Flood recovery gets an event this Saturday at Brookside school
March 14, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout 
Waterbury’s new long-term flood recovery group has a special event planned for this Saturday at Brookside Primary School.
A Flood Recovery Resource Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as a free community event offering tips and resources, activities for all ages, lunch and camaraderie for those impacted by the 2023 floods in and around Waterbury.
The event is hosted by the group called CReW – short for Community Resilience for the Waterbury Area – formed to focus on flood-related recovery and resilience for residents and businesses in Waterbury, Duxbury, Bolton, Middlesex and Moretown.
The event will include booths with individuals from businesses and organizations with expertise to answer questions about recovery, rebuilding and their services.
CReW Vice Chair Liz Schlegel said that property owners looking to reduce flood risks in and around their buildings will find a variety of useful resources and can weigh in on topics for additional technical assistance and future workshops, such as elevating buildings, foundation management, moving mechanicals from the basement and more.
“CReW is hoping to hear from many folks at the event about the issues they want assistance with, and their primary concerns after dealing with several floods,” she said.
The event is geared toward anyone whose home was impacted by the 2023 floods and who needs assistance; anyone with questions about their home’s future flood resilience; anyone for whom the floods have impacted their mental-emotional health and would like information on resources. Organizers have intentionally included offerings to give attendees a chance to decompress and just visit with neighbors.
In addition to reconstruction and home improvement tips, topics will include information on mental health resources, chair massages, art activities, lunch, and a story circle hosted by the Vermont Folklife Center.
Organizations scheduled to have booths at the fair include FEMA, Capstone Community Action, Richmond Professional Engineering, Efficiency Vermont, Downstreet Housing, Northern Basements, Habitat for Humanity, Washington County Mental Health, Vermont Legal Aid.
The Vermont Folklife story circle is a special project to collect and record firsthand stories from people’s personal perspectives on a shared experience. Project organizers say that “healing lies as much in the act of listening as it does in the act of telling one’s story,” according to the project announcement. In such a setting, everyone's story is unique and valuable. In the circle, participants will be asked to share their stories and listen to others. Vermont Folklife staff will be recording this gathering (audio only) and with the permission of each participant, these recordings will be archived for posterity.
More information is online at thecrewvt.org/events.
