It has been a rough year for weather in Vermont. We endured the late spring frost that damaged trees and apple orchards and now the devasting flooding this week that is likely to surpass the destruction we saw in 2011 with Tropical Storm Irene. With flood warnings still active and more rain on the way, I’m not sure we’ll truly be able to quantify the effect, much less begin the rebuilding any time soon. From the state capital Montpelier to small towns like Cabot and Chester, the impacts have been deep and wide. Farmers will abandon acres upon acres of crops, and Lake Champlain and other waterways will be inundated with all that was washed away - pollutants, plastics, phosphorus, and our sodden family treasures. There’s no such thing as a “hundred-year flood”, we are in a time where we should expect annual flood events moving forward.
So this month’s blog post is short, with the message to stay strong and look out for each other. Before setting an intention to help, find out where and how you are needed. Check-in on friends and family and strangers, and offer what you can - listen deeply, bring a shovel, share a meal. I’d like to thank all of you who reached out to me to see how my family and I are doing - our community was spared and we are safe and sound. We now turn to helping others clean up and reclaim their homes, businesses, and communities. If we learned anything from Irene, it is how to show up for each other and how to rebuild with climate change in mind.
If you’re in a Vermont community like mine that was spared, sign up with the state to volunteer to help fellow Vermonters and communities affected by the flood. The registration process is a bit clunky, but if you go slow and read everything, you’ll get through it just as I did. Make sure to pay attention to Step 2 in the process. Once you're registered, be patient, because they are fielding hundreds of registrants and it may take time to hear back from them about where you are needed.
Here’s the link: https://www.vermont.gov/volunteer#gsc.tab=0
Click here to read more here about how to provide support from Vermont Public.
If you’d like to support farmers, here’s a list of ways from the Vermont Land Trust:
🚜 @hardwickagriculture Vermont Farm Fund: https://hardwickagriculture.org/farmers-food-businesses/vermont-farm-fund
🚜 @nofavermont Farmer Emergency Fund https://www.nofavt.org/farmer-emergency-fund
🚜 @intervalecenter Recovery Fund: https://www.intervale.org/donate (choose “recovery fund” in the drop-down menu)
Reach out to your local watershed group to ask how you can help or send a donation. Click here for watershed groups in the Lake Champlain Basin.
The Vermont Community Foundation has a flood response and recovery fund started. Please click here to make your donation.
I am here with you Vermont and so are many others - we will always be Vermont Strong for each other.
Pictures by Amy Butler @amycoyotevt, in Cabot Vermont
