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The Vaccine Rollout – Too Many Unknowns

by RDavis | Health

World governments are trying to deal with the complexity of vaccinating enough of their populations to provide an adequate level of herd immunity to be able to declare that the COVID 19 pandemic is under control. Having a Darwinian health care system and a lack of federal leadership means the U.S. will most likely lag behind the rest of the world in vaccine rollout. Experts are guessing that anywhere from 70-90 percent of people need to be vaccinated to meet herd immunity efficacy .

One of the major problems that all countries face is the fact that no one really knows how the pandemic will play out, even under the best of vaccine rollout scenarios. In addition, there are many unknowns about how vaccines work and how the virus behaves.

Still Time for a Winter Market Curbside Order

by Sherry | Food

Visit the Winter Farmers’ Market Online Shop at https://openfoodnetwork.net/brattleboro-winter-farmers-market/shop#/shop today!

Orders can be placed from 9AM Monday morning through 9 AM Thursday morning for a Saturday Curbside Pick up from the Market, every Saturday through March at the C.F. Church Building, 80 Flat St. Downtown Brattleboro.

SNAP/EBT customers can turn $10 into $40 each week through January with market match coupons thanks to grants from NOFA-VT, C&S Wholesale Grocers, New England Grassroots Fund, Brattleboro Savings & Loan, and individual gifts from caring community members.

Remembering Wally White and Faith Ministries

by SK-B | Spiritual
Christmas Story in newspaper

Thirty-five years ago, the Town of Brattleboro gave a homeless shelter run by Faith Ministries a December 25 deadline to close.

The Christmas deadline — a public relations blunder — was dramatic enough to garner national attention, but the real issue was articulated in a press release in which Wally & Emily White said the following:

“At a time when many municipal administrations are asking churches to shelter the homeless, in Brattleboro the Zoning Board is trying to close a church run shelter. If they succeed, up to eight homeless men may face the cruel winter with nowhere else to go. One of them nearly died of exposure last year while sleeping in a dumpster.”

A New Bill, Another Slap In The Face

by RDavis | Activism

The elite American ruling class, aka Congress, has once again proven that they do not understand or respect the hardship that a majority of Americans are experiencing. They are also making it clear that they are only willing to offer crumbs to a starving population.

The most recent stimulus package that just passed after months of political posturing is a slap in the face to most Americans. It provides a one-time check of $600 to people whose income is below $75,000. The people who crafted this legislation have no idea what $600 buys in the real world. I suspect most of them never shop for their own necessities, never clean their own houses and could not tell you what a gallon of milk, a gallon of heating oil or a package of toilet paper costs.

Christmas This Year

by Lise | Spiritual
Solstice 2020

Every year at Christmastime, our household goes a little crazy with holiday and seasonal preparations. We play Christmas music from Thanksgiving on, make presents, shop, bake cookies, eat cookies, put cookies away so we’ll stop eating cookies, make chocolates, see above, wrap presents, plan meals, shop some more. Truth is, it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure. It makes you a little corny to love Christmas, especially the way I do. But this year seems different. I believe we have a valid excuse to try to keep up good cheer. To do otherwise would be morbid, and morbid is not what you want to be during a global pandemic. But it’s not easy, especially with all the grim tidings we’ve been treated to lately.

New Year’s Resolution: Volunteer with Youth Services’ Court Diversion

by Nanci Leitch | Activism

Youth Services is seeking volunteers to serve on its Court Diversion panels in the New Year.  Court Diversion is a voluntary, confidential alternative to court proceedings for certain juveniles and adult cases referred to Court Diversion on an individual basis by the State’s Attorney’s Office.

According to Sally Struble, Youth Services’ Director of Restorative Justice Programs, its underlying intent is to repair harm that is caused by the crime and to address underlying conditions that led to the offense. Youth Services relies on community volunteers to represent community values to hold the person who offended accountable for his or her conduct.

12 Local Organizations Collaborate on Wellness Care Packages for the Community

by HBLozito | Health

Brattleboro, VT — United Way of Windham County has released funds in the amount of $90,322, via a Vermont Department of Health Grant, to 11 area organizations in support of the Collaborative Care Package Project. The participating organizations are: The AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, The Brattleboro Community Justice Center, Brooks Memorial Library, Community Asylum Seekers Project, Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, Elnu Abenaki, Greater Falls Connections, Out in the Open, The Root Social Justice Center, The Susu Healing Collective, United Way of Windham County, and West River Valley Thrives.

HB Lozito, Executive Director of Out in the Open says of the project: “we want to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19, both those that are direct and indirect, on our most impacted community members—those who are rural, BIPOC, and/or LGBTQ+ by offering care packages that are supportive of people’s whole selves and families. Our goal is to source as many of these items from locally-owned, BIPOC-owned, LGBTQ+-owned businesses as possible. We are happy to live in an area so abundant with local producers!”

The Much-Needed Snow

by cgrotke | Nature
snow person head

I think we all needed this snowfall. There’s something calming about a big blanket of snow that keeps people inside, vehicles off the road, and so on.  

It purifies. Think how happy Dorothy and friends were to have Glinda cover them in snowy flakes. It took away the witch’s spell.

Winter Farmers’ Market – Updates to Curbside Service

by Sherry | Food

As you may know, the Brattleboro Winter Farmers’ Market is currently 100% online pre-orders for Curbside Pick up. To effectively manage the volume of orders and items that our market producers need to make, bake, pick, pack and label for your Saturday Pick up, and so our Curbside Team can better serve you at pick up time, we are making a few changes:

1. Market orders will close at 9 AM on Thursday starting this week.  This will be especially helpful as we have two Friday holidays in a row coming up! So shop early!

COVID Forever?

by RDavis | Health

Some people are delusional enough to think that humans will eradicate the COVID 19 virus. That is not likely. Consider the fact that the only infectious disease affecting humans ever to be eradicated was smallpox. That disease was declared eliminated on December 9, 1979.

Since then we have been exposed to a number of new and old diseases such as HIV, Ebola as well as the seasonal flu that we have learned how to control but not eliminate. It is estimated that about 35,000 Americans died from the flu during the 2018-19 flu season. That is an average number of deaths according to statistics from the past ten years.

VFW $7 Lunch Specials To-Go’s only Dec. 14 – Dec. 18th & Pot Roast Meal Dec. 19th Open to the Public

by LisaL | Food

Effective immediately, we are open for take-out only Mon to Fri from 11:30 am -1:30 pm, and the occasional Saturday. Please call 802-257-0438 for your to-go meals. Follow our VFW Post 1034 Facebook page for more information.

No Wednesday breakfast until further notice.

$7 Lunch Specials Dec. 14th – Dec. 18th
Mon – salisbury steak, mashed potato, gravy & veg
Tues – stuffed pork chops w/ sweet potato casserole and veg
Wed – beef stew w/ homemade bread
Thur – chicken cordon bleu w/ baked potato & veg
Fri – fried haddock w/ french fries

VFW $7 Lunch Specials/Pot Roast meal – To Go’s only – Public Welcome to Order 802-257-0438

by LisaL | Food

Effective immediately, we are open for take-out only Mon to Fri from 11:30 am -1:30 pm, and the occasional Saturday. Please call 802-257-0438 for your to-go meals. Follow our VFW Post 1034 Facebook page for more information.

No Wednesday breakfast until further notice.

Pot roast to go meal is still on for Dec. 19th. Call in for reservations by Friday Dec. 18th. There are limited free meals available for the pot roast dinner, so when you call in, please leave a message asking for the free meals, and you will receive a call back.

Brattleboro and Vermont COVID-19 Dashboard Summary – December 2020

by cgrotke | Health

T’is the month of December. Here is the continuation of daily COVID-19 dashboard numbers from the Vermont Department of Health, Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, and MA and NH counties that surround Brattleboro. Scroll down the new comments for the latest.

You can find the November numbers here,  October stats here,  September numbers here, August numbers here,  July numbers here, the June numbers here, the May dashboard reporting here, and the April numbers here.

Will a COVID Vaccine Be Safe and Effective?

by RDavis | Health

It is difficult for the average person to understand what they need to know about a COVID vaccine before they decide to be inoculated. The vaccine will be available within weeks or months and public health officials are urging people to get vaccinated.

Government health officials are saying that the vaccines developed have proven to be safe and effective and that the best chance we all have for moving on and living in a world not controlled by the behavior of a virus is to continue to use masks, social distance and to take the vaccine when it becomes available.

According to Francis Collins MD, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), it will take 80% coverage (vaccine administration) to get to herd immunity, and that is not likely to happen until the summer of 2021if all goes well.