The Community Finds a Way... Supporting Our Community this Thanksgiving

Giving and receiving in our local community has supported and carried us throughout this pandemic. The upcoming holiday season invites us to further this circle of resiliency. While your traditions may look different this year, the community spirit will be present this holiday season!

What will your celebration be on Thanksgiving? In August, it was announced that the longstanding Brattleboro Community Thanksgiving wouldn’t happen this year due to safety concerns around COVID-19. Since 1972, this special dinner served over 500 people at its in-person gathering and made deliveries to numerous homebound residents. The Community Thanksgiving also provided a welcoming and inclusive experience “for the community to feed their stomachs and fill their souls”. This year, arguably more than any other year since 1972, more of us need nourishment for our stomachs and souls, so the community has come together to create an alternative.

Members of the Windham Region Hunger Council met with the Everyone Eats!Brattleboro coalition to come up with a plan.EE!B secured enough funding to provide 1,000 meals for a special holiday distribution. Thanks to additional help from Brattleboro Savings & Loan and donations from local community partners, these meals will be twice the size of a typical EE!B meal and contain a classic Thanksgiving dessert. During these times when gathering to cook an abundant meal might feel overwhelming or not financially feasible, this distribution will help facilitate a memorable and nourishing holiday for everyone in the community.

The special Thanksgiving meal distribution will take place in parallel with the Wednesday, November 25th Everyone Eats! meal distribution from 4 - 6 pm at 80 Flat Street, ensuring that those who need dinner on Wednesday won’t go without. No registration is required; simply stop by in your vehicle or on foot and pick up the number of meals you will need for your family and/or any neighbors who cannot make it.

We are also able to make a very limited number of deliveries for families who have no one to pick up a meal on their behalf. If you need a meal delivered to your home, please visit our order form and request a meal by Friday, November 20th, at the Brattleboro Everyone Eats! website: www.brattleboro.com/everyoneeats.

If you are unable to access the order form or would like help with the registration process for a meal delivery, you may call 817-888-5125.

While Thanksgiving is centered around food, it is also the start of the holiday spirit of giving and receiving. During this moment in time when community connection is needed more than ever, we offer a menu of options to celebrate and help nourish our community. Everyone has a role to play in that nourishment.

Community Engagement Menu: 

Receive a meal Monday through Thursday 4-6 pm at Everyone Eats! through December 31st, just recently extended.

Donate to Project Feed the Thousands at projectfeedthethousands.org/.

Volunteer with one of the many local organizations helping to make our community run during this holiday season and beyond. Use the United Way of Windham County’s Get Connected Volunteer Portal at unitedwaywindham.galaxydigital.com/ or by calling 802-257-4011.

Sign up for 3SquaresVT, a monthly benefit that helps you buy food. Text VFBSNAP to 85511 or call 1-855-855-6181 to find out more!

Everyone Eats!Brattleboro (EE!B)

EE!B is a project of Vermont Everyone Eats (VEE), a statewide program funded by the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund and made possible through a grant provided by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development (ACCD) to Southeastern Vermont Community Action (SEVCA). This program purchases to-go meals from local restaurants for anyone in Brattleboro, Guilford, Vernon, Dummerston, or Putney who has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Over 26,000 meals have been distributed since August 3rd; our impact is currently 850 meals per day, 4 days per week. The Brattleboro coalition consists of representatives from the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance, Vermont Foodbank, Foodworks, Food Connects, The Putney Foodshelf, Putney Mutual Aid, and the state of Vermont.