Local People Planning Vermont Foodbank Benefit

August 26, 2008

BY AMY ASH NIXON

Staff Writer

LYNDONVILLE – A group of local people concerned about the rising costs of food and fuel and how Northeast Kingdom families are going to weather this coming winter are banding together to host a huge fund-raiser and food-raiser to benefit the Vermont Food Bank next Saturday.

The event, sponsored by the newly-formed Heat or Eat Group based in North Danville, will be held in a scenic open meadow on Little Egypt Road outside Lyndonville off Route 5.

The idea was the brain child of friends Shawn Straffin of Lyndon and Owen Mercon of North Danville, who have, in past years, held a function at the Curtis Vance Memorial Orchard in North Danville to raise money for the Lou Gehrig Foundation.

This year, the orchard was not usable as a site because of all the rain, and it could not be hayed in time, so they had to look for another venue.

The pair, along with a group of other area friends, had begun brain-storming another benefit this year for the Northeast Kingdom given the state of the economy, rising fuel prices for vehicles and home heating, and rising food costs, they said Friday. Five more friends joined in with them to form their fledgling Heat or Eat Group, and they had started planning the concert when they lost their venue.

Straffin and Mercon began looking for another site, and heard from someone about a good field in the Little Egypt section of town, and they ultimately found it –at 735 Little Egypt Rod, where the Heat or Eat Concert to benefit the Vermont Food Bank will be held on Saturday at the field, starting at 2 p.m.

Gates will open at 9 a.m. but the music doesn’t start until 2 p.m. – and there will be concert after concert, all part of The Vermont Food Bank’s Concert Series to End Hunger.

People are encouraged to sleep over and camp at the event, where admission is $25 plus the donation of a non-perishable food item (more than one item will be cheerfully accepted). The admission for teens 13 to 18 is $15 and kids 12 and under are admitted free. Teens must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Tickets can be purchased at the gate, but tickets purchased in advance will come with a special discount bracelet for savings on food at the event, organizers said. All proceeds will benefit the Vermont Food Bank, with the organizers wish that the funds and food raised be kept in the Northeast Kingdom communities for helping folks here, they said.

The executive director of the new Heat or Eat Group is Galen Dively of Danville, who was out of town Friday and could not be reached for comment. The group is in the process of becoming a non-profit organization, as it was just formed, said Straffin and Mercon.

Two more of the members of the group include husband-and-wife Gordon and Cindy Chaffee of Barton. It was Cindy Chaffee’s idea to align the fund-raising event with the Vermont Food Bank, who were happy to help coordinate with the new group in the fund-raiser. Another group member is Ian Cunningham, said the group.

Gordon Chaffee said that raising awareness about how close to the bone peoples’ neighbors are living is one of the main points of the event. He said just because someone next door to you seems to have a nicer car than you, it doesn’t mean he’s not struggling to figure out how to heat his house this winter.

The organizers are hoping to see hundreds of people attend, if not more.

At this week’s Lyndon Board of Selectmen’s meeting, the board unanimously granted permission for Trout River to sell beer at the event; the beer company has also generously donated many cases of beer for the bands performing at the event as well as staff, the organizers said. A number of supporters have assisted so far, and the group is grateful for the help – including the help of the Lyndonville Electric Department to get the sound in place and juice for the generator.

The bands will be a big part of next Saturday’s family-friendly event – with people invited to “come dance in the hay field” to the sounds of the following Vermont bands: Cobalt Blue, Juice, Be4 Now, The Peace, Louis Nash and James Bentley. There will also be events for children at no added cost, from a moon bounce to face painting and more, and there will be vendors with items for sale and food, as well. Those who buy their tickets in advance can show their ticket stub to get a special on food at the event.

The bands are all playing for free, said Gordon Chaffee, who said the event organizers are giving them gas cards to help with the cost of fuel to get there.

The Vermont Food Bank was delighted to be involved in the event, said spokeswoman Amy Lafayette this week. Of the 66,000 Vermonters served by the Vermont Foodbank, 38% have to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table.

“We were contacted basically by two people from the community (Shawn Straffin and Owen Mercon) who were concerned about the price of food and the price of fuel and what this winter is going to be like,” said Lafayette. She said the phone call from two Northeast Kingdom residents “has kind of snowballed from there into this huge, great thing!”

Gordon Chaffee said the event is about awareness of how close to the bone many people are living, and that more and more people are hurting economically and need help – it’s about neighbors helping neighbors, he said Friday.

“It’s amazing what you can do when your put your mind to it,” said Straffin, smiling at the event’s prospects to do good work through a wonderful event. “Right now, at this point, this is a fragile community,” he said of Northern Vermont.

All the food at the event will be locally grown, and as much of the food waste as possible will be composted – this is a green, Vermonters helping Vermonters event, the trio said Friday.

Mercon said it was very important to organizers that the food and funds raised at the event stay in the Northeast Kingdom to benefit local food shelves; he said the food shelf in Danville, where he lives, has never been so bare at this time of year, a volunteer recently told him. “It’s like Old Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard,” he said. “A loaf of bread costs as much as a gallon of gas right now,” he said.

There will also be raffles of items and services, donated by supporters of the event, and all ticket proceeds are going straight to the Vermont Food Bank.

Tickets can be purchased at these local businesses: Diamond Hill Store in Danville, West Burke General Store, Trout River Brewery, TNT Cycles in North Danville, Bigelow Auto Service in St. Johnsbury, Kingdom Cycle Worx (CQ) in W. Burke, St. Johnsbury Food Co-Op, the North Danville Pie Shack, the One Stop mini markets in Orleans County, which are in Newport, Orleans and Barton; Jasper’s Tavern in Newport, and the Miss Lyndonville Diner.

“We want to see this festival’s ripple effect first hand, in the mouths of our children, and souls of our community—there are some great musicians coming out to support a cause that is important to all of us,” said Straffin. “This is one festival you’re not going to want to miss.”

The group is hopeful they will see a great deal of community support start to generate this week through ticket sales – and hope people will turn out in droves to help with a good cause – raising money to feed people in need right here in the Kingdom. “We’re trying to shed a little light on a dark situation,” said Straffin.

For more information on the event, and how to help with donations or to get involved, call 748-1750 (CQ). The group needs tables and chairs and snow fence to be lent to them for the event, and would appreciate any help with those items, they said, and they also need more volunteers.

The Vermont Foodbank is the state’s largest hunger-relief organization, serving communities through a network of 270 food pantries, soup kitchen, shelters, senior centers and after-school programs. Last year, the Vermont Foodbank distributed nearly 6.5 million pounds of food to the more than 66,000 needy Vermonters who request charitable food assistance. For facts and figures on hunger and poverty, to sign-up to receive our newsletter, to find a food shelf in your community, and to learn about the Federal Nutrition Programs, visit us on the web at www.vtfoodbank.org

August 26, 2008

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