Category Archives: Community Building
Supporting community in the Vermont tradition
“I would like to add my support to FPF’s outreach for membership donations. Who doesn’t read it avidly every single time? Who has not felt an expanded and enriched sense of community through its pages? Front Porch Forum makes us into a family, one who gives and shares, asks and finds, communicates and discusses issues that concern us. How many of us have been given just what we needed for free, many times over? Whose desire for recommendations has not been fulfilled by some caring neighbor? Who has not experienced the gratification that comes of giving something no longer wanted to someone who desperately needs it? This rich experiment in active, compassionate community has changed us for the better. And I believe FPF deserves our active gratitude: that is, membership funds. They have asked for no specific amount. Just think of the money you haven’t spent because you got something for free! That money could circle back to the source. I am glad to be a Supporting Member of Front Porch Forum, and am infinitely grateful for the sense of belonging and communal friendship and care that it brings to me over and over again.”
• Tami, Montpelier FPF
“I read Front Porch Forum everyday and I post a few times a year. I just made an annual donation to support its existence. If you also read FPF, and particularly if you post on it, please make a donation so it will continue to provide the service we enjoy.”
• Rachel, Morrisville FPF
“I just became a supporting member of Front Porch Forum (again)! Front Porch Forum is one of the best values around for local information. It’s a great institution in the Vermont tradition, a homespun digital business providing great service to its neighbors. If you can, help out at http://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members. Spread the word to your neighbors to try out the forum. It’s a great way to build neighborhood community. And thanks to the great Front Porch Forum team for this great resource.”
• Gary, Colchester FPF
Pear Predation near Plainfield
What a fine neighborhood we live in, and what a fine, smart service is this new way of combining and circulating information that Front Porch Forum has become.
I put out a query on Sunday about the astonishing disappearance, overnight, I think, of the considerable remainder of the finest pear crop ever on our oldest tree. I dismissed the idea of a human taker because of the obscure location of the tree, and the considerable height of it, 25 feet, I would guess, from which every last pear had been taken, top to bottom. The responses came in quickly, 8 or so, with suggestions & hypotheses: crows took them, or raccoons, turkeys, woodchucks, moose, hunters wanting to bait deer, and maybe a Drone.
The crow theorists had the most decisive evidence: they had themselves seen crows ransacking pear trees, dramatically.
So as far as our family is concerned, the crows have it… and had them, the pears.
“Crows” and “thieves” are words joined in my mind. I try to push that identification away. The idea of “thief” is an altogether human artifact. Crows do genuinely what comes naturally to them. They’re natural opportunists.
And they were here first, besides. We planted our pear trees on their ancestral land.
We shouldn’t plant our epithets on them, as well; although I do.
• Jules, Marshfield-Plainfield FPF
Invest in Your FPF… Become a Supporting Member Today
Hello FPF friends
If Front Porch Forum is useful to you, please take a minute to contribute today. Every October we ask folks to become Supporting Members. Today we kick off our 2016 campaign.
Contribute here (credit card, PayPal or check):
https://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members
More than 125,000 Vermont households participate on their local FPFs. As you’ve seen, neighbors find lost pets, report break-ins, recommend electricians, organize block parties, and so much more. And each exchange among neighbors carries the promise of community building.
If you agree that FPF is something special, then please help keep it strong. We are a Vermont business, hosting FPFs in each of the state’s 251 towns. Our staff of 14 work seven days a week to deliver our service. Most of our operating expenses are covered through ad sales to Vermont businesses. Your Supporting Member contributions help cover the rest.
Contributions are voluntary. Any amount you can give brings us closer to our 2016 goal, and makes FPF vibrant in your community. If you value FPF, become a supporting member now and help us reach our $150,000 annual statewide goal: https://frontporchforum.com/supporting-members
Many thanks from the FPF team!
Michael, Nina, Linda, Gisele, Jonna, Natanya, Christine, Carolyn, Kate, Suzie, Wendy, Jodi, Lynn and Jan
Front Porch Forum
Pay online, or mail a check to:
Front Porch Forum
PO Box 64781
Burlington, VT 05406-4781
P.S. FPF is not a charity and contributions are not tax deductible.
How do I love thee, let me count the ways
Huge shout out to Front Porch Forum. Over the years we have used it to:
- Borrow a neighbor’s ladder to reach higher up our cherry tree in exchange for some cherries
- Get a free dog crate to go pick up chickens and then pass on that free dog crate to a new home
- Know of bobcat or bear sightings in our neighborhood to close up the chicken coop
- Ross found a job
- Recommend and find great service providers (trash pick up, window washing, tree service, etc.)
- Get a heads-up on great upcoming community events
- This weekend David got a free bed for a previously homeless person setting up housing
It is such a great community resource. Win/win/win.
• Maureen, Charlotte FPF
Mother-in-law’s irreplaceable photos returned in Malletts Bay
“My mother-in-law set her camera down on the second bench over from the swing in the Bayside park in Malletts Bay around 11:00am Wednesday. She is here for the week and we would love to get that camera back for her! It’s full of family pictures that are not replaceable or printed out! If you have any information saw it or picked it up please let me know!”
• Colby, Colchester Front Porch Forum
“We got the lost camera back today! Thank you Derek for all of your help! She couldn’t be more thrilled to have those memories returned! Thank you thank you thank you!”
• Colby, Colchester FPF, next day
Amazed by Charlotte neighbors’ generosity
“As others have posted, I am amazed at the many responses to my request posted on our Front Porch Forum. So many wonderful people responded to my request to use a pick-up truck — and many stating ‘no charge, just helping a neighbor’ or simply ‘please pay it forward.’ I love this spirit of helping and cooperating with one another. We are so happy that we moved to Vermont two years ago. Thank you all — and you know who you are.”
• Lisa, Charlotte FPF
Have Garden Surplus? Share with Neighbors in Need!
Posted by Amanda on the North Hero Front Porch Forum…
Cleaning out your garden? Afraid the end of summer vegetables will get bitten by the first frost? Want to help out your neighbors in need?
The Healthy Roots Collaborative’s Gleaning Program is hosting two Home Garden Drop Off Days this week! Stop by Islands in the Sun and the Champlain Islands Food Shelf to drop off your extra produce, which will be shared with families right here in our community.
Tuesday, October 4th from 3-6 pm they will be receiving produce at the Champlain Islands Food Shelf, located at the Methodist Church at 12 Hyde Road in Grand Isle.
Thursday, October 6th from 3-6 pm they will be receiving produce at the Islands of the Sun Senior Center, located at 54 S. Main Street in Alburgh.
At each site they will weigh all produce that donated and then distribute all those fruits and vegetables right from those sites. This is a great way to give back to your community and start the garden clean-up process. Please help spread the word about this event- t he more the merrier!
Town Clerk uses FPF… break-in alert, lost and found, library events
More than 2,000 local public officials across Vermont use their Front Porch Forums to engage with their constituents, providing public service, sharing information and increasing civic participation. Here’s an example from the Williamstown FPF yesterday…
Farewell Essex… Hello Northeast Kingdom
“Since the beginning of this Front Porch Forum I have met many new friends and found things to do that I otherwise would not have known about. As of this weekend, I will no longer be on this Forum as I am moving to the Northeast Kingdom. It has been an enjoyable time, and it was wonderful meeting and interacting with everyone on here.”
• Donna, Rural Essex FPF
How do YOU find a lost bird?
“Front Porch Forum helped us recover a lost bird this summer. How else can you EVER recover a lost bird thanks!”
• Vic, Moretown FPF
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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