Fairlee, VT – On a cold winter’s afternoon earlier this month, a group of volunteers gathered at the Fairlee Town Hall to begin their annual tasks of filling bags and cartons with food items that were, by this time, to have been distributed out to families in five different area towns that include Fairlee, Orford, West Fairlee, Vershire, and Piermont.
For the gathering of food items so that other residents in the selected towns will be feted with wholesome foods distributed by a wide variety of caring people, the Barbara's Red Stocking group has been using the handsome refurbished assembly room at the Fairlee Town Hall whenever their turn comes up to gather individual items for the food packages.
The assembly room is well-lit and occupies the entire top deck of the stately Town Hall, which was refurbished and renovated beginning in 2010. The structure that adorns Fairlee's Route 5 Main Street was built in 1913 after the original opera house burned. This building is where the business of the handsome Town of Fairlee is conducted and has been updated and honored by being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Here, Barbara's Red Stocking team came together and jumped right into assembling the many parts that make this Christmas holiday food program so important to the communities on Santa's list to receive these generous food contributions.
A person who has been with the program since its second year is Town Clerk Georgette Wolf-Ludwig, who told The Bridge Weekly during the recent busy assembly session that volunteers last year delivered food items to 56 households, serving 101 adults and 72 children.
Those home visits totaled 10 in Orford, 10 in Piermont, 23 combined in West Fairlee and Vershire, and 15 in Fairlee. According to the folks I spoke with while they were assembling the food packages, the baskets included a ham or turkey, canned and dry foods, vegetables, fresh fruits, bread, butter, cheese, and cereals.
Also distributed were baskets with fruit, a ham, and other items to be delivered to 22 seniors in the communities who need "a little extra Christmas Cheer." The annual letter of donation appeal tells the 500 recipients that the group's generosity allows the program to also contribute to Senior Center Meals on Wheels programs, food shelves, and the Fairlee Thanksgiving Dinner Meals on Wheels program.
Red Stocking Committee members this year include Judy Franklin, Susan Taylor, Noel Walker, Georgette Wolf-Ludwig, Mary Davenport, Teri Hook, Tim Danen, Georgette Underhill, Delsie Hoyt, Tad Nunez, and Laura Taylor.
The program had a smooth opening in 1994, when, in the beginning, four churches came together and, at the behest of the late Barbara Mack, a local newswriter and community organizer, who managed the program, asked four area churches about coming together and making holiday food available to their communities' elderly and those in need.
An original member of the group who has helped with the program since its beginning was Paul Dalton, who retired from the activity last year. This year, he stopped by for a visit and said he missed the activity greatly, but he wanted to swing in and say hello to the gang, who were all hard at work filling orders distributed last weekend.
He said he helped set it up with the Mack family in Orford and was surprised at how quickly it took off and became a community deal that should be done every year to help folks out who need a little boost here and there.
Those churches in the group that have made Barbara’s Red Stocking possible include the Congregational Church in Orford, Our Lady Queen of Peace, the Fairlee Community Church, and Saint Martin's Episcopal Church.
Readers wanting to make a donation to this group may send it to: Barbara’s Red Stocking, Susan Taylor, 118 Indian Pond Road, Orford, NH 03777

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