Community Roundup: Feb. 6
Disaster Recovery Fund & Vermont Community Foundation merging
The Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund is closing and merging its operations with the Vermont Community Foundation, which will continue the fund’s mission to provide disaster assistance to individuals.
The Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund, created in 2011 following Tropical Storm Irene, provides financial help to disaster survivors after they have exhausted other sources of assistance, such as from FEMA, homeowner and flood insurance, and grants from local and regional disaster funds.
The fund distributed $6 million in individual assistance following Irene and $1.6 million so far to survivors of the 2023 flooding.
“Since the very beginning our focus has been on streamlining disaster recovery assistance for individuals,” said Chris Graff, the Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund chair. “We believe we can simplify the process even more by consolidating our work with the broad disaster recovery initiatives of the Vermont Community Foundation.”
In 2023, the Vermont Community Foundation launched the VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund, which has provided $13 million for business recovery, farm aid, rebuilding public structures, as well as repairs to homes, apartments and mobile homes.
“The impact and legacy of the Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund are almost indescribable,” said Dan Smith, president and CEO of the Vermont Community Foundation. “At its core, it’s a reflection of the fact that Vermont is still a place where people look out for one another, especially in a crisis.”
Vermont Disaster Recovery Fund treasurer Mike Yantachka thanked the individuals, foundations and organizations that have donated to the fund. He said donations from individuals in the past two years have ranged from $1 to $34,000.
The Champlain Valley Union High School boy’s volleyball team raised $3,000, the second year the team has done so, Yantachka said.
Saint Michael’s College’s new financial aid initiative
Saint Michael’s College students entering the school in the fall of 2025 or continuing students maintaining a GPA of 3.2 from families with an income of $100,000 or less are eligible to receive a financial aid package that covers the full cost of tuition.
Saint Michael’s College’s new financial aid initiative fortifies the college’s mission of making its deeply engaging, student-centered education more affordable, the school said in a release.
The St. Mike’s Community Commitment is intended to simplify the financial aid process, making a Saint Michael’s education more accessible to students from every socioeconomic background.
“This initiative enables talented students from all backgrounds to obtain a first-rate education. By reducing ambiguity around the cost of attendance for their families, we are empowering more students to set ambitious goals,” Saint Michael’s College President Richard Plumb said.
Generous merit awards and need-based aid will continue to be available to all families who qualify, including those who may not be eligible for this new program.
“We’ve been committed to equity and access and will continue this commitment for current and future students,” said Brigid Lawler, Saint Michael’s Vice President for Enrollment Management. “The St. Mike’s Community Commitment will provide more clarity for students and families who want a better sense of the aid they will receive early in the process.”
For more information on the St. Mike’s Community Commitment.
League of Women Voters taking scholarship applications
The League of Women Voters of Vermont Education Fund is accepting applications for its Winona Smith Scholarship program. Created in 1998 to honor the legacy of League leader Winona Smith, the scholarship is awarded annually to Vermont high school seniors who embody the qualities Smith displayed of civic participation and community service.
Three $2,000 scholarships will be awarded to students who demonstrate financial need, scholastic achievement and come highly recommended by their teacher. Applications, due on April 30, must be completed online.
Students need to submit two essays (300-500 words), one on issues concerning voting rights and the other on the impact of a recent civic, national or world event. A letter of recommendation from a teacher is also required at bit.ly/LWVTeacherRec. Scholarship recipients will be announced on June 1.
Questions can be directed to scholarship coordinator Audrey Grant.
Dragonheart Vermont expanding access for breast cancer survivors
Dragonheart Vermont, a local 501(c)(3) non-profit dragon boating organization supporting breast cancer survivors, is offering introductory memberships at a reduced cost, making the program more accessible to breast cancer survivors.
Starting in January 2025, Dragonheart Vermont will offer new members that are breast cancer survivors an introductory rate of just $100 (a $200 savings). Dragonheart Vermont is a community volunteer non-profit organization which strives to strengthen and empower breast cancer survivors and supporters through the challenging sport of dragon boating. You can find our members practicing at Burlington’s Waterfront most days in the warmer months.
“By offering introductory membership rates for breast cancer survivors, Dragonheart Vermont hopes to attract breast cancer survivors and others to ‘try on’ the organization and realize the benefits it provides not only to members as well as the rewards of contributing to the greater community,” said the new executive director, Kyle Opuszynski. “Our members value health, fitness, and camaraderie, and we help foster a better life for those living with and beyond a breast cancer diagnosis.”
Over the past 20 years, Dragonheart Vermont has raised and distributed well over $1 million dollars to various organizations providing support to people coping with cancer. Much of this funding is raised through Dragonheart Vermont’s annual Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival which is organized and run by its members. Members also participate in other community-oriented activities, like donating to Troy’s Toy Drive this holiday season, participating in Greenup Day, senior center visits, dinners at the Hope Lodge and, this year, members weekly contributed to multiple area food banks and pantries throughout the summer as a way to mark the organization’s 20th anniversary.
The Lake Champlain Dragon Boat Festival is the club’s signature fundraiser and will be returning to the Burlington Waterfront on Aug. 3. Each year Dragonheart Vermont chooses local non-profits as our Pledge Partners. This year, Dragonheart Vermont is proud to support Sail Beyond Cancer, which provides free therapeutic sailboat rides for families facing cancer and Mahana Magic, which offers children of families battling cancer an opportunity to write and publish their own books during a life-changing weeklong camp, as well as Dragonheart Vermont.
Dragonheart Vermont welcomes donations year-round from our generous community members.
Vermont educators can enroll free in course in personal finance
Middle and high school educators in Vermont can increase their financial literacy and personal finance teaching skills by attending a free, online, asynchronous graduate-level course that will be available for 20 participants March 3-April 25.
“Teachers who complete the training will have the confidence, skills and curriculum tools to be successful personal finance educators,” says John Pelletier, director of the Center for Financial Literacy, which is offering the course through its Financial Literacy Academy.
Pelletier says the three-credit financial literacy course will cover saving and investing, credit reports and scores, credit cards and debt, managing risk, income and careers.
He notes that there is tremendous national momentum in personal finance education, as the center projects that 26 states (not including Vermont) will have a standalone personal finance course graduation requirement for public high school students by 2031 (this is an increase from the 23 states identified in the center’s December 2023 High School Report Card).
“That means that 57 per cent of public high school graduates in our nation will have taken this course as a graduation mandate in the class of 2031,” Pelletier says.
“Qualified personal finance teachers are needed to meet these standards,” Pelletier said.
Twenty scholarships are available to Vermont educators only. You can apply at https://tinyurl.com/r2mtvdds. The deadline to apply is Feb. 20, and you will be notified of your status by Feb. 25. Scholarships will be awarded on a rolling admissions basis. For registration questions contact: [email protected].
For more information: email or 802-860-2744.
Juliette Gordon Low quarter celebrates Girl Scout founder
Girl Scouts of the USA unveiledf the design for the United States Mint’s Juliette Gordon Low quarter, part of the final year of the American Women Quarters Program. The design captures the legacy of Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scout Movement, which continues to empower girls to blaze their own trails more than 100 years later.
The design includes symbols that honor the history of the Girl Scout movement, including:
- The iconic trefoil, a design that Low patented, and that Girl Scouts continues to use as its official logo, which is featured prominently on its hat, lapels, belt buckle and pin.
- An original uniform from the 1920s.
“This new quarter honoring our founder, Juliette Gordon Low, is a reminder to all Girl Scouts, especially our members in New Hampshire and Vermont, that our organization honors and encourages female leadership,” said Patricia K. Mellor, CEO of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains.
The Juliette Gordon Low quarter will be released into circulation in March. The coins will be produced in limited quantities for a limited time. Collectors’ editions will be available for purchase from the United States Mint.
To join Girl Scouts or volunteer. To donate to Girl Scouts, visit girlscouts.org/support. Sign up to receive News from Girl Scouts.