Food Shelf and CCS Receive Grants from SCHIP, and Food Shelf News
December 2, 2010, page 16.....

The Charlotte Food Shelf and the CCS programs were among the recipients of $22,800 in grants from SCHIP, the Shelburne Charlotte Hinesburg Interfaith Project. One of the grants was awarded to CCS to fund or supplement scholarships for summer camps and school trip programs for children from families with limited financial resources, including the 8th grade class trip to Quebec City in April.
In thanks for the support, the 8th grade students at CCS organized a drive for lightly used clothing and presented 40 bags of clothing to the SCHIP’s Treasure Resale Shop on Shelburne Road in Shelburne Village.

Grants to support programs that will benefit children were also made to the Charlotte Food Shelf and the Lake Champlain Waldorf School. The Charlotte Food Shelf received a grant totaling $2,700: $2,000 for assistance, $500 for children’s clothes, and $200 for head lice medication to be distributed at CCS by the school nurse. 
The Hinesburg Resource Center received a $5,000 grant to assist those in need of fuel this winter. The Institute for Spiritual Development and JUMP (the Joint Urban Ministry Project) received grants for work with residents of Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg. Pastors’ discretionary funds in Charlotte, Shelburne and Hinesburg also received grants, typically to respond to those who come to them for help to meet basic needs such as rent and food.

The board of the locally based non-profit considered grant requests from an array of organizations for the final grant cycle of 2010.
Recognizing that some of the requests were to assist families to pay for heat this winter, board members weighed decisions on the urgency of the need, funding some requests in full, some partially, tabling some for consideration in the next grant cycle. Grants in the current round ranged from $500 to $5,000.

During the five years that SCHIP has been making grants, beginning in April 2005, a total of $240,000 has been given to worthy causes. One-third of the grants have gone to food shelves and related agencies providing basics to those in need. Another large category includes projects that help communities, such as funds for a thermal imaging device for Shelburne firefighters who share it with other towns and auditorium enhancements at Champlain Valley Union High School.

The next grant deadline is the last day of January 2011. Grant application forms are available by e-mailing schipgrant@myfairpoint.net or using the link at schipstreasure.org/mission.html. Paper applications are also available at the SCHIP’s Treasure Resale Shop, 5404 Shelburne Road in Shelburne Village, or at the Town Clerk’s offices in Shelburne, Charlotte and Hinesburg.
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Food Shelf News
by Kerrie Pughe.
December 2, 2010, page 14.....

Vermonters Suffer from Hunger

A recent USDA report on hunger shows that Vermont is now among the top ten hungriest states in the nation. Vermont is tied with Alabama as having the highest increase in household food insecurity in the country over the last ten years. “The choices that families have to make when it comes to meeting their basic needs are heartbreaking – choosing between heat and food or housing and food are decisions that people shouldn’t have to make,” reports Marissa Parisi, Executive Director of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

Please consider the Charlotte Food Shelf in your holiday giving. Checks may be sent to: Charlotte Food Shelf & Assistance, c/o 3319 Mt. Philo Road, Charlotte, VT 05445.

A big thank you to the Charlotte 6th Grade Girl Scout Troop #30698 for the donation from the proceeds of the CCS PTO book fair bake sale. In addition, thank you to the following for their donations: Mary Jane Spooner, Michael Baker III, James and Patricia Dobson, Jeanne Thibault, Evan Metropolis, Don and Marion Chartrand and the Michael Lazar Family.

We would like to thank all involved with the preparation of the Thanksgiving food baskets. It was a true community effort. The Charlotte/Shelburne Rotary supplied 24 turkeys stored by Shelburne Supermarket until the last moment on Saturday morning. Thank you to Jim and all the Shelburne Supermarket employees for their continued support. Gayle Gardner braved the cold and snowflakes while dispersing turkeys from the back of her Dad’s pickup.  Charlotte Central School teachers, students and parents, along with the office staff, did a wonderful job of making sure 91 people in 25 households had a beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Kris Gerson’s students made turkey table center pieces with long turkey legs and perfect handprint feathers. Peggy Coutu’s third grade class made turkey candy dishes to decorate the boxes. Lynn Cluff’s art classes decorated the boxes with bold fall colors with lots of turkeys, pumpkins and fall leaves. Leslie Thayer, Kathy Laura, Ena Jesset and the CCS office made additional baskets.

Thank you to Joe Blanchette and John and Christian Lavigne for picking up all the Thanksgiving boxes and hundreds of pounds of food and transporting them to the Food Shelf. Heather Manning delivered two large boxes filled with Thanksgiving dinner items from the Charlotte Grange. Pat Long donated two complete Thanksgiving dinners with two fresh turkeys in memory of her beloved son, Michael Long. Thank you, Pat, for your thoughtfulness during your time of loss. Allie and Micki Lazar brought beautiful boxes of chocolates and scarecrows for each of the boxes. Volunteers from 350.org provided applesauce made at the Charlotte Senior Center with Shelburne Orchards apples during their canning workshop on 10/10/10. Boy Scout Troup # 615 helped to deliver the boxes to cars.

Thank you to the volunteers, hundreds of people, teachers, students, parents and Rotary members who shopped, supported and gave a helping hand to make this Thanksgiving a success for our volunteer-run community Food Shelf, including:
Susan Ainsworth, Lynn Alpeter, Jeri Bergdahl, Nancy Bloch, Diane Cote, Bill Doris, Karen Doris, Maj Eisinger, Nina Falsen, Gayle Gardner, Linda Gilbert, Laura Iglehart, Amanda Kinneston, Pauline Larose, John Lavigne, Micki Lazar, Allie Lazar, Michael Lazar, Kathy Manchester, Bob Monsey, Liam Morse, Ken Oboz, Lisa Poiror, Kerrie Pughe, Kate Raszka, Sam Raszka, Kristine Reynolds, Cindi Robinson, Thomas Robinson, Betty Ryan, Sienna Searles, Kim Servin, Nathan Stetson, Barb Zimmerman, Seth Zimmerman and Sam Zimmerman.

We have been busy getting ready for the Christmas/Holiday Baskets. There will be two Giving Trees again this year, one at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the other at the Charlotte Congregational Church. These two special trees will be decorated with wish ornaments of families we will be assisting during the holidays. In addition, there will be Food Shelf Toy Boxes at the following locations: Charlotte Central School, Charlotte Senior Center, Charlotte Library, The Little Market Garden, Charlotte Congregational Church and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Please leave your new toy donations unwrapped so volunteers can make sure your toy goes to the appropriate age child. Knitters have been busy making hats and mittens for the mitten tree from lots of donated yarn.

Volunteers needed: Would you like to help us prepare the holidays baskets? Please e-mail Nancy Bloch at nancyhbloch@gmail.com or call 425-6116 if you are available on Friday morning, December 17, 8:15 to 11 a.m. All baskets are prepared at the Charlotte Congregational Church.

The Charlotte Food Shelf and Assistance is open from 7:30 to 9 a.m. on the following Thursdays for food distribution: December 9 and 30, January 13 and 27, February 3 and 17.

**Holiday food basket pick-up date is December 18.

All non-perishable food donations may be dropped off at the Charlotte Library, the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (main entrance) or at the Food Shelf during distribution mornings.

The Charlotte Food Shelf is located on the lower level of the Charlotte Congregational Church vestry.

For emergency food call John at 425-3130.
For emergency assistance (electricity, fuel) call Karen at 425-3252.
For more information call Karen at 425-3252, or visit our website at https://sites.google.com/site/charlottefoodshelfvt/.