St. Johnsbury Community Resources
 |
Paul Bengtson, CEO |
Community Resources
St. Johnsbury, though a small town of 7,500 people, has a big heart. When someone is in need, there is always an organization ready to help. Here is a listing of some of the key community resources St. Johnsbury has to offer:
Public Library
Recreation Department
St. Johnsbury Recreation Department
Service Organizations
American Legion, St. Johnsbury Post 58
12 Maple St., St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
Phone: (802) 223-7131
Veterans of Foreign Wars
VFW Post 793
204 Eastern Avenue, St Johnsbury, VT 05819
Lions Club
P.O. Box 366, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
Phone: 802-684-1171
Community Assistance
Area Agency on Aging for Northeastern Vermont
St. Johnsbury Community of Concern
Northeast Kingdom Human Services
Health Care
Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital
Northeast Kingdom Mental Health Services
Senior Services
The St. Johnsbury Band delights residents and visitors in St. Johnsbury all summer with its weekly concert series every Monday evening at the bandstand in Courthouse Park at the corner of Main Street and Eastern Avenue. The concert season at the park runs through August 16 this summer. Concerts are free and open to everyone.
Add free ice cream to the concert and they make beautiful music 
together. On July 19, the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring an ice cream social at the band concert. Come enjoy the music while you enjoy some delicious ice cream! That’s a New England tradition that has stood the test of time.
The St. Johnsbury Band was founded in 1830, and is the third oldest band in continuous existence in the country (only the West Point Military Band and the town band of Allentown, Pennsylvania have been around longer -- and only by a few years).
Two U. S. Presidents have heard the St. Johnsbury Band play right here in St. Johnsbury: Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt. T
he band has also played at many festivals, including the St. Louis Exposition in 1893 as well as much more recent venues as Vermont Day at the Eastern States Exposition in 2002 and 2003.
Throughout the year, the St. Johnsbury Band plays numerous concerts, often combining forces with other musical groups from around the area. Their concert schedule can be found on the St. Johnsbury Band website, www.stjohnsburyband.org.
Membership in the band is open to all interested musicians. No auditions are required. Weekly rehearsals keep the band members in tune. Many of the band’s musicians play solo gigs or perform as part of other groups, as well.
Enjoy one of St. Johnsbury’s favorite traditions July 19 -- an outdoor concert on a lovely summer evening, presented by the St. Johnsbury Band and an ice cream social, presented by the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.
New St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce
We sat down recently with Katrina Meigs, executive director of the new St. Johnsbury Chamber
of Commerce, and asked her to fill us in about the changes taking place there...
Q. In January, your organization, St. J. Works, officially changed its name to the “St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.” What was the reason for the name change?
A. There are two reasons. The first is that we wanted to change our name to one that clearly defines our mission. We were already doing everything that a local chamber of commerce does. The name “St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce” clearly shows what our purpose is. Second, there was some confusion about our previous name, St. J. Works. I would routinely get phone calls from people who were trying to reach the town’s Public Works department!
Q. Are you still focused on downtown St. Johnsbury?
A. Yes. Our mission will remain the same. We still will focus on downtown St. Johnsbury revitalization. We will also include other businesses in and around St. Johnsbury that downtown revitalization will help.
Q. Who is eligible to join the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce?
A. Anyone can join the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce, from individuals or families to businesses to platinum business sponsors.
Q. Will you be offering different services now that you are a Chamber of Commerce?
A. Not for 2010. But as we go through 2010, we will be evaluating additional services that may benefit our members in upcoming years.
Q. Anything else people should know about the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce?
A. We want to be viewed as an advocate for revitalizing St. Johnsbury. In 2010 we are hoping to recruit volunteers to join us. Please call 748-7121 if you are interested in volunteering to help the St. Johnsbury Chamber of Commerce.
Wanda Senter loves animals. A resident of St. Johnsbury and an employee at the St. Johnsbury Post Office, Wanda has always opened her home to pets in need – especially cats. She joined the board of the non-profit Caledonia Animal Rescue (C.A.RE) in 2007 in an effort to help animals in need. It was through C.A.RE that she ended up housing about 60 cats.
“I had so many cats at my house that I was caring for,” Wanda says. “It was overwhelming.”
Help came in spring 2009 in extra space that became available at the local newspaper, the Caledonian-Record. The newspaper’s publisher, Mark Smith, who also serves on the C.A.RE board, offered to let Wanda use the space for a shelter. “We were able to procure some crates to house the cats and it took off from there,” says Wanda.
What started out as a temporary shelter for six cats has grown into a semi-permanent shelter for nearly 40. In about a year and a half, the shelter has taken in about 115 cats, including quite a few that were once feral.
At the C.A.RE shelter, they take the time to socialize the feral cats, rather than doing the more 
common practice of “trap, neuter, and release.” In this way, they are successfully turning most of the homeless cats into adoptable pets.
Many of the Caledonian-Record employees visit the cats often, and their human interaction helps socialize the animals. Several employees have adopted cats from the shelter.
“It’s a de-stressor,” said Bill Beddie, account manager at the Caledonian-Record. “It’s calming to go down there and spend time with the cats.”
Jack, a gray and white feral (photo at top of this article), is a testament to the effectiveness of their attempts to socialize cats that would otherwise be written off as hopeless. Originally dubbed Lucifer, no one could even approach his cage without getting hissed at, or even swatted. Even Wanda was afraid to tend to his cage and wouldn’t handle him without thick gloves. Over time, however, the cat grew more affectionate, started purring, and finally allowed others to pet him.
The shelter has six volunteers who come in daily to clean cages, change litter, feed, and socialize the animals. They have given each cat has a name and plenty of affection.
Gabi Novick is a volunteer who has been helping at the shelter since fall 2009. She shrugs her shoulders when asked about the challenges of cleaning up numerous cages and dealing with what can be horrid odors. “I do it for the fun of it all,” Gabi says.
The shelter receives help from many different people and businesses and is now run entirely on donations. Volunteers are needed to help out on weekends and holidays, and donations of supplies or money are always welcome. For more information about the animals at C.A.RE or to make a donation or volunteer, call 802-633-2700, ext. 5, or visit www.caledoniaanimalrescue.com.
It’s Christmas, 1983. An elderly woman in St. Johnsbury opens up her front door and is surprised to be greeted by a snow-covered fire fighter balancing a 12-pound turkey and two loaves of bread atop a box overflowing with food.
He smiles. “This is for you,” he says.
Confused, the woman says, “I didn’t ask for this.” She knows that right now, her refrigerator holds only two quarts of milk and a quart of orange juice. That’s all she’s expecting to have in there until the start of January.
“This is from the Santa Fund,” he says. “Merry Christmas!”
For 79 years, folks in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom have shown generosity to people in the area by giving of their time and resources to one of the area’s largest holiday charitable organizations – the Santa Fund.
Sponsored by the St. Johnsbury Fire Department, the Passumpsic Savings Bank, and the local newspaper, the Caledonian-Record, the Santa Fund provides holiday dinners and toys to needy families in St. Johnsbury and the surrounding towns of Barnet, Concord, Danville, Kirby, Lyndon, and Waterford. Last year the event supplied food baskets to 661 families and toys to over 1,000 children.
Firefighter Mike Pelow with donations to the Santa Fund
The Santa Fund began in 1930 when a group of fire fighters decided to repair toys in their spare time to give to needy children. Ten families were visited during the fund’s first year.
By the 1940s, 300 area children were being served with nearly $1,000 worth of gifts. Local Boy Scout troops began to help out, as well as students from St. Johnsbury Academy.
The Santa Fund grew every year. Hunters at weighing stations would donate the cost of weighing their deer to the Santa Fund; local car dealerships began donating money; school children collected canned goods and earned money to donate by doing chores and bottle drives.
Through the 1980s, the Santa Fund broke records as it sought to meet the needs of those
less fortunate. In 1988, Fire Chief Russell Gray declared it the biggest, most successful year the Santa Fund had ever seen.
Some of the toys at the firehouse waiting to be distributed by the Santa Fund
The Santa Fund hit hard times in the early 1990s with a tough economy that found many in need and not enough to give. With the increasing complexity of electronic toys, the Fire Department began accepting only new toys and stopped repairing broken ones.
For more information, or to volunteer or donate, call the St. Johnsbury Fire Department at 748-8925. Donations can be dropped off at the Fire Department on Main Street in St. Johnsbury or mailed to the Northeast Kingdom Santa Fund, Passumpsic Savings Bank, PO Box 38, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819.
Thanks to everyone who participates in this great cause that helps make the holidays brighter for neighbors in need.
There’s one night in June here in St. Johnsbury when a lot of people stay up really late -- and they have a great reason to do it. For six years, thousands of people have walked around the track at St. Johnsbury Academy all night once a year as part of Caledonia County’s Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
Started by
Fred Laferriere in 2004, the event has raised over one million dollars for cancer research. “Last year our Relay for Life here in St. Johnsbury raised the most money per capita of all the Relays in the country,” says Laferriere.
Over 80 teams are typically registered each year for the Relay for Life. During the 14-hour event, at least one team member walks around the track at all times. There is a “friendly” competition between teams, each trying to raise the most money.
Every hour has a special theme that helps keep the Relay for Life fun and exciting. Midnight Madness is a one-hour run -- not a walk -- from midnight to 1 am. Couples hour is from 3 to 4 am. And a crowd-pleaser is the 4-to-5 am hour: “Men Dressed as Women”!
At 9 pm, luminaria are lighted around the track in solemn honor of loved ones lost to cancer. “Cancer never sleeps,” says Laferriere. “That’s why it’s an all-night event.”
Paula Warren has served as Tri-Chair for 
the Caledonia County Relay for Life. “We have 25 people on our organizational committee,” says Warren. “Many local companies donate money, food, and supplies to help us put on the event. It’s a tremendous effort by the committee and the whole community.” 
People can start a team to participate any time -- even right up to the day of the Relay for Life. Much of the money raised comes right back to the local area for a variety of projects.
If you would like to get more information about the Relay for Life, contact Weeza Sanderson at 802-626-9622, or check the website at www.relayforlife.org/caledoniavt.
New England is known for its long-standing traditions: the rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees, the hand turning of a beautiful wooden bowl by a talented artisan, the leaf-peepers admiring the magnificence of the fall foliage. But one tradition that has stood the test of time here in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, is the local St. Johnsbury Band. Founded in 1830, the band is the third oldest band in continuous existence in the country (only the West Point Military Band and the town band of Allentown, Pennsylvania have been around longer -- and only by a few years).
The St. Johnsbury Band was founded as “The Brass Band;” in 1859 the name
 |
| Gary Aubin, Director |
Two U. S. Presidents have heard the St. Johnsbury Band play right here in St. Johnsbury: Benjamin Harrison and Theodore Roosevelt. The band has also played at many festivals, including the St. Louis Exposition in 1893 as well as much more recent venues as Vermont Day at the Eastern States Exposition in 2002 and 2003.
The band delights residents and visitors in St. Johnsbury every summer with its weekly concert series every Monday evening at the bandstand in Courthouse Park at the corner of Main Street and Eastern Avenue. Each summer, they start the season with a concert at the St. Johnsbury Health and Rehabilitation Center. The weekly summer concert season at the park runs from late June through mid-August. Concerts are free and open to everyone. Throughout the year, the St. Johnsbury Band plays numerous concerts, often combining forces with other musical groups from around the area. Their concert schedule can be found on the St. Johnsbury Band website, www.stjohnsburyband.org.Membership in the band is open to all interested musicians. No auditions are
 |
| Jim McGregor, Manager |
Vermont Public Radio did a great piece about the St. Johnsbury Band in March 2008. Click here to listen to it, and you’ll hear from several of the members, along with a sample of the band’s music.
Enjoy one of St. Johnsbury’s favorite musical traditions -- an outdoor concert on a lovely summer evening, presented by the St. Johnsbury Band.
Walking into the Northeast Vermont Regional Hospital’s brand new Diagnostic Imaging Center, it’s as if the sun is always shining indoors. The areas are bright, with soothing blue-green-and-buff tones, and lovely Impressionist posters adorning the walls. It’s the culmination of the second phase of a multi-year building project at NVRH that started with a new Business and Conference Center at the far end of the hospital, and was completed with a renovated Day Surgery unit.
“The response from everyone has been incredible,” says Hilary DeCarlo, 
Marketing Manager. Everyone -- the doctors, the patients, and the whole staff -- love the new space.” According to Laural Ruggles, VP of Marketing and Community Health Improvement, the reason all of the physical changes are being made to the hospital is to improve patient care. “Having all of the diagnostic testing services together and having a separate entrance and waiting area really helps make the experience better for everyone,” she says.
Diagnostic Imaging includes such services as radiology, ultrasound, nuclear medicine, DEXA bone scanning, CT, mammography, cardiovascular imaging and MRI. Since everything is digital, the information gathered by the technologists can be easily transmitted to anyone in the hospital who needs it. In fact, the entire Information Services department of NVRH has a new home as part of the renovations, and it has the same comfortable, bright atmosphere as the Diagnostic Imaging area. Says DeCarlo, “These folks are so excited to finally have windows! Before, they could never see daylight. The electronic medical records system is state of the art now, thanks to our Information Services Department.”
“As a not-for-profit hospital, our mission is to serve the community,” says Ruggles. “There are always more projects on the wish list that we’ll start to work on.”
NVRH is located in St. Johnsbury, on Hospital Drive just off Route 5 and near exit 22 of Interstate 91.
UVM Extension Offers Practical Learning Experiences for Vermonters
In the middle of St. Johnsbury’s downtown district is a wonderful classroom with the latest in technology. It’s part of the University of Vermont’s Extension office here in town, and the opportunities for learning provide fantastic resources for area residents.
According to Doug Lantagne, Dean of UVM Extension, the extension office here in St. Johnsbury is one of the university’s largest of its 11 offices. Its location on the second floor of the Railroad Street Marketplace building (above Porter and Craige and Allen’s Kitchen & Bath) makes it visible and accessible to all.
The programs and services provided by UVM Extension vary from office to office. Here in St. Johnsbury there are programs about nutrition and food safety, financial tools for agricultural businesses, and the 4-H program for young people. Lantagne explains that the people who staff each Extension office are residents of that area, and they are in touch with the needs of their particular community.
Dennis Kauppila consults with farmers who want to know more about business planning to help them be more successful and profitable. Along with local lenders, he provides classes on learning financial tools such as QuickBooks to give even more assistance. Dale Steen is the resident expert on nutrition and food safety. The Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP) helps low-income families and young people learn about food safety and a nutritional diet.
Ellen Rowe and Kim Colangelo work extensively with the 4-H
program in the area, which encompasses much more than raising livestock. Nowadays, 4-H is just as often about learning robotics. As Lantagne describes it, “4-H is a network of caring adults working with kids on subjects both are really excited about. That could be horsemanship, raising animals, or learning some amazing technical skills.”
In the St. Johnsbury office, there is a relationship with the Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Counselors at the Extension office help local farmers obtain Voc-Rehab services.
Lantagne says that as times change, so do the services provided by the UVM Extension. For example, years ago when pressure cookers were a popular piece of kitchen equipment, the Extension offices used to test them for safety. That may no longer be necessary, but it’s good to know that Extension still does do soil testing to help your garden be more productive. That’s a service that people still look to Extension for, even after 95 years in service to the communities of Vermont.
Stop by the UVM Extension office on Railroad Street in St. Johnsbury and see what they offer. You may find their programs are tailored to your needs!
Did you know that St. Johnsbury is home to one of the oldest public pools in Vermont? The local Kiwanis Club owns and operates an outdoor pool facility in St. Johnsbury, on Barker Ave. next to the St. Johnsbury School, that is open – and free -- to the public all summer.
Brian LaClair, past President and currently on the Kiwanis Board of Directors, explains the reason why the local Kiwanis Club decided to build the pool in 1944. “There had been several instances of children drowning while swimming unsupervised in the local rivers,” he says. The relatively new Kiwanis Club decided to take on the issue and provide a safe place for swimming, and for children to learn to swim. “Originally the club charged a small fee for lessons,” says LaClair. “But in the early 1950s, the club members decided to make them free, so everyone who was interested could learn to swim.” LaClair is quick to point out that the pool is open and free not just to St. Johnsbury residents, but to everyone.
“Building the pool during World War II was not easy,” says LaClair. “The club had to get special permission to build it, and to stockpile all the materials before it was started, to be sure they wouldn’t have to stop in the middle of the construction.” He adds that it was a real community effort to build the pool, with many non-Kiwanians pitching in to help with construction.
Today the pool is run by the members of Kiwanis, and the community helps by supporting the fundraising efforts of the club. It takes approximately $50,000 each year to operate and keep up the pool, not to mention countless volunteer hours getting it ready for the season. Thanks to the Kiwanians for all their efforts in giving the community and clean and safe place to cool off!