Community Updates | June 5
Summer youth lunch program to continue at Congregational Church
HUUSD Schools Food & Nutrition staff use an assembly-line system to pack lunches to distribute to children throughout the school district three days a week. The program ends June 12. Photo courtesy of HUUSD food & nutrition.
Since schools closed to in-person sessions in mid-March the Harwood Unified Union School District Food Service has been providing meals for all local children distributed at school sites.
Food and Nutrition staff announced this week that the school-based program will end June 12 but a new program will pick up afterward for the summer. The last day of the academic year for the school district is June 9.
A summer meal program for children is usually run by the Waterbury Senior Center but that facility remains closed to the public due to COVID-19 virus precautions. A new effort will take its place this year.
School officials this week announced that after June 12, meals will be prepared by the Barre School District Food Service and distributed by volunteers at the Congregational Church in Waterbury.
Students in need of a meal from all of the district’s schools will be able to receive free meals in this location. Meals will be free for all children 18 and under, regardless of family income and school lunch status.
Meals will be offered in a curbside delivery style on a schedule similar to how the school program has been run since March -- three days a week, Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays.
More details will be announced before June 12. Information is online at food.huusd.org. Families who wish to sign up for the summer lunch program should fill out an online form available here.
Waterbury Farmers Market goes ‘virtual’
Rob Linck of Fusda Farm in Craftsbury was a Waterbury Farmers Market vendor that patrons can now connect with online via the virtual market. File photo by Gordon Miller.
The Waterbury Farmers Market made the call to suspend its regular operation this year but recently announced its effort to create a “Virtual Farmers Market” to connect customers and market vendors.
Usually held at Rusty Parker Park along South Main Street, the market is a relatively small operation with limited staff and volunteers. Organizers decided against opening this summer and adjusting to state guidelines given the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
But now the market’s website has been updated with details on several of the regular vendors who are doing online ordering, local pickup at other nearby markets, or direct shipping.
“We are providing a platform directing folks to ways they can support our vendors,” explained market Manager Ariel Mondlak.
So far the list includes Fusda Farm, Green Mountain Baskets, Hender’s Bake Shop & Cafe, Mediterranean Mix, MVL Wellness, Raegan Hough Metalsmith and Smugglers' Notch Distillery. The list may grow in coming weeks and Mondlak added that she’s hoping to stage some “pop-up” market events in the fall.
Details on the virtual market are on the market’s website.
Waterbury Rotary calls off summer concert series
State public health guidelines may be relaxing around COVID-19, but they’re not relaxing quickly enough for organizers of Waterbury’s Thursday night concerts in the park to go ahead with their summer lineup.
Waterbury Rotary President Tami Bass this week announced that given the latest guidance from the Vermont Health Department, public gatherings that the popular concerts attract would be too large to be safe.
State public health officials recently increased the recommended limit on gatherings from 10 to 25. “We would need that number to increase 10 times or more for us to have the music playing in the park,” Bass said. “The concerts scheduled for June have been canceled. Everyone's health is [a] priority. We plan to continue our club’s programs and events, to ensure a sense of normalcy and ongoing community spirit, as soon as we are able.”
The Rotary Club also organizes Waterbury’s Independence Day celebration which will be greatly scaled back this year. The parade and daylong festival were called off although fireworks are still planned as well as some live music. The club will announce more details on that event planned for June 27, soon.