The other morning I received an email from Peggy with the subject line, “a cause near and dear to our hearts.” I suspected immediately that it had to do with animals. Everyone at Vermont Woods Studios has a soft spot for animals, but I think Loryn and I would win the award for biggest bleeding hearts in the office. Ever since we purchased Stonehurst, Loryn and I have actively been trying to persuade Peggy to let us have a few animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, chickens, and I think we’ve thrown around the idea of having a horse or two). Although we haven’t quite convinced the whole team of this mini farm idea, Stonehurst will be a sustainable furniture showroom and nature center.

Once I stopped day dreaming about our Stonehurst farm, I opened the email and confirmed my suspicion that the cause had to do with animals. Peggy had sent me this call for help from the Stuck in Vermont Facebook page.

In addition to the call for help, Stuck in Vermont attached a video with the story behind the Gamache family and this cause. Here’s what I learned from the video: Junior and Joyce Gamache have a family-run organic dairy farm in St. Albans, Vermont. The Gamache family has a admirable passion for their animals (cows and cats alike), a passion for staying true to traditional farming, and a passion for their deep Vermont roots. This video made it an easy decision for us to donate to the Gamache barn cat fund; not only because we love cats, but because Vermonters help other Vermonters.

We hope that you’ll take a few minutes to watch the Stuck in Vermont episode about the Gamache family and their barn cats. The Franklin County Humane Society is going to help spay and neuter the Gamache barn cats, but they need to raise money to contribute to the costs. It costs $40 for each cat to get spayed/neutered, but you can contribute any amount via their inlu page. Donations will be accepted until Thursday, February 28th. You can also help spread the word by sharing the Stuck in Vermont’s Facebook post with your friends.

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Belle, Patti and I as we presented BEEC with our donation.

About three weeks ago, we held a one day sale for the Bonnyvale Environmental Educational Center. BEEC is a member-based non profit organization founded in 1991 with the mission to develop a more ecologically informed citizenry through education and action in order to enhance and sustain the vitality of southern Vermont’s bioregion. BEEC organizes and leads many community-based environmental research and conservation programs, including watershed stewardship, reptile and amphibian conservation initiatives, and biodiversity planning and protection.

Last Friday, Manjula and I traveled to BEEC to meet with Patti Smith and Belle Coles, two of BEEC’s amazing staff, to share the details of our sale and present them with a check for $800. They revealed to us that this money will go towards future wildlife rehabilitation efforts that they have been working on. BEEC is currently looking at the feasibility of being a hub for wildlife rehabilitation activities in Southern Vermont. If you would like to learn more about how you can help with their efforts, take their wildlife rehabilitation survey.

Part of our mission is to be involved with local non profit organizations, like BEEC, that support sustainable forestry projects. Vermont Woods Studios was founded to help protect trees and forests around the world, so we take our community service very seriously. We are proud to have been able to support such a great organization and we look forward to working with them again in the very near future!

Follow our blog to learn about how non profit organizations like BEEC fit in to our mission and how Vermont Woods Studios remains active and engaged in our community.  You can also check out our Facebook to see other ways that we support local businesses and organizations.

The post Thank you for a Successful Sale for Our Favorite Non Profit Organization! appeared first on Vermont Woods Studios.

BEEC Benefit Sale

Here at Vermont Woods Studios, we enjoy getting out of the office from time to time to work with our neighbors on good causes that help the community. We are involved with many nonprofit organizations to lend our support for projects promoting sustainable forestry and the protection of endangered forest species. One of those organizations is the Bonnyvale Environmental Educational Center (BEEC). That’s why we are holding a BEEC Benefit Sale this Friday, October 26th.

BEEC is a member-based non-profit organization founded in 1991 with the mission to develop a more ecologically informed citizenry through education and action in order to enhance and sustain the vitality of southern Vermont’s bioregion. BEEC organizes and leads many community-based environmental research and conservation programs, including watershed stewardship, reptile and amphibian conservation initiatives, and biodiversity planning and protection.

Patti Smith, Director of Conservation Initiatives and Public Programs for BEEC, organizes volunteers to brave cold, rainy nights every Spring in a passionate effort to protect, preserve and guide Vermont amphibians as they cross busy roads on their annual migration. In honor of her efforts, we named our Smith Natural Vermont Furniture Collection after her.

For tomorrow only, 10% of our overall sales will go to benefit the programs of the Bonnyvale Environmental Educational Center. By purchasing any of our handcrafted bedroom, dining room, living room and home office furniture, you will help to secure the future of BEEC initiatives for years to come. You can also rest assured that all of the furniture pieces you buy from us are crafted from sustainably harvested hardwoods right here in Vermont. We’ll even make the deal better by offering you our lifetime guarantee and free shipping.

Don’t forget, our American-made Bedroom Furniture Sale is still going on. Save up to 20% on all beds, nightstands, dressers, chests, armoires and mirrors. Buy as an American-made bedroom set and save even more. Or you can save big on our Patti Smith Natural Collection and support one of our favorite Vermont naturalists.

This benefit sale is for 10/26 only, but our bedroom sale ends Tuesday, October 30^th. 

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I can report that your furniture purchases generated a $418 donation to The Nature Conservancy.  Half of that will be donated to the local Vermont Chapter of The Nature Conservancy and half will to the national/international TNC campaign.

We wish to thank all of our customers and readers who bought furniture or promoted our event.  We look forward to working with Jennifer Kramer, our local TNC representative to further strengthen our partnership with Nature.org.

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