Home Share Testifies Before House Appropriations Committee
February was an important month for Vermont’s two home share programs to make our case for funding to state legislators in Montpelier.
This isn’t an easy year to get state funding, but we got a real boost from a very persuasive speaker: Meg Donahue Davis, a home provider in the Home Share of Central Vermont (HSCVT) program. On February 21st, Meg joined HSCVT Director Betsy Reid to testify before the House Appropriations Committee on behalf of both HSCVT and HomeShare Vermont, the Burlington-based program. According to Betsy, Meg was the real star of the morning and wowed the representatives with her forthright manner and candid assessment of her home sharing experience.
Meg told the Committee, “I cannot emphasize enough the time Home Share of Central Vermont takes to interview, prepare, and match the individuals before we sharers even meet.” This matters, noted Meg, because “each individual need is unique — each is specific — ranging from personal caregiving to just being available.” Meg later compared the home share experience to “having my first child. I was apprehensive. I didn’t know if I could do the right thing. But to my great relief it was easy.” Now, together with her home share partner, “We say thank you Home Share of Central Vermont for rescuing us and for the happiness we have enjoyed knowing each other.”
We say, thank you Meg! You said it better than we could.
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