To the editor: Family Center grateful for landscaping work, dollar and food donations

The Chester-Andover Family Center would like to thank a number of individuals and organizations for their recent help with landscaping and donations of food and money.

From left, CAFC President Gail Gibbons, Thrift Shop manager Sherry Willumitis, Katie Bourque and Vice President Dee Robinson. Photo provided.

Thanks go to the Springfield Garden Club, Green Mountain Union High School students and Family Center volunteers for help sprucing up the outside of the Family Center.

Thanks to the Springfield Garden Club for the plants and for the members who spent time and energy in getting them in the ground. A special thanks to Garden Club President Joceyln Zezza, Rosann Sexton, who is responsible for selecting and the laying out of the plants at the center, and other members of the club who assisted.

Thanks also to Erskine’s and Sunshine Acres for discounting plants and materials and to John Donarum, School to Work Transition coordinator at GMUHS, and four of his students who helped prepare the soil and did most of the planting. Thanks also go to volunteers Red Johnson and Bob Gibbons for their donation of time and materials.

We invite everyone to stop by and check out this beautiful addition to our premises.

The Stamp Out Hunger Letter Carriers Food Drive broke all records this year by collecting more than 3,000 pounds of food for the center’s Food Shelf. A very special thank you to all of the Chester letter carriers and Post Office personnel who assisted in the drive and to all who donated food. The center is extremely grateful for your continued support.

Another very special thanks to Burr and Burton senior Katie Bourque of Andover for donating $408.33 raised during this year’s alpine ski race season. This was only a portion of the money raised; she shared the other funds with the Thrifty Attic in Londonderry and the Community Food Cupboard in Manchester. In previous years, Katie donated funds to the Vermont Foodbank and to an organization in Kenya that supports children orphaned by AIDS. Katie Bourque is a remarkable young woman. Thank you, Katie.

And thank you to Crown Point Board of Realtors Inc. for its generous donation of $458.75. This organization has provided support to the center on a regular basis and the center board and volunteers are extremely grateful.

The Chester-Andover Family Center is home to the Thrift Shop, open 10 a.m. To 4 p.m. on Tuesdays, 1 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays, 10 a.m. To 4 p.m. on Fridays and 9 a.m. To 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

The Food Shelf is open 1 to 6 p.m. every Thursday.

The center is located at 908 VT Route 103 South (P. O. Box 302), Chester, VT 05143. You can reach the center by phone at 802-875-3236 or email at cafc302@gmail.com. Find out more at its website: www.chester-andoverfamilycenter.org and check out its Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/chesterandoverfamilycenter

Georgia Ethier
Secretary
Chester-Andover Family Center