Dems to hold heat fundraiser for Family Center;
CAES, Weston Playhouse get Arts Council grants

Chester, Andover Dems hold heat fundraiser for Family Center

The Chester and Andover Democrats will hold its annual Holiday Housewarming Fuel & Food Fundraiser at Baba a Louis Bakery,  92 VT-11 in Chester, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 14. There will be plenty to eat and drink at this event, which is open to the entire community.

All money raised will be given to the Chester-Andover Family Center to help those who need assistance in heating their homes this winter. Since the fundraiser’s inception in 2005, more than $20,000 has been raised to help local residents keep their homes warm in the cold winter months.

For the past several years, attendees also brought non-perishable food items to help replenish the shelves at the Family Center’s food pantry, knowing that no one should have to chose between heating or eating.

Even though Baba a Louis Bakery closed earlier this year, owner John McClure, offered to reopen his building to once again host this year’s fund-raiser.

State Rep. Tom Bock said that the federal Low Income Energy Assistance Program may again be cutting funding to the states, and that’s why it’s important to continue raising money in our own community. “The Chester-Andover Family Center does a great job of getting the assistance to those who need it,” said Bock.

For more information, contact Tom Bock at 875-2222 or Kathy Pellett at 875-1372. If you are unable to attend but wish to make a donation, please make your check payable to Food & Fuel Assistance Fund and send to Bill Dakin, c/o Dakin and Benelli, P.O. Box 499, Chester, VT 05143.

CAES, Weston Playhouse get Arts Council grants

The Vermont Arts Council has awarded 110 grants totaling $518,688 to artists, arts organizations and communities throughout Vermont, two of them within the middle-southern Vermont region.

The projects funded range from a Cultural Facilities Grant that helps fund the installation of an ADA-compliant elevator to a Creation Grant of $4,000 that will enable a poet to create new work.

FY2019 grants were awarded in the categories of Artist Development, Artists in Schools, Arts Impact, Arts Partnership, Creation, Cultural Facilities and Head Start Arts Integration.  A full list of grantees is available on the Vermont Arts Council website.

• Chester-Andover Elementary School received a $750 Artists in Schools Grant to support a three-day mapmaking residency  with Mollie Burke.
• And Weston Playhouse Theatre Company received a $6,300 Arts Partnership Grant to support operating and administrative costs.