Red Velvet Valentine's Day Cake

There will be a “special” Valentine’s Day Lunch at The Neighbors on Monday, February 13th.  Transportation from Alburgh, as well as South Hero and Grand Isle, will be provided.  The lunch menu for that day is:  Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Pumpkin Bread and Red Velvet Cake.

Another meal at The Neighbors where transportation from Alburgh (in addition to South Hero and Grand Isle) will also be available is the lunch on Monday, February 27th.  The menu that day is:  Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Beets, Banana Oat Bread and Chocolate Cake.

If you are looking for a GREAT lunch and fellowship please give the C.I.D.E.R. Office a call at 372-6425 to arrange transportation and to make a reservation.

The Neighbors Mealsite

This year we built, assisted in building or obtained the materials for: 1 ramp in Isle La Motte, 2 in Alburgh, 2 in North Hero, 5 in Grand Isle and 1 in South Hero.  The last  building project was completed just before the cold weather and snow settled in.  Dolf Wirsing and his crew of expert helpers took advantage of the mild fall this year and completed several projects in October and November.  Folks who helped Dolf this year included Dick Ernst, Butch Soule, Shane Sullivan, Joe Lareau, Jeannie Bass, Bill Bingham, Leonard Brisson, Malcom Allen, Robert Arnett, Bob Buermann, June Chamberlin, and Jim Holzschuh.

If you need increased access to your home call the C.I.D.E.R. Office at 372-6425.  Someone will come and assess your individual situation and determine if a ramp can be built.  If you would like to volunteer with one of these projects, and we are always looking for additional members of the construction crew, call the C.I.D.E.R. Office at the same number and get ready to be put to work–helping another islander.

2011 Annual Report

Report of the Board President

Every year brings new challenges and new priorities.   We continue to move forward on several different fronts.   In addition to ensuring that C.I.D.E.R. is maintaining or improving upon its existing level and quality of services, the Board has tried to maintain its focus on 1) the senior housing project, 2) increased community awareness and participation, and 3) board self-evaluation and succession planning.  A strategic planning effort for the next five year period is also underway.  The participation of all board members, their ideas and perspectives, has been and will continue to be important to C.I.D.E.R.’s ability to meet the growing and changing makeup and needs of the community it serves.

In 1988, a small group recognized that some of their Island neighbors needed community support to continue to live independently in their homes.  Each year since, C.I.D.E.R. has increased the number of persons served and maintained or added to the services provided.  As you can see from this Annual Report, our efforts reach broadly.  But the needs of individuals here in our community, known and unknown, are also expansive.  While mindful that there are many needs, it is the task of the Board to remain faithful to the C.I.D.E.R. mission.

This year the Board has continued its goal of increasing its presence and involvement in the community, particularly in the northern lands.  This added focus in the north appears to have been successful in increasing memberships and volunteer activity from that area.

Another board focus, the senior housing project effort, has progressed, but the pace is slow.  We are hopeful that we will be able to recruit more persons interested in this effort and gain greater momentum in the coming year.

For most of this year, 19 of the 21 seats on the Board were filled.  Each community has had at least three of its residents on the Board.  In addition to serving on board committees and volunteering for various events, board members act as C.I.D.E.R. ambassadors on an ongoing basis.  As ambassadors, they bring to the attention of the Board issues and needs that arise in their communities.  Moreover, they provide a source of information to their fellow town’s people regarding the services and opportunities that C.I.D.E.R. provides.  Each board member’s awareness of or ability to find out what is occurring in his or her community is of paramount importance to C.I.D.E.R.’s ability to provide help where help is needed and not try to help where help has already arrived.

All in all, it has been another active and productive year.  I am encouraged.

I am convinced that it is only through our involvement in one fashion or another with organizations like C.I.D.E.R. that we create and sustain a continuing and faithful vision of hope for our future.

A sincere “thanks” to the Board, the Membership, and all of C.I.D.E.R.’s supporters.

Respectfully Submitted,

Rick Whittlesey

Note:  If you wish to see a complete copy of the 2011 Annual Report containing all committee reports, stop by the C.I.D.E.R. Office, 324 US Rt 2, South Hero during normal business hours.

It’s the people who make C.I.D.E.R. a special organization.

Here’s your chance to support your community and be a part of something special.

Please join us in our effort to make Grand Isle County the best place to live and age in Vermont!   Any questions?  Please feel free to call us or drop by the office and see for yourself what C.I.D.E.R. is all about.

Become a member of C.I.D.E.R. for the first time or renew you membership from last year.

To see a  trailer for this film click on  Holding Our Own Trailer

Camilla Rockwell is a Vermont film producer who has worked with Ken Burns.  Camilla will lead a discussion before and after the showing of her film about how she has used art and music to encourage discussion of end of life issues.  The film weaves together the story of artist Deidre Scherer and the hospice chorus Hallowell with interviews with people who talk about their views on the life cycle and their mortality.  The film confirms that whether your beliefs on death are religious or scientific (or both), the common thread between people is the desire not to feel alone and the need for community support at this special time of our lives.  The primary goal of this Flashlight program is to encourage discussion and sharing about our experiences with the death of loved ones and our own hopes and desires for how we meet this time in our lives.  Camilla Rockwell is a very skilled film maker and this is an opportunity to learn and share with her leadership that will enrich all of those who participate.

Camilla Rockwell began working in film with Ken Burns — from his early films beginning with The Shakers through Thomas Jefferson which she and Burns co-produced. In 2000, she established Fuzzy Slippers Productions to produce films on creativity and the arts, healing and well being. Her most recent films include Stone Rising, a documentary about master stone-waller Dan Snow, and Holding Our Own, which features two artists devoted to comforting patients at the end of life. After becoming a grandmother and recognizing the current challenges for children’s health and development, Rockwell produced Mother Nature’s Child: Growing Outdoors in the Media Age, now being screened around the country.

Please contact the C.I.D.E.R. office at 372-6425 for further information, or if you need transportation to or from this workshop.

Regular paperbacks this year are $.75, with larger “trade” paperbacks $1.00. Hard cover books are $2.00 or 3 books for $5.00. Children’s “no spine” books are $.25. New this year you will also receive, with a purchase of $10.00 or more, a free large C.I.D.E.R. tote bag to carry your purchases. These tote bags are available for the first 250 customers.

At this, the 16th Memorial Day C.I.D.E.R. sale you will also find a wide variety of tasty baked goods on Saturday. To paraphrase the old Chicago adage about voting, come early and come often.

• Friday, March 11^th

Shopping Excursion to Taft’s Corners, Williston – Visit Walmart, the Christmas Tree Shop, Big Box Stores and sit down for lunch wit Ben, Adam, Hoss and Little Joe at The Ponderosa in Williston

• Monday, March 14^th

The bi-monthly Foot and Blood Pressure Clinic at The Neighbors Meal Site from 10:00 AM to Noon. The suggested donation for this clinic is $10.00 and it is also suggested that you bring a towel.

• Wednesday, March 16^th

Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with corn beef and cabbage, and the music of that South Hero leprechaun, Rae Patrick. The music starts at 11:30. There will be special transportation to this special lunch for folks in the northern islands.

• Saturday, March 19^th

Ride with us to the Carman Brook Maple Sugar House and Farm in Highgate to celebrate Vermont’s 10th annual Maple Open House Weekend. Also enjoy lunch at Jacob’s in Swanton.

• Wednesday, March 30^th

Wear your jammies when you come to lunch today as it’s “Breakfast for Lunch” day. You might not get anything special if you do other that a chuckle from the other lunch goers.

There will also be van service from Alburgh, Isle La Motte and North Hero for the Friday lunches on March 4^th, 11^th, 18^th and the 25^th.

Plus our regularly scheduled shopping trips to Hannaford’s, Price Chopper, pharmacies and appointments in St. Albans.

For any of there trips and events call the C.I.D.E.R. office at 372-6425 to schedule.

• Friday, February 4^th – Chicken Stew
• Friday, February 11^th – Breakfast for Lunch
• Monday, February 14^th – Valentines Day Lunch
  • Pot Roast
  • Mashed Potatoes
  • Squash
  • Red Velvet Cake
• Friday, February 18^th – Baked Haddock
• Friday, February 25^th – Macaroni & Cheese

Lunches are served at Noon at the C.I.D.E.R. community meals program “The Neighbors”, located at the South Hero Congregational Church. For more information or to make reservations for lunch and a ride call C.I.D.E.R. at 372-6425