Loryn and I stopped by the Windham County Humane Society to drop off a few donations for their Wags To Riches Auction, and to pick up some tickets.

The Windham County Humane Society, located in Brattleboro, is our area’s most important resource for facilitating pet adoptions. This animal shelter’s mission states, “The Windham County Humane Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring the safety and well-being of animals and enhancing the relationship between individuals and pets through adoption, education, advocacy, compassion and promotion of animal welfare.” Volunteerism and donations are vital to the prosperity of the organization, so every year the Windham County Humane Society hold a large fundraiser to help subsidize the cost of running the organization and keeping pets healthy.

The annual Wags to Riches Auction is being held this weekend. This is the largest and most important fundraiser of the year for the humane society. The fundraiser will be held at the Putney Inn on Saturday, March 2, starting at 6PM. There will be great food, great company (make sure to say hi to Peggy, Loryn, and Douglas), and great items to bid on. All of the items at the auction have been donated by local businesses or people in the community. The items vary from something small and practical, like a gift card to the pet store, to something large and luxurious, like an African Safari!

All of the money raised at this event will go directly to the Windham County Humane Society, which will support their programs like low cost spay-neuter clinics. This organization is near to many of our hearts at Vermont Woods Studios, as we are all animals lovers, and many of us have adopted our pets from the humane society.

Tickets cost $40/person, and can be purchased on the humane society’s website, by calling their office, or on March 2nd at the door. Everyone is welcome to join in on the fun, so be sure to bring a friend or two! Click here to visit their website to preview some of the items you can bid on (including our wood cutting board + coasters, and the 3 day weekend at Stratton Mountain that Peggy donated).

If you are unable to attend this event, there are many other ways you can support the Windham County Humane Society. You can make an online, tax-deductible, financial donation or donate items off their wishlist.

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Vermont Helps Hurricane Sandy Victims in NY and NJ

Vermonters from every corner of the Green Mountain state are putting together relief programs to assist our neighbors in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and other areas ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.   This week Vernon and Brattleboro residents have a couple opportunities to help:

• The Brattleboro Rotary Clubs are organizing assistance for Sandy victims in New Jersey. Rotarians are accepting items to donate.  They should be brought in labeled boxes of: Clothing (coats, underwear, socks, sweat pants, sweatshirts, and sweaters), blankets, towels, bedding and linens, batteries, bottled water, non-perishable food, and personal rooming supplies. You may donate items at the Estey Organ Buildings (between Building 3 & 4) at 102 and 108 Birge St.) on Monday, Nov. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m. For more information, contact Marty Cohn at 802-221-4821.
• Brattleboro Cheese has also organized a drive to collect items for delivery to New York City and New Jersey victims. Donors can drop off the following items at the Cheese Shop on 30 Main St in Brattleboro: blankets, candles, flashlights, water, food (non-perishable), lights, flashlights, batteries, diapers and wipes, gloves and masks, rubber boots, shovels, cleaning supplies and bleach, trash bags, serving dishes and utensils, anything that produces heat, winter wear (jackets, hats, gloves, warm stuff).
• Adivasi, a Flat Street store that was battered by Tropical Storm Irene, and Flat Street Rising are also organizing relief efforts.  For more information call 802-258-2231.

Stay tuned for more ways to help and check out Loryn Dion’s posts for updates on Vermont’s growing relief effort.

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Happily we had a couple nice sales Saturday and I can report that we raised $306 for the Fund.  That amount was matched 50% by local employer Entergy.  I guess it's a small amount when you're looking at a disaster of such enormous proportions but the truth is most businesses in Vermont are small, just like us.  But we're banding together and it's amazing to see the recovery take shape as a result. 

Manjula and Dennis are cooking up additional fundraisers and planning to run them about once per month throughout the next year.  Stay tuned for updates.  That's Manjula delivering our donation to Carmen Darby, the Windham County United Way Director.  Thanks to both of you for all the good work you do for our community.

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But there is much work left to do.  As with all disasters the news media moves on, but so many people are still in need of assistance.  At Vermont Woods Studios Furniture we are trying to think of ways to help.  One thing we are doing is donating 100% of profits from all furniture sold online or in our showroom this Saturday, September 17.  If you have been thinking about buying furniture, this would be a great time to do it!  All of our Shaker Furniture is on sale that day; we have 6 Dining Room Sets on Sale that can be installed in your home for Thanksgiving Dinner plus (how cool is this?) our donation will be matched by local employer Entergy-VY.  Talk about leveraging your hard-earned money. So it could be a win for you and others– in a big way.  If the promotion is successful, we’ll sponsor similar events periodically to continue to help out where we can.

Thanks for your continued well-wishes as Vermonters work to rebuild after the storm.

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