This is the official website of Woodstock Vermont

2024 Town Ballot – Sample

With a lot of petition articles submitted by local non-profit organizations on this year’s Town Warning, the Selectboard wanted to ensure that the public had as much information as possible to make the best educated decisions. Therefore, the Selectboard created and sent out five questions to each organization. Below are the answers we received. Some non-profits did not respond and therefore, we have not included anything from them. Windsor County Mentors Please describe your organization’s mission. Windsor County Mentors (covering all of Windsor County) creates and supports mentoring relationships between caring adults and youth to help them thrive. Describe your work specifically in the Woodstock community. In Woodstock, as in all 24 towns in Windsor County, we seek out mentors to match with local children.  Mentoring offers youth shared experiences and opportunities to widen their vision of themselves, helping them to become confident, contributing members of their community. How many people do you directly serve in Woodstock? We have a handful of participants in Woodstock and are always seeking more.  We recently held an informational event at the Norman Williams Library that yielded potential new participants from Woodstock. 4. Do you have any additional revenue sources? We do two fund-raising appeals each year and also apply for various grants.    5. How will the money being requested be used in Woodstock? The funds from Woodstock along with the funds we receive from other towns in Windsor County will be used to further our mission of connecting caring adults with young people who can benefit from having a trusted adult friend.   Ottauquechee Health Foundation Please describe your organization’s mission. The Ottauquechee Health Foundation (OHF) improves the health and well-being of people in need who live in the towns we serve. We do this through financial assistance, community partnerships, education opportunities, and support of wellness initiatives. We assist in the healthcare needs of these core towns: Barnard, Bridgewater, Hartland, Killington, Plymouth, Pomfret, Quechee, Reading, and Woodstock. We have been supporting our community for 27 years. Describe your work specifically in the Woodstock community. Ottauquechee Health Foundation provides financial assistance to individuals who are within 300% of the Federal Poverty Level and who are unable to pay for the high costs of health and wellness services.  Our Good Neighbor Grants help people pay for: dental care, a medical alert device, hearing aids, eyeglasses, mental health, as well as other health and wellness needs.  Our Homecare Grants are available short-term to keep community members safe in their homes as they recover from life events requiring additional assistance. A caregiver is assigned to a person in need and can assist with bathing, food preparation, house cleaning, and general supervision. In 2023, we approved over $76,000 in Good Neighbor and Homecare Grants to Woodstock residents; in 2022, we approved over $95,000. We provide Community Grants to non-profits and organizations that support health and wellness needs in our community. In 2023, we provided 14 Community Grants totaling nearly $28,000. Ottauquechee Health Foundation collaborates with the Mountain Views Supervisory Union (MVSU) on the Windsor Central Wellness Initiative (WCWI) to bring trauma-informed, social-emotional centered wellness programming to the students, families, school staff, and community members. This program, funded primarily by OHF, utilizes the experts at the NFI Vermont Trauma-informed Schools Program (TISP) and aims to increase workforce knowledge about the effects of traumatic stress, improve wellness, increase knowledge and implementation of trauma-informed practices and school-wide strategies, and integrate a cultural and equity lens to reduce disparities that may exist in district practices. The WCWI has been in schools in our district since 2019. How many people do you directly serve in Woodstock? In 2023, 99 Good Neighbor and Homecare Grants were given to people in Woodstock.  Our Community Grants served countless people in Woodstock in 2023. We provided Community Grants for: 25 bike helmets for patients at Ottauquechee Health Center, 10 scholarships for low-income students to attend Summer SOAK, 1 scholarship to support a student in attending the Health & Medicine Institute at Governor’s Institute of Vermont, a yoga and art program for students at the Prosper Valley School, sensory pathway installation at Woodstock Elementary School and The Prosper Valley School (as well as 3 additional elementary schools), a postpartum doula support group, doula support for pre- and postnatal periods, programming support post-flooding for Woodstock Rec Center, dental supplies for nearly 300 Woodstock Residents at the Upper Valley Haven Food Shelf, and support for 2 different author presentations for The Thompson Senior Center (each were attended by over 20 people). Do you have any additional revenue sources? Individual donations, and grants from other organizations or foundations allow us to pay for our Good Neighbor, Homecare, and Community Grants.  We have an endowment that covers our operational costs. We were gifted the Simmons Building; we rent out office spaces to area non-profits and health providers at a reduced-rate, and Glad Rags store their items for free in our basement. Revenue from tenants goes toward building expenses and maintenance. How will the money being requested be used in Woodstock? The town appropriation requested will continue to be used to support our Woodstock clients who seek Good Neighbor and Homecare Grants, as well as organizations who seek Community Grants.  The tax-exempt status will allow us to continue to provide a reduced-rate rent to our tenants. Additionally, of the nearly $230,000 Good Neighbor and Homecare Grants approved in 2023, half were spent on providers within our catchment area and over two-thirds were spent on providers in the Upper Valley.       SNSC Please describe your organization’s mission. Serving the Upper Valley for over 40 years, we’ve stood as a pillar of togetherness, tirelessly advocating for individuals with disabilities to lead enriched lives. We envision a world where every person with disabilities, and their families, have the tools and resources to achieve their best life Describe your work specifically in the Woodstock community. SNSC provides services to Woodstock residents through our adult and youth programming, educational advocacy program, and our region-wide safety initiative database for emergency responders. In 2024 we are thrilled to launch our Enable the Upper Valley initiative which will transform local businesses and organizations into disability-friendly spaces. How many people do you directly serve in Woodstock? In FY23, SNSC provided over 2,641 hours of service to 1,300 community members, offering direct advocacy support to 42 families in the Upper Valley. Woodstock makes up 12.5% of our Advocacy program. Do you have any additional revenue sources? SNSC maintains a varied funding portfolio comprising grants, individual contributions, and corporate sponsorships. Our goal is to seek support from Upper Valley towns, in total contributing 10% of our annual funding. This allocation is then distributed evenly across towns based on the number of individuals we assist and the programs we operate within each community. How will the money being requested be used in Woodstock? The funding from Woodstock will be used to continue our “Aspire” Youth camps during summer and holiday break, our regularly scheduled social and educational adult programming, and our educational advocacy for families navigating the 504 process. This funding will help bridge the gap for programming resources. The Norman Williams  Public Library Please describe your organization’s mission. The Norman Williams Public Library enriches the intellectual, cultural, and civic life of greater Woodstock by promoting a lifelong love of reading and learning; fostering the free exchange of ideas; providing a welcoming space for people of all ages and backgrounds; and offering resources for building a more just and humane community. Describe your work specifically in the Woodstock community. At the Norman Williams Public Library we promote lifelong learning and community collaboration. All of our services and programs are provided free of charge to residents of Woodstock. In addition to providing materials such as books, newspapers, magazines, videos, eBooks, audio books, chromebooks, cd/dvd players and more the library helps to fill many of the technology needs of the community. We provide public computers, printing and copying capabilities, faxing, and a secure WIFI connection, as well as internet connectivity that extends outside the building across the Village Green. In addition, technology classes and trouble-shooting help are available on a one-to-one basis. About 500 programs a year bring together members of our community; these are described on our website. Library meeting rooms are available for use by area non-profit organizations free of charge. In the Children’s Library, in addition to our regular storytimes for children and their caregivers, a nice assortment of games and puzzles — including a Medieval castle table, building bricks, and a dollhouse to delight children of all ages. The library regularly provides services to our public schools to augment library services there or to fill the gaps when school library positions are vacant and during school vacations. Many families use the library after school hours as a healthy, educational space for students. How many people do you directly serve in Woodstock? ● Nearly 3,000 Woodstock residents regularly use their library card. Last year 65,178 individuals visited the library, and it is likely that our staff assisted each one of them. Residents borrowed 52,231 books and publications, and an additional 6,270 items were borrowed electronically. ● Though the library has a substantial collection of books, there are times when residents need an item that we do not have. In these cases we provide these books through our Interlibrary Loan Program. Last year we provided residents with 3,119 books from other libraries. ● In 2023 we provided 609 programs to residents free of charge, including storytimes, family movie nights, backgammon, author talks and more, with total program attendance of 5,056 ● We provided 45 family friendly self directed puzzle challenges to 775 participants ● Individuals trained on technology: 243 ● Our Woodstock community provided 1,220 volunteer hours. ● The library provided 75 home deliveries for residents who were unable to visit the library in person. ● Our meeting rooms were used 247 times for a multitude of reasons including Woodstock non profit organizations meetings, virtual medical appointments, students prepping for GRE, LSAT, MCAT and the like. ● All students and teachers within the Woodstock School district, regardless of their hometown, receive library cards free of charge Do you have any additional revenue sources? The library receives less than 35% of its funding from the Town of Woodstock and raises the remainder through donations and our annual Gala, our major fundraising event. The library charges non-residents for library cards. How will the money being requested be used in Woodstock? Monies from the Town of Woodstock help to fund the regular operation of the library. Some of the items that are funded include: ● Collections Items – Includes books and other items, as well as subscriptions to magazines/newspapers and electronic subscriptions and Interlibrary Loan and website platform costs ● Salaries & Wages Expenditures for our highly-regarded staff ● Professional Services – Including technology, legal, bookkeeping, and marketing ● Programming Expenses for Adult, Teen, and Children’s programs and events ● Interior and Exterior Maintenance & Repair of our historic building ● Utilities – Electricity, Heat, Internet, Phone Service ● Operational Maintenance – Landscaping, Lawn Care, Snow Removal, Cleaning & trash collection Woodstock History Center Please describe your organization’s mission. Our mission is: Sharing and preserving the history of Woodstock through inspiring educational experiences and dynamic collections. Describe your work specifically in the Woodstock community. Every year, we offer a variety of free resources and programs that enrich the lives of our residents (and visitors) to our community. Such experiences consist of a variety of tours, exhibitions, activities and programs for adults and children, publications, and other educational opportunities and outreach. We also provide research information to many people and organizations. Our museum has free admission and we also provide public access to our gardens and grounds. We are the largest repository of Woodstock related archival material and objects in the town. We remain steadfast in our mission by contributing to the sense of history and identity in our community and being good stewards of our collection. How many people do you