This year’s tournament will be held at the Barre Country Club on Friday, August 13th.  The entry fee is $125 per person and includes greens fees, golf cart, team prizes, breakfast & lunch.  For $250, you can be a Hole Sponsor and receive all of the above, a signage display, and mention in the event program.  Plus, as Prudy Burnes from Capital Candy notes, “It’s good fun!”

To access the sign-up sheet online, click this link: http://www.capitalcandy.com/news_files/August%20Golf.pdf

“George and Prudy Burnes are wonderful supporters of their community,” said HSCVT Director Betsy Reid.  “Their annual tournament has been such a gift to so many deserving causes.  We are certainly pleased and grateful that they chose us to be a beneficiary of this fun and important event this year!”

Reid, who doesn’t golf, also said  “I’ll be there all day, dressed as a golfer!  Seriously, I can’t wait to meet a lot of the people who participate in this tournament.”

The Lamoille office. We’re pleased to announce our new office in Morrisville, in space shared with the Lamoille United Way.  We’re even more excited to announce that Amy Kolb Noyes is the new part-time home sharing and volunteer coordinator in Lamoille County.  Amy has many outstanding qualifications, including:

• Many years experience as a reporter for the News and Citizen, so she knows Lamoille County very well; and
• Her work year after year for Green Up Day Vermont,  so she knows how to work with volunteers, the backbone of the home sharing program.

Amy is also a very friendly person.  Anyone interested in a home share in Lamoille county can contact her directly at anoyes@homesharecvt.org, or 802-730-3844.

Our new main office is at 115 North Main Street in downtown Barre.  We moved on Friday May 14th after we had definitely outgrown our old office space.  With increasing need for home sharing services, we are eager to recruit more volunteers but our quarters were seriously cramped.  Now we have space for more volunteers to join the home sharing movement.  Interested?  Call 802-479-8544.

Of course, we have no age limit for home providers, but many home owners are seniors.  The symposium was an excellent opportunity to learn ways to better serve this segment of the home sharing population.

The first keynote speaker — Dr. Suzanne Kunkel, Director of the Scripps Gerontology Center at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio – was fabulous!  Her visionary wisdom was inspiring, and strengthened our belief that home sharing will play an increasingly vital role in our multi-generational communities.  Here are some ways home sharing is in sync with Dr. Kunkel’s observations:

• Current thinking among gerontology experts is that we should support healthy independent life for as long as possible.  No doubt, home sharing can be a big boost to that.  Home providers and home seekers alike are less lonely, more engaged in life – just generally happier!

• As a society, we need to embrace collective values, and take care of each other.  That is at the heart and soul of home sharing.  Fortunately, it’s also a fundamental Vermont value.

• Interestingly, Dr. Kunkel cited generational interdependence as a growing – and positive — trend.  We certainly see this in home share matches. Match partners can be relatively close in age, or many generations apart – for example, a 19 year-old with a couple in their late 80’s!

“No way, no way will we be ready for the baby boom unless we do some creative planning,” Dr. Kunkel said.  Home sharing is certainly innovative – most states don’t have any home share programs at all!  And we’re all about being creative (we like the word “nimble”) to continue growing and learning how to best meet central Vermont’s home sharing needs.

To learn more about Dr. Kunkel and her fascinating work, you can check out her website:  www.scrippsaging.org

• Hunger Mountain Co-op, Montpelier, March 22nd. HSCVT staff, volunteers, and participants will set up an info table outside the co-op from 11:30 AM to 1 PM. Stop by for brochures, applications — or just to chat!
• Kellogg Hubbard Library, the Hayes Room, Montpelier, April 6th. For an hour, starting promptly at 5:30 PM, HSCVT folks will present information and answer questions about ways you can be involved with the home sharing program.  Light refreshments will be served.
• Barre Rotary Spring Exposition, Barre Auditorium, April 23rd. We’re part of the Central Vermont Council on Aging, which will host an informational table at this annual event for all three days (April 21-23).  Team Home Share will staff the table on the 23rd from 5:00 to 9:00 PM.

We look forward to discussing home share with you in person, or online!  Keep in touch!

That’s because the multi-year grant — $200,000 from the Vermont Community Development Program — is contingent upon HSCVT raising matching funds, including $24,000 from individuals this year.

Williamstown and Morristown joined Montpelier and HSCVT as consortium partners on behalf of Orange and Lamoille counties.

When Governor Jim Douglas announced the grant in July, HSCVT was one of just 10 projects statewide that submitted successful grant proposals.  The community development program administers federal money after a rigorous screening process.

“All of today’s recipients are making a positive and important contribution to our economy and our state’s well-being,” Governor Douglas said.  HSCVT was chosen as a recipient to meet increased demand for home sharing matches in Washington County, and strengthen expansion in Lamoille and Orange counties.

“This extraordinary opportunity means that whatever any individual gives to HSCVT will go twice as far this year,” observes Director Betsy Reid.  “And every gift will be greatly appreciated.”

To make a donation, click onthe Donate icon at the bottom of this page. Then, click on make a donation by credit card. That will take you to JustGive and the option to give to Central Vermont Council on Aging, HSCVT’s 501(c)(3) sponsor.  After you enter your donation, please remember to enter Home Share of Central Vermont in the designation box.

For the home sharing story, host Kristen Carlson interviewed HSCVT Director Betsy Reid before going on location to the home of Elsie Beard.  Elsie at the time was in a very successful home sharing match with Santiago Carey (Carey, a computer professional, later moved out-of-state for a new job). In the VPT interview, both Elsie and Santiago talk about how home sharing improved their lives.  The blend of information from the HSCVT office with the voices of participants in matches provides an excellent introduction to home sharing in Central Vermont.

The 2009 event will be held on Saturday, November 28th at 7 PM in the Montpelier City Hall (home to Lost Nation Theater).  Approximately 25 musicians — men and women — will compete to earn the much-coveted “first place” in this highly competitive “night of the Bobs.”  What makes a winning Bob?  That’s up to the nine distinguished judges to determine — and they take their jobs very seriously!

Tickets are $10 per person and will be sold at LACE and Exile in Barre, and Bear Pond Books and Riverwalk Records in Montpelier.

You can sign up to compete, learn the names of the judges, and find out who is generously sponsoring the event.  Check out the Fifth Annual Great Green Mountain Bob Dylan Wannabe Contest.

Customers can present the “10-10″ coupon to get 10% off all their book purchases at the Berlin Waldenbooks for two days only, October 21 and 22, 2009.  Waldenbooks will then donate 10% of the total book sales from those two days to Home Share of Central Vermont.

“We love this event, because it’s all about community, and community is at the heart of home sharing,” said HSCVT director Betsy Reid.  “Just like a good home share match, everybody wins: customers get 10% off their books, HSCVT gets much-needed funding to support our work, and Waldenbooks gets more traffic through their store those two days.”

“Furthermore, just like a good book, home share matches enhance the daily lives of participants,” Reid observed.  “We’re happy and grateful to Waldenbooks.  This event is a perfect match for us!”

Jessica Barnett, the manager of Waldenbooks at the Berlin Mall, approached HSCVT with the “10-10″ idea after having seen news articles about HSCVT’s need for operating funds.  “Borders/Waldenbooks is committed to helping the communities we serve, and this event is our way of giving back to a very deserving program,” Barnett said.  “In fact, we’re hoping to host more events like this in the future with Home Share of Central Vermont or other worthy non-profits.”

To request a copy of the “10-10″ coupon, email: info@homesharecvt.org by 3 PM on October 20, 2009.

HSCVT signed up with Sovernet Communications as the program’s internet service provider in mid-June.  Because HSCVT is a non-profit program on a very lean budget, Sovernet agreed to a $10 credit on Home Share’s monthly bills for the next year.

“Obviously, internet is a crucial tool in our ongoing efforts to facilitate successful home share matches,” Reid said.  “At the same time, the monthly ISP bill was a big expense for our small program, especially in today’s economy.  We’re so grateful that Sovernet understood our situation, and generously agreed to help.”

Reid said HSCVT is relieved to have reliable internet service.  “Even better,” she said, “is knowing every day when we sign on that Sovernet Communications is now part of the home share team.”

The donations came from the Washington Electric Cooperative Community Fund, the Kinney Drug Foundation, and Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation.

“Because home sharing is all about community, and businesses are the backbone of our communities, we are always pleased and grateful to have local business support,” said HSCVT Director Betsy Reid.  “That’s never been more true than today, when many businesses are themselves facing economic struggles.  These contributions are truly a testament to community spirit.”

The Washington Electric Cooperative Community Fund supports the activities of “community organizations which enhance the well-being of our members and the communities they live in.”  This fund donated $500.00 to Home Share of Central Vermont.

The Kinney Drug Foundation also gave $500.00 to HSCVT.  The goal of this foundation is “to help people live healthier lives within the communities served by Kinney Drugs Inc” in Vermont and New York.

The third business donor, Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation, contributes to non-profit organizations within their six state marketing area that are “family-friendly, soundly managed,” and have “a mission to enhance the communities where we live and work.”  The Golub Foundation donated $500.00 to HSCVT’s  Mileage Program, in recognition of the need for staff and volunteers to regularly drive to the homes of seniors and other program participants throughout Lamoille, Orange and Washington counties. 

“We are encouraged by all three donations,” said Reid. “At the same time, we know we’ll need ongoing, community-wide funding help for the foreseeable future.  The recession is not expected to abate any time soon, and gas prices are again on the rise.  This means more Vermonters will turn to us for help – and we will turn to the community to provide the financial backing we need to help them find good home sharing partners.” 

Home Share of Central Vermont facilitates live-in matches between home providers who need some assistance to stay living independently in their own homes as long as possible, and home seekers who are willing to provide that assistance in exchange for affordable housing.  The Central Vermont Council on Aging is HSCVT’s fiscal sponsor.  HSCVT raises all its own funds.