I have been doing some genealogy research lately and came across this:

“March 19, 1887 Yonkers Statesman: Thomas Mitchell of Webster Avenue who has been suffering for two weeks past with rheumatism and throat affection is able to be out again.”

Looks like back in the day the newspaper actually watched our for the community. I think Front Porch Forum is filling that nitch today (I know the Free Press certainly isn’t). If you are holed up and need a little help at some point, I hope you’ll let your neighbors know. We’ll bring soup.

See you at the rink!

Dear Friends and Neighbors: I have lived in this wonderful community of Richmond for the past twenty seven years. It’s been a wonderful place to raise my two children Adam and Beth. Beth is now grown, a college student, and I continue to partially support her during her college years.

As most of you know, I lost Adam in Iraq four years ago and the town was wonderful. I thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for the support and kind words, especially allowing me to place a bench at the Round Church Park in remembrance of him, which will bring me back to visit often. I hope that when soccer and little league season starts, you will all remember that Adam played soccer and baseball here in Richmond. I hope that when you see a log drifting down the Winooski River on a hot summer day, you will remember that Adam, Anthony  and Dylan would float down the Winooski River. I hope that on the 4th of July, Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, when you see all the flags, it’s because of Adam that they can be replaced at no cost to the town.

Beth and I must leave this wonderful community now. I have sold my home and will move to a place that is almost as peaceful. Everyone say’s that I raised two wonderful children but the fact is, the families of Richmond also helped. This is truly a wonderful community, Beth and I will miss this place immensely.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Kathrine

PS: To Bridge Street Café, could you please bring back the messy whessy? That was Adam’s favorite meal just because he liked to say Messy Whessy.

And more evidence of Vermonters’ capacity to support their neighbors was shared on the Charlotte FPF…

I noticed a very kind comment from someone in Charlotte (who I can only hope is on Front Porch Forum) posted about an essay I wrote for Salon.com.

It brought up a nagging guilt over the fact that I never said anything close to a proper thank you for everything so many people in our town — those who know me and those who don’t — did for our family when my husband was dying of cancer. I can only plead overwhelming grief, exhaustion and the fact that every resource I could summon was directed at keeping our teetering little boat afloat. And then so much time passed.

But I was raised with better manners. So I hope you’ll now accept my utter gratitude for the meals, the shoveled steps, incredibly, the beautiful bulbs planted in our yard so that we would have a bright memory of Kevin in spring. For that and so much of the organization of these things I especially thank my dear friends Liza and Tom Wright. But there are so many more. We do, as the commenter noted, live in a loving community and I feel enormously lucky for that.

The feelings expressed in the essay were never meant to ignore or diminish any of these considerable gifts. There are clearly things the best intentioned neighbors cannot fix.

Warmly,

Lee Ann

I wanted to post a huge thank you to the female driver who stopped in front of our home on Jan, 21st around 430 pm  and helped my father up our drive to the door.

You are a special person who ever you are and I am Thankful you drove by : This could have been a 911 situation. Again, My Thanks!!!  If you read this please email me, I would like to thank you in person.

And a huge thank you to the poster, Julia, as well, for sharing this tale… an inspiration for many others, I’m sure.

“… without a diary, their travels would ‘be no better than a flight of birds through the air,’ leaving no trace.” John Adams to his grand sons, George (14) & John (12), as they sailed for London 1815 – John Adams – David McCullough p. 617-4

I woke up this morning thinking about FPF and its predecessor maplecorner.com, seeing these as our collective community diaries that record where we have been and help us work together where we are going. Thank you everyone for broadening our community, giving us a way to better understand each other.

Last night I stupidly decided to try driving up the steep side of Lincoln hill rd through the deep snow. When I got to the steepest section my little car started spinning out, so, with no traction to turn around I began to head backwards down the hill. The snow was piling up on my back window, and with the inability to see I ended up losing control and somehow ended up in a 180 degree spin, sliding sideways towards the ditch. Luckily I was able to stop before I was completely in the ditch, but I was in a very precarious position. If I had released the e-brake, Im pretty sure that i would have slid into the stream below.

As I sat wondering what to do, I saw a flashlight bobbing down a nearby driveway. A young lady approached me with a shovel, and her father followed with his own shovel. They were obviously well practiced in the art of saving unassuming drivers from Lincoln hill in the winter, and got right down to business. They good-naturedly dug me out of the snow and pushed my car back onto the road, saving me from slipping into the woods. I didn’t even catch their names or thank them properly, because before I knew it I was heading down the middle of the road, safe and sound.

If it wasn’t for their neighborly concern, I would have had a ditched car and a very unpleasant night.

It’s people like that who help people like me get through the winter! I love Vermont.

Followed up today by…

I think this is what people mean when they say we are Vermont Strong.  I am proud to live here, too.

Our Dream - A compilation of dreams and lines written by Mrs. Earle-Centers’ 5th and 6th grade students at Calais Elementary (written after watching Dr. King’s speech in 1963 in Washington, D.C.)

I have a dream that one day everyone will have a friend.
I have a dream that one day people who are poor will get homes and food.
I have a dream that one day all humans will be equal in money, and in health—that no one will be hungry or forced to work to death.
I have a dream that everyone will have food and water and that no one in this world will starve.

I have hope and faith we will be able to help endangered animals, give them homes and treat them well.
I have a dream that people will stop abusing animals.

I have a dream that one day everyone will be safe.
I have hope and faith that we will be able to adopt kids that need help, be there for them and give them care.
I have a dream that all kids will get their own rights and learn to have some kind of freedom.

I have a dream that one day all people will be nice to each other.
I have a dream that one day, everyone can just be friendly, not mean or hurtful.
I have a dream that we will stop the flow of harmful words.
I have a dream that one day we will stand up against bullying and that bullying will stop.
I have a dream that that the people who were getting bullied will be happy.

I have a dream that everyone, no matter what race, will be friends not foes.
I have a dream that one day there will be no nuclear bombs or nuclear power of any kind.
I have a dream that one day this nation will make peace with other nations.
I have a dream that one day this whole world will be in peace, and that angry wars will come to an end,

I have a dream that one day everyone will show the people of the world that they care about what they need.
I have a dream that one day our nation’s weak will be strong, and the strong will be stronger.
I have a dream that our nation will carry on together and with strength.

I have a dream that one day everyone will get along.

FPF is expanding beyond Burlington… we now serve one-third of Vermont.  More than 32,000 members participate in rural areas, suburbs, and cities.  Imagine this level of engagement in every part of Vermont and beyond!  Let us know if you’d like to help bring FPF to your town (just enter your address on our home page and complete the form).

Three cheers for the tens of thousands FPF members in Vermont… and here’s to vibrant neighborhoods in 2012!

#VT – My “seeking snowshoe” post received many responses and we were able to get out and enjoy the fresh snow because of our generous neighbors. Happy New Year to all – we are lucky to live in such a great community!

That was posted by Laura on the Huntington Front Porch Forum today.  Happy New Year indeed!

When, a couple of years ago, a small group of us got together and submitted Cambridge’s e-Vermont application we didn’t realize how integral Front Porch Forum would become to the day-to-day life of our community.

We’ve had a few controversies but there seems to be a self-correcting mechanism in the common sense of FPF subscribers. “It was on the Forum”, has become a fairly common response in town when asked how someone learned of a new business or community service. The Cambridge Front Porch Forum now reaches into more than half of the households in town and I expect that the number of households served will increase yet again when our long promised 100% broadband coverage becomes a reality by next summer. Our Cambridge FPF membership seems to have reached a critical mass and new members join almost daily even though there has been no organized membership drive, that I know of, since last year’s 4th of July celebration. Word of mouth seems to be working! Congratulations to all Cambridge Forum subscribers for making it a valuable community resource and thanks to our local businesses who utilize the Forum with restraint to offer special value opportunities to our community.

Music to my ears!  Thanks for sharing, Dennis.  We see the points made above happen again and again in other FPF towns, namely…

• People don’t realize how much value FPF will bring… six months into it they are amazed.
• After an early effort to prime the pump, word-of-mouth keeps new members walking in the virtual door.
• FPF typically has the occasional controversy, but it doesn’t go so far as to poison the conversation and drive people away.  I’m glad this appears to be “self-correcting”… we’ve worked hard for years to refine our process with this end in mind.
• Universal broadband availability isn’t necessary for FPF to get started and make a big impact, AND with widespread broadband adoption FPF becomes even more valuable to local folks.

UPDATE:  From another Cambridge FPF member…

A bunch of people were gathered last night in Jeffersonville, and the subject of FPF came up to great kudos for the work you are doing.  In fact, some lamented on behalf of friends who live nearby and do not have FPF.

Many of the postings are also making their way to sister town Underhill’s FPF.  We heard from an FPF member there the other day complaining about clogging up his FPF with this dirt road conversation from neighboring Jericho.

FPF online community manger Linda posted in response…

One neighbor’s interesting news is another’s static! The feedback is helpful…

And today, from Underhill FPF member Karl…

More feedback, Linda: Jericho roads are important to Underhill drivers. This paving  debate is intrinsically interesting and directly pertinent to us. Far from “clogging” the forum it’s animating and informing the forum. More to the point, much of the beauty of FPF is its lean, succinct presentation; it takes a fraction of a second to skip what doesn’t interest us. Even more to the point, the point of FPF isn’t only to get the news, it’s also to participate in and partake of the community around us, to learn to think of ourselves as connected and responsible for each other. Please send us anything and everything we might care about, whether or not we’re eligible to vote on it.