Respite grants offered for caregivers; deadline nears for Apple Blossom Cotillion participants; Mobus family honored by Springfield Rotary; Komen ride raises $30,000

Respite grants offered for caregivers

Senior Solutions (Council on Aging for Southeastern Vermont) has respite funding available through the Dementia Respite Grant. This grant, funded by the state of Vermont, supports paid respite opportunities for primary, unpaid caregivers in Windsor and Windham counties.  The elder’s income eligibility limit is $2,917 per month for an individual or $3,932 per month for a couple.

For more information please call the Senior Helpline at 1-800-642-5119 and ask to speak to the grant manager. www.SeniorSolutionsVT.org

Deadline nears to apply for Apple Blossom queen

High school senior girls in the communities served by Springfield Hospital and Springfield Medical Care Systems are invited to participate in the 60th annual Apple Blossom Cotillion.  One will join the select group of Apple Blossom Queens.

This year’s production will feature music from throughout the event’s six decades and a presentation to the first Apple Blossom Queen, Joan Ryan Bishop.

Proceeds from the event are used for the Dr. E. Sherburne Lovell Health Career Award and to benefit Springfield Hospital and community health centers of SMCS.

Applications are available at www.springfieldmed.org and at area high schools. Applications must be received by Dec. 7. All partcipants will be expected to attend an orientation and rehearsals leading up the performances on Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7, at Riverside Gymnasium in Springfield.

For information, call Larry Kraft, 802-885-7644, or lkraft@springfieldmed.org

Springfield Rotary honors family of donors

The Springfield Rotary Club honored its latest Paul Harris Fellows this past week.

Rotarian Jeff Mobus, who donated in the names of his parents, Gay and John, and his wife Lisa,  presented the awards to them.

A Paul Harris Fellow (named after the founder of Rotary International) is an individual who contributes $1,000 to the global Rotary Foundation or in whose name that amount is contributed. Every Paul Harris Fellow receives a pin and a certificate when he or she becomes a Fellow.

This identifies the Paul Harris Fellow as a supporter and an advocate of the foundation’s goals of world peace and international understanding.

VT Ride for Cure raises more than $30,000

Thanks to  63 horseback riders who took part in October’s Sixth Annual Ride for the Cure and the generosity of the event’s host, the Green Mountain Horse Association in South Woodstock, Susan G. Komen Vermont-New Hampshire has raised in excess of $30,000, bringing the event’s six-year total to more than $302,000.

Vermont Ride chair and three-time breast cancer survivor Lois Steele Whidden of Rockingham said that up to 75 percent of all of the money raised at the ride stays in Vermont and New Hampshire to be used for breast cancer education, screening and treatment programs. The remaining funds go to the Susan G. Komen national and international research programs.

Each ride participants commits to raise and donate a minimum of $250 with many riders going above and beyond. KaitLynn Jones of Rockingham took top honors for the second year in a row as Platinum Rider, bringing in more than $3,200.

Gold Riders Christine Giddings and Carrie Newland, each raised more than $1,000.  KateLynn Matteson was the Silver Rider, having raised more than $750, and the Bronze Riders, who each raised more than $500, were Sara Eastman and Olivia Peer.

For more information on the Vermont Ride and to learn of other local efforts to find a cure for breast cancer visit komenvtnh.org. For more information about Susan G. Komen, breast health or breast cancer, visit www.komen.org or call 1-877 GO KOMEN.

— Compiled by Leah M. Cunningham