From the Rev. Lee Ferry (Hardwick) Dan Noyes, who works with the Volunteer Center of Central Vermont and the Northeast Kingdom (RSVP), is recruiting volunteers to help with post-Irene work in Waterbury.

He says what they need varies from day to day, but they can usually use people to answer phones, and they were looking for people to build handicap access ramps when I spoke with him.

Anyone who's interested or has questions can contact him: Dan Noyes 167 Park St Morrisville VT 05661 (802)888-2190 (802)888-2571 fax dan@volunteervt.com

Our sister parish, St. Mary’s, Wilmington, must evacuate their building and are currently sharing space at the UCC church in Wilmington. They have asked for our help tomorrow morning from 8am-12:00 noon.

We will be removing items from the sanctuary to be moved into storage. Trucks will pick up pews, floor runners, wall hangings etc. beginning as early as 9:00.

We will take Murphy’s soap and rags to clean the pews before they are loaded onto the truck.
We will need screw guns (and those who can use them) to remove the pews from the floor and from the walls.
We will provide coffee and snacks for the workers and perhaps a light lunch.
We will meet tomorrow at 7: 30am at the Church of Christ on Western Avenue.

If you can help with this project please let us know today.
Lori Palmer ( 251-0660) or Jean Smith (258-4824.)

From Steve Eubanks, Senior Warden at St. John's in Randolph:

Angie Emerson was at the Community Dinner last night in Stockbridge. So wonderful that she and the people from St. Stephen's in MIddlebury have come to help!

It was a great comfort when the Episcopal church folks showed up at the Montshire Museum (where we had our whole school on an off site field trip because our school was damaged in the flood) with snacks, lunches AND dinners for the kids to take home. I am continually reminded of the generosity that is borne from our "common life". Thanks to Lisa Ransom for organizing. Go Episcopalians!!! (from Sara L. Baker, Christ Church, Montpelier.)
http://thebridgeweekly.com/pdfs/2011/09/15/tbws-2011-09-15-page-10.pdf
thebridgeweekly.com

From Christ Church in Bethel:

...people in Bethel are now hearing "Christ Church" and "Episcopal" every day. We brought a car full for Bethel's food shelf and the clothing efforts from St. Paul's, WRJ today and the woman who runs the Bethel food pantry said, as we're lugging stuff down the stairs, "Where does all this come from?" So I told her, "From Episcopal parishes up and down the state. We pick it up at St. Paul's in WRJ." She was amazed!

The Brattleboro Housing Authority needs volunteers Wednesday, Sept. 14, to Friday, Sept. 16, to help in the temporary relocation of some Melrose Terrace residents. The residents need help in packing and moving their belongings to storage units. To volunteer or to get more information on what is involved, please call 802-254-6071. (From St. Michael's FB post)

Updated listing of places to volunteer from VTresponse:
http://vtresponse.wordpress.com/tag/volunteer/

Disaster Recovery Centers are open in Brattleboro and Dover. Vermonters with losses from Tropical Storm Irene can learn more about assistance from specialists at the center. If possible, before visiting the center, you should register with FEMA. To register, call 800-621-3362 or go online to http://www.disasterassistance.gov. The disaster recovery center in Brattleboro is at Living Memorial Park Skating Rink, 61 Memorial Park Drive. The disaster Recovery center in Dover is at Dover Town Hall, 120 Taft Brook Road. The centers operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week until further notice. The centers operate from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week until further notice.

Other organizations providing assistance - and accepting donations - in our region:

* American Red Cross (802) 254-2377

* The United Way of Windham County (802) 257-4011

* Vermont Disaster Relief Fund for the long-term recovery of Vermont residents impacted by Irene. http://www.vermont211.org

* The Brattleboro Area Drop In Center at 60 S. Main St. is in need of food, personal care items and cleaning supplies. (802) 257-5415.

Update from the Brattleboro Reformer:

Route 9 from Bennington to Brattleboro, through devastated areas of Wilmington and Marlboro in southern Vermont, will reopen this weekend, Shumlin said. Route 4 from Woodstock through Killington to Rutland will be back in service next weekend, he said.

Lynn, I posted your Freeway update on the Hurricane Blog part of the web. Thanks. http://tinyurl.com/3rnf57r

Report from our Diocesan I-91 'Freeway Relay' thanks to John Morris:

Our first test of the Relay worked just fine.

Parishioners in Newport packed up 130 snack bags and took them to the parish in St. Johnsbury, where parishioners were packing up 130 lunch bags. Then all of those items were brought to St. Martin's this morning, where we loaded them up with the 130 brown bag "dinners" that our parishioners had prepared Wednesday morning. The items took two vehicles to transport but we made it to the Montshire Museum and delivered them to the students, staff, and parents of Moretown Elementary School (The school's septic system backed up during the flood caused by Irene and the school is not ready for use until next week. All the carpets and some of the walls had to be ripped out. They will begin school with a "bare bones" building.)

Thank you to the sandwich-makers and sandwich-haulers: Linda Secord, Melinda Ricker, Erin Ricker, Kirsten Glass, Janet Jones, Connie Gephart, Mary Hays, Bill Secord, and Susan Morris. Also, we are grateful to Panera in West Lebanon for donating bread and to Poverty Lane Orchard in Lebanon for donating apples.

Note: Each parish had some leftover items (snacks, bread, turkey, cheese, ham, juice, etc.). All of those items were taken to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in White River Junction to be used for lunches that are being taken to families and volunteers in towns west of White River Junction.

And thank you to those who have already donated funds for this project.

By next week, we will have a list of specific items that are needed for the next "relay". In the meantime, gift cards from "big box" stores will always be useful. They can be brought to St. Martin's at any time and will be kept until the next delivery.

Information today from the southern part of our diocese, particularly in the Wilmington area:

Southern Vermont Deerfield Valley Relief Support Network is a facebook page w/lots of info including what people have or need. Twice Blessed is our local "thrift" store which focuses on aiding locals in need. Right now they are accepting items and giving at no charge to those locals in need.

Regarding Route 9 between Wilmington and Bennington (I think): They did open up the bridge, though it may still marked as closed. At times they've been detouring people still, just so that the road crews can work. Labor day traffic was so heavy that crews had to stop working altogether. Yesterday it was one lane in spots because heavy machinery and missing chunks of road.

There is also a detour through chimney hill (where the first police car is) that brings you by Haystack Golf course and puts you out on rt 100. From there you head south back to town to get to the traffic light/cop and turn east/left. It's pretty well marked now. The detour is all pretty stable roads...a few bumpy spots on rt 100S. It's a bit longer than straight through town, but really not too much...10 min or so.

Thanks for supporting our little community. We have taken a hard hit and need everything people have to offer.

Thank you, Dick!