New legislation introduced in the U.S. House aims to help small states like Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine deal with homelessness. Congressman Peter Welch is pushing to increase the amount of money small states get under a program to address homelessness. A program created in 1990 funds states' efforts to help those suffering from mental illness or substance abuse and who are at risk of becoming homeless.

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Vermont’s next governor will face a host of challenges — mounting budget deficits, an unsure economy, the future of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. But from the kitchens of beaten-down homes on the state’s back roads to the back rooms of apartments on the streets of Burlington, Vermont faces another problem, largely absent from day-to-day political wrangling — hunger. “I’ve seen a lot of empty freezers,” said Suzan Condon of the Central Vermont Council on Aging. “I saw one fridge that just had butter in it, and that was a dairy farmer! Nine times out of ten, our farmers are living in trailers, freezing to death in the winter.”

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When Vermont anti-poverty workers learned of the death Monday of longtime advocate Edna Fairbanks-Williams, they marveled at everything the 77-year-old great-grandmother of 16 brought to the cause — and the humble, honest and occasionally humorous way she did it. For all their education and empathy, Shullenberger and most other social justice leaders lack such hardscrabble experience. Now that Fairbanks-Williams is gone, they fear the state has lost a valuable resource for connecting Vermonters with the human face of poverty. An estimated 65,000 Vermonters — 10 percent of the state's population — live below federal poverty levels.

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A Rutland organization known for helping children and families will soon be housing them as well. The Vermont Achievement Center is working to renovate and furnish a temporary homeless family shelter on its Park Street campus, according to VAC president and CEO Kiki McShane. "We know that the motels are full and families are moving into campgrounds right now because of the economy," she said. "We have a good pulse on what the community needs and we literally have the space."

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C&S Wholesale Grocers has given $500, plus a sizable food donation, to assist the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.  Officials with C&S have provided the necessary materials to the campaign’s Cooking for Life in the county, a collaboration between VTCECH and the University of Vermont Extension’s expanded food and nutrition education program. The program is a six-week course designed to provide local participants an opportunity to learn essential cooking skills and how to purchase an affordable, healthy meal. Once the program is complete, participants will take home the groceries they need to recreate the meals they learned to cook within Cooking for Life.

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The John Graham Shelter — now marking its 30th year — has a staff of a half-dozen workers who work with each client to try and get them into a permanent home and a job that will help them stay in that home. “We are more interested in breaking the cycle of homelessness,” said shelter Executive Director Elizabeth Ready. The numbers bear that out. During the past six months, the shelter has provided outreach, case management and comprehensive support — services including mental health counseling, job search aid and relocation help — to more than 130 homeless people, according to Ready. More than 100 of those clients have gone on to stable, more permanent housing, she said.

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ABC anchor Diane Sawyer spent two minutes last December telling the country how Brattleboro's First Baptist Church wanted to sell its historic Tiffany window to save its winter homeless shelter. Three A spate of national news reports has sparked a $100,000 window bid, thousands of dollars in church donations and a search by town artists and historians for a local savior. But however the congregation decides to proceed won't necessarily lead to a happy ending for the shelter and the homeless people it serves.

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According to Skinny Pancake owner Benjy Adler, he and his staffers have long joked that the crêperie has an alter ego called “The Chubby Muffin.” “I have this fixation on muffins. I just love [them],” Adler admits. But he never thought the goofy name would grace an honest-to-goodness eatery. Sometime in April, it will. Located at 88 Oak Street in the Old North End, the Muffin will serve dual functions. Staffers will sell the namesake pastries, coffee and ice cream to hungry locals, and the space also will serve as a community kitchen.

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The Upper Valley Haven plans to open its new 20-bed shelter for homeless adults in May but needs to raise roughly $150,000 to add staff and programming for the Hartford Avenue building. “We aren't finished yet. … We still have a ways to go to be able to have the funds to operate this program,” Haven Executive Director Sara Kobylenski said yesterday during a ceremony intended to highlight a $200,000 federal earmark U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., included in last year's budget for construction of the new shelter.

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A record 83,342 or 1 in 8 Vermonters currently rely on 3SquaresVT (formerly Food Stamps) to buy their monthly food and participation continues to rise.  3SquaresVT is designed to be a nutrition supplement for limited-income Vermonters; yet as the economic recession lingers and jobs remain scarce, more Vermonters count the benefits as their only source of support. 

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The Obama Administration announced last week the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is renewing grant funding to keep thousands of local homeless assistance programs operating. Seven Vermont organizations will receive a total of nearly $3.4 million.

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Vermont will hold its annual homeless memorial vigil Jan. 13 at noon on the Statehouse steps in Montpelier. The state’s homeless shelter and service providers will commemorate the thousands of Vermonters who received housing and/or services this past year. Stay after to discuss what can be done for the others who aren't able to receive these services.

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Vermont has been ranked as the 6th hungriest state in the nation, down from 14th in the last report which was a three year average. A non-profit organization, Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger (VCECH), is working hard to change these statistics by increasing awareness of Federal and State Programs aimed at combating hunger. VCECH also spearheads the program Cooking for Life, in collaboration with the University of Vermont Extension's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). The Cooking for Life program impacts participants by providing them with the skills and knowledge needed to improve their food security.

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Across the nation, December 21st is recognized as the National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. This day serves as a time to remember our neighbors who have died homeless during the year. On this first day of winter and the longest day of the year, the Community Health Center of Burlington (CHCB) and Uncommon Grounds have partnered to take action and to not only remember those who have died, but to help ensure that those who continue to struggle with homelessness have at least a warm pair of socks, gloves and a hat.

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Dwindling funds at the Vermont Foodbank have imperiled the organization's ability to provide food to the unprecedented number of residents now relying on its services.Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles said Wednesday that difficult economic conditions have already exacted a significant toll on staffing levels at his organization.

The operational cutbacks come as the Foodbank grapples with the highest demand in its history. Without an immediate increase in the private donations that fund the organization, Sayles said, the Foodbank could be forced to embark on additional cost-cutting measures that could jeopardize its ability to provide food to hundreds of agencies around Vermont.

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