Do You Crochet or Knit? Help Us Help the Homeless!

Come join us on Sunday afternoon, April 10th, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month (Except this month only!) at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim.


Fukushima 5 Vigil

Each year since March 11, 2011 those of us who live in Vermont Yankee’s evacuation zone have gathered to support the people of Fukushima, Japan. They continue to suffer the loss of the homeland of their families and ancestors, their farmlands and businesses. 2016 marks the 5th year of this on-going tragedy. Please join Safe & Green Campaign on Saturday March 12th for a vigil between 10:00 am and noon at Pliny Park, the corner of Main Street & High Street in Brattleboro.


Crafting for the Homeless – Help Make a Difference!

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month from 1-3:00 pm at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim. 

Some people come to learn to knit or crochet, others arrive with projects already underway.  Some are members of BAJC; some are not.  All are welcome! So far, we have donated over 5 dozen items to Groundworks
Collaborative, and we are also making knitted or crocheted squares to be stitched into afghans that we will sell to generate funds to purchase supplies.

Our meetings are lively and welcoming, with adults and children of both genders who talk and work and share ideas and thoughts. Some people take yarn home to continue their work on projects. 


Namie, Fukushima Japan 5 Years Later

One month from today, March 11, will mark 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear disasters began in Japan. The town of Namie, Japan is the same distance from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima as Brattleboro is from Vermont Yankee. 500 Namie citizens died in the tsunami, and Namie was evacuated. Five years later, it is still off-limits to its 15,000 residents. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report May 2015, Namie residents received the highests doses of radiation from the Fukushima meltdowns: 10 to 50 miliseverts. The Telegraph posted photos of Namie yesterday:

The Safe and Green Campaign will hold a vigil in downtown Brattleboro on Saturday, March 12th. We will honor the 150,000 evacuees of the Fukushima meltdowns, and to educate ourselves on the continuing public health, environmental and political effects of this horrific accident.


From Paris to Vermont: Building a Movement for a Just Transition

On Jan. 28 at 7 p.m., Shela Linton, who traveled to the UN COP21 climate talks, will report on her experience in Paris with climate activists from around the world, followed by discussion about the road ahead. This event will take place at the Root Social Justice Center, 28 Williams St., Brattleboro, and is sponsored by the Vermont Workers’ Center. 

Details: In December, Vermont Workers’ Center reps Shela Linton and Senowa Mize-Fox traveled to the United Nations’ COP21 climate talks, joining a delegation of over 100 grassroots leaders from the US and Canada.


Crafting for the Homeless – Help Make a Difference!

Crafting for the Homeless is in its second year of meeting on the first Sunday of the month from 1-3:00 pm at Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim. 

 Some people come to learn to knit or crochet, others arrive with projects already underway.  Some are members of BAJC; some are not.  All are welcome! So far, we have donated 14 scarves, 20 hats, mittens, and 16 fleece blankets to Groundworks Collaborative, and we also are making knitted or crocheted squares to be stitched into afghans that we will sell to generate funds to purchase supplies. We also have completed one rug to sell.


The Anne Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund: Helping to Keep a Local Woman’s Legacy Alive

The Anne Johnson Memorial Scholarship Fund (AJMSF) is supporting deserving teens in disadvantaged communities and helping keep a local woman’s legacy alive.

Anne Randall Johnson was a humanitarian, world traveler, loving wife, sister and mentor. Above all, she was passionate about changing the world. She dedicated her life to it. Anne spent over two decades working in humanitarian assistance. In recent years she returned home to Brattleboro, VT to begin a farming venture with her husband.


Mass Incarceration and Vermont Forum

BRATTLEBORO – The Root Social Justice Center is partnering with Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform (VCJR) to host a free public forum, Mass Incarceration and Vermont. The event will be held at The Root Social Justice Center (28 Williams St., Brattleboro) from 2:00 – 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 17.

“Vermont is known throughout the country for its progressive and family values,” says Sha’an Mouliert, a member of Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform. However, her son, like hundreds of other Vermonters, was incarcerated out of state, far from home. While he was incarcerated in Kentucky, Sha’an remarked, “Christmases, birthdays, and other holidays — there is a big hole. My son is missing his children. I am missing him.”


Crafting for the Homeless

Crafting for the Homeless 

Come join Brattleboro Area Jewish Community, Congregation Shir Heharim on Sunday afternoon, January 3rd, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

All you need is enthusiasm and interest–techniques will be taught and projects will use basic techniques and simple patterns. This event is suitable for adults, teenagers, and kids old enough to sit still and participate. Kids younger than 12 will need to have an adult in attendance with them. If you want to, you can take projects home to work on between meetings. 


Jobs, Justice & Climate Rally

20 times, world leaders have met to discuss climate change. This week in Paris, they are meeting again.

No matter what happens in Paris, we know what we need: real climate solutions that create local jobs and strengthen community power and resiliency. It’s up to us to lead the way — and we’re starting right here in New England with a massive rally on December 12, the day after the Paris talks end!

What: Jobs, Justice and Climate: Rally to Defend New England’s Future
When: Saturday, Dec 12, 1-3 pm
Where: Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common, Boston


Second Year for Crafting for the Homeless – Come Join Us!

Come join us on Sunday afternoon, December 6th, from 1:00-3:00 pm, to craft items for the homeless population in the area for the second year in a row. Using traditional crafts, we will make hats, scarves, blankets and sleeping mats from yarn and fleece fabric.

All you need is enthusiasm and interest–techniques will be taught and projects will use basic techniques and simple patterns. This event is suitable for adults, teenagers, and kids old enough to sit still and participate. Kids younger than 12 need to have an adult in attendance with them. If you want to, you can take projects home to work on between meetings.


Firefighters Speakout

NYC Firefighters Speakout
     Evidence of fraud and cover up is disclosed.
                                      Official 9/11 story is challenged.


The Rise and Fall of The Green Mountain Anarchist Collective

“The chains of authoritarianism and capitalism can only be shattered when they are broken at many links. Vermont is our home, and it serves as the one link that we can access, but it is only one. Any victory here would only be partial. Deliverance to the Promised Land will only come when many more than us rise up against that which holds the multitude in bondage.”

-The Green Mountain Anarchist Collective,
From Neither Washington Nor Stowe

Montpelier, Vermont -Established in 2000, in a cooperative household located at the termination of a wooded dirt road in Southern Vermont, the Green Mountain Anarchist Collective (GMAC), for a time, did its part in carrying forth Vermont’s long tradition of radical, leftist politics. Founded in Windham County by Natasha Voline, Johnny Midnight, Xavier Massot, and (myself) David Van Deusen, the collective was birthed with strong Situationist, leftist, and militant inclinations. The original GMAC nucleus lived together (along with comrades Imelda R, Bridget M, and Ted K), and operated as a kind of outlaw community, connected to the broader area counter culture based in and around Brattleboro.


Groundworks Collaborative to hold Fifth Annual Hike for the Homeless on September 12th 


BRATTLEBORO, VT – 8/26/2015 – Groundworks Collaborative will hold its fifth annual Hike for the Homeless fundraiser on Saturday, September 12 (rain date, September 13th), on Mount Wantastiquet in Hinsdale, NH. There will be two start times, 10am and 12:30pm, each beginning at the Mountain Road trailhead in Hinsdale (an immediate left after the second bridge on Route 119 when coming from downtown Brattleboro).

Registration begins at 9:30 for the 10am start, and at Noon for the 12:30pm start. Whether hiking to the summit or walking the River Trail at its base, participants can anticipate a beautiful late-summer hike and outstanding views of the town of Brattleboro. Hikers may raise funds individually (a minimum of $50 is suggested) or as a team (suggested minimum $250).

All proceeds from the Hike benefit Groundworks Collaborative’s work with families and individuals experiencing homelessness in Brattleboro and surrounding communities.


Dim Sum For Elephants, Sunday Sept. 13

Dim Sum for Elephants

You’re invited to Dim Sum for Elephants at 4:00pm, Sunday, September 13, at Cai’s Dim Sum Teahouse, 814 Western Avenue, West Brattleboro, Vermont, a dim sum buffet, with wine and desert. During the evening there will be a silent auction and an informative talk about the current status of African elephants and what is being done. The price to attend the event is $35.

One hundred percent of the proceeds after costs will go to benefit Wild Aid, an organization working to stem the unprecedented spike in illegal poaching of African elephants for ivory. Wild Aids’ campaign to reduce demand for elephant ivory in Asia is the single largest step that can be taken to save African Elephants from the threat of extinction. To find out more about them go to wildaid.org/elephants.


What Good Did/Does Decriminalization Do?

When Daryl Pillsbury and I met in March 2010 for the first time the meeting came about after I had seen a photo of him in the Reformer holding a “Legalize Marijuana” sign outside of the polling area during the March town elections. That year I was chafing from the awareness that, while Vermont was surely a significant marijuana consumer state, it was clear that a high percentage of Vermonters were caught up in the criminal justice web.The actual statistics didn’t matter to me. Two consenting Vermont adults being arrested for personal use and possession of marijuana were two too many.

If there was any noteworthy marijuana activism in Vermont at that time it was under the radar. In fact, it seemed as if there was no activism at all, which is why the photo of Daryl holding the legalize sign struck a chord with me.


The Root Social Justice Center Celebrates Two Years with a Party

On Saturday, September 12 at 5:30 p.m., The Root Social Justice Center will be hosting a 2-Year Anniversary Party to celebrate its second year of operation and raise funds to keep its doors open for years to come. The event is open to the public and free, though donations are encouraged.

The Root Social Justice Center, located at 28 Williams Street in the Whetstone Arts Building, provides a physically and financially accessible space to support and bring together communities working for social justice.


Blue Cross Blue Shield Requesting 8.4% Rate Increases

The Affordable Care Act, in spite of its name, is not making health care affordable for many Vermont residents. One in five people in Vermont are struggling with medical bills. Meanwhile, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, as a “non-profit” company, will receive a tax break of over $15 million this year, while ten of its executives are paid up to half a million dollars each.

BCBS has asked the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) to approve a premium increase averaging at 8.4%, with increases of up to 14.3% on some plans. This is considerably more than most people’s wages rise in a year, so this increase, if granted, will be a huge setback for many people who purchase health insurance through Vermont Health Connect. This big win for the insurance company will do nothing to increase in access to care, especially for people on basic plans with high deductibles and co-pays. If anything points to the need to get the insurance industry out of health care, it is the effrontery of BCBS’s request for premium increases that will make health care less, not more affordable.


Brattleboro Savings and Loan, and the Confederate Flag Check Logo

A few months ago when I was reordering checks from Brattleboro Savings and Loan, I looked through the possible options for a logo/symbol to put on them, and came across a confederate flag as one option.  I contacted the bank to ask if there was a check company I could deal with that didn’t offer that as I did not want to support such a company. 

My request was not received with the most understanding response, and I was quite concerned that my bank did not understand my concern.  I let it slide, and tried to find a company on my own, but soon realized it would take me a long time to go through all the other companies and their choices, and gave up and went back to Harland-Clarke, through BS&L.  Then, the horrible mass shooting/murders in South Carolina happened, and the nation focused on the issue of the flag.  I decided I could not sit by any longer.