Yearly Archives: 2014
5 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your FPF Membership
To get the most out of Front Porch Forum, and to keep your FPF account working well, please try the following:
- See your new FPF COMMUNITY CALENDAR for local events:
- Go to http://FrontPorchForum.com and click LOGIN (if not already logged in), and click CALENDAR to see nearby events.
- Or just click the VIEW YOUR FPF CALENDAR orange button or icon in your e-newsletter.
- You also can embed this calendar into other local websites or automatically add FPF-listed events to other online calendars.
- SEARCH your FPF’s POSTING ARCHIVE for past recommendations, free items, break-in reports, etc.:
- Go to http://FrontPorchForum.com and click LOGIN (if not already logged in).
- Click SEARCH ARCHIVE to look for postings from any FPF to which you have full access.
- Check daily postings from NEIGHBORING FPFs:
- Near the bottom of your FPF e-newsletter under “News from Neighboring FPFs,” click the READ MORE link(s).
- STAY LOGGED IN to the FPF website between visits (so the steps above are easier):
- Go to http://FrontPorchForum.com and click LOGOUT (if available), then click LOGIN.
- Enter your email address and FPF password, and keep the box checked for “Remember me when I come back.” Click the orange “Log In” button.
- If your web browser asks you if you want it to remember this login information, select “yes.”
- To have your login information remembered by your computer, you may need to adjust your web browser’s preferences/settings to allow “cookies” for the FrontPorchForum.com website.
- ENSURE CONSISTENT DELIVERY of your FPF e-newsletters:
- Please add these email addresses to your email’s address book/contact list: [your FPF’s name]@frontporchforum.com (i.e., the email address in the FROM field of your FPF e-newsletter) and sender@postageapp.com.
- Check your spam filter for FPF e-newsletters. If you find any, please mark them as NOT SPAM. Please do NOT mark any email message from FPF as spam.
- Tell your email provider that messages from the following addresses are not spam and that they should be “white listed:” [your FPF’s name]@frontporchforum.com and sender@postageapp.com.
- If you stop using your current email addresses, please update the email address on your existing FPF account (rather than creating a new FPF account for this new email address). To do so, login to FPF and click MY ACCOUNT.
Best wishes this holiday season!
Salisbury Holiday Tree Lighting Trivia Contest
Ken posted the following on Front Porch Forum in Salisbury, Leicester, Ripton and Goshen yesterday:
1) Which holiday tree is larger– Salisbury’s or the Burlington Church Street tree?
2) How about Salisbury’s or the Vatican’s?
Post your responses to FPF. Whoever gets the most right will win a box of delicious cookies and fame at this year’s event which will start at 5 pm THIS SATURDAY at Memorial Park (hayrides, bonfire, Santa, hot cocoa, lighting the magnificent tree) followed by more events at the Salisbury Library (More time with Santa, storybook dedication and reading, food, and refreshments).
Thanksgiving
I’m grateful for this forum,
As I’m sure you all are too,
So as I count my blessings,
I’m counting you good neighbors too.Happy Thanksgiving All!
Posted by Peggy on the Jericho Front Porch Forum.
Giving Thanks for FPF Sponsors
In this season of thanksgiving, please join us in thanking the major Front Porch Forum sponsors for 2014. Without their support, your local forum would not be possible. Special appreciation to:
- New England Federal Credit Union
- Building Energy
- Bourne’s Energy
- Lake Champlain Chocolates
- Cabot Creamery
- Smugglers’ Notch
- Bolton Valley Resort
- Almartin Volvo
- The Edge Sports & Fitness
- VTrans
- VPIRG
- Casella Waste Systems
- The University of Vermont Medical Center
- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont
- Vermont State Colleges
- University of Vermont
- Windows & Doors By Brownell
- Wick & Maddocks Attorneys at Law
If your Vermont business, nonprofit, institution or agency would like to join this community-minded group, please contact us at localbiz@frontporchforum.com or 802-540-0069 x1. Learn more about how FPF advertising can help you reach Vermonters.
Additional 2014 FPF sponsors to whom we’re also grateful include:
- SunCommon
- Vermont Teddy Bear Company
- Jay Peak Resort
- Stowe Mountain Resort
- Dealer.com
- TIAA CREFF
- Vermont Gas
- Central Vermont Solid Waste Management District
- Healthy Living Market and Cafe
- Natural Provisions
- Greater Burlington YMCA
- The Essex Resort & Spa
- Johnson Law Group
- The Vermont Realty Team
- Computers for Change
- University Mall
- Morning Dew Landscaping & Stonework
- Big Rock Landscape
- Cathedral Square Corporation
- Vermont Precision Woodworks
- SerVermont
- Go Vermont
- Chittenden Co. Reg. Planning Comm.
- Chittenden Solid Waste District
- CCTA and GMTA
- VAST
- Northwestern Medical Center
- Copley Hospital
- Vermont Health Connect
- Champlain College
- Vermont Tech
- Community College of Vermont
- Sterling College
- The Schoolhouse
Best wishes to all this coming holiday season.
Town Clerk: “If FPF wasn’t there, we’d have to invent it”
A central Vermont FPF member emailed several of her local municipal officials urging greater use of their FPF to reach and engage citizens about a host of topics. The Town Clerk just replied with this:
“… the Clerk’s office makes quite a bit of use of Front Porch Forum. I get quite a bit of feedback on it, particularly around election related deadlines and events. I’m pretty sure the Senior Center (and probably others) does too, so I know the utility has been spreading. I love FPF for clerk stuff, actually. It’s a perfect fit. If it wasn’t there, we’d have to invent it.”
Moving to Ripton… neighbor gratitude
“Thanks to a Front Porch Forum member, I quickly found help for my move to the Ripton area. Hurrah!” Posted by Jean on the FPF that serves Ripton.
Kindness of neighbors… priceless
Lisa posted the following on the Front Porch Forum in West Windsor, Vermont, a few days ago…
I came home this morning to grab my 4 winter tires (Nokian studded snows) and they were GONE! I paid $650 for those tires just last year so I could live here, so I could get to work, make a life.
That was taken from me. I have no money to replace those tires and don’t know how I will be able to keep my job.
The police can’t help.
If anyone hears any rumors about someone selling used Nokian studded snows or knows of anyone who may have some information, please contact me…
I guess this is a reminder to watch for ourselves and our neighbors. Maybe it’s a good time to introduce ourselves to our neighbors BEFORE something bad happens. Maybe together, as a community, we can have safe homes/neighborhoods to live in.
Thieves are obviously in the area 🙁
Although she has yet to recover her tires, the FPF posting did net something else for her and her neighbors…
I want to thank the people in our community for the kind responses I received, after posting on Front Porch Forum.
It was heartwarming to come home to several e-mails, offering kind words and even offers of tires! Unfortunately, none fit but the kind offers meant so much more than any set of tires.
Tires can be replaced. The kindness of others is priceless.
Eureka Idea!
What you have started with FPF, is simply an eureka idea.
The website is very sophisticated as well as easy to read.
Fine, fine work and so needed.
An honest, trustworthy site. Thank you!
What a lovely note to receive today. Thank you, Judith in Burlington!
Relocalizing Vermont on WGDR
Skepticism –> incredulity –> acceptance
The good folks at FeverBee are channeling Saul Alinsky today…
If you try to build a community for a group of people (especially within an existing boundary i.e. employees), they tend to react the same way.
First, they’re skeptical.
They don’t know you. They don’t have time for the community. They’re worried that the community will change a status quo that benefits them… You must remain enthusiastic and keep pushing. You must work with the rare believers in your vision, not those against it.Second, they’re incredulous.
They can’t believe it’s succeeding. Why are people going along with this? Are they crazy? They set an increasingly angry tone. You must not react/respond to them… Be open to any questions they have. Don’t let them provoke a negative reaction that will undermine your efforts.Third, they accept it.
They’re members. This is quite sudden. Once they realize they’re in danger of being left behind, they become members.
As we’ve opened up online Front Porch Forum communities for every locale in Vermont, we find many who welcome us gladly, some who are indifferent, and a few who follow Alinsky’s pattern above. But those few make a lot of noise and demand our attention. We remain open to input, concerns and fresh ideas… but we’ve also come to realize that the initial skepticism and incredulity will most likely be replaced with acceptance in a few weeks… and even blossom into vigorous use and championing of their local FPF to neighbors.
About Blog
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more
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