXBAR and David). Her interview begins at 27:17. April grew up listening to NPR. A 2004 graduate of Boston University, she spent her college and post graduate years in Boston in hospitality and the spirits industry – bartending, learning and teaching others how to make craft cocktails.  She previously appeared on the Grey Goose Entertainment- Sundance Channel on November 1, 2010: “Beyond the Bar – April Wachtel”, a You-Tube commercial for Grey Goose Vodka.

April is the founder and CEO of Cheeky, a manufacturer of craft cocktail/mock-tail mixers in Brooklyn, New York.

We hear a lot of stories about people who were cheated out of their life savings or were scammed by so-called home improvement companies that collected money and never did the work. They all seem to have a sad ending. Well, I want to tell you a story with a happy ending.

My wife and I agreed to have our house painted and we found a person who had advertised himself on social media. He came to our house and he seemed very charming. From the start, my wife didn’t trust him. She kept saying she had a bad feeling about this guy, partly because he did not have any of the credentials of a businessman.

I just went through the process of buying a used car from a local dealership – twice! I thought I’d share what happened in case you are considering getting yourself something new or used to drive.

The Realization

Last summer I came to a point in the proverbial road where a choice had to be made – spend some money fixing up my older car, or look for something newer. Both options had pros and cons. 

News from the Co-op… General Manager moving on.

“Dear BFC Shareholders,

I have unexpected news to share. Lee Bradford, our General Manager for the last 15 months, will be leaving his position at the Co-op at the end of August. As he stated clearly in his communication to Co-op staff he is “not leaving the Co-op because of any concerns, questions, regrets, or challenges.” He has indicated that an unforeseen opportunity emerged, one that he feels most strongly compelled to accept for “both professional and several deeply personal reasons.”

Unbelievably, when I attempted to purchase a lighter today at Rite Aid on Canal St., I was told that in order to do so, I needed to present my driver’s license! I don’t know what the f— that is all about, but maybe somehow I ended up in the wrong country? I know for certain, I’m on the wrong planet!