Here on the show you ask the questions - about Vermont, our region and its people - and we find the answers together. Josh: Welcome to Brave Little State, VPR’s people-powered journalism project. And she was like…another co-op? What gives? And her new electric company was… Washington Electric Co-op. Remember-she had just moved into her new house in Vermont. Then she got a notice from her new electric company. But she had never lived in a place where it was an option-let alone three options. She’d heard about them, and shopped at one or two here or there. Howard: Kate had never been a member of a food co-op before. Kate: “Just the fact that there are so many kinds right in that area is surprising to me.” Howard: Three food co-ops, within a short drive of her new place. And that’s, you know, three food co-ops within 10–15 minutes from my house.” Kate: “I live in East Montpelier and it would be perfectly reasonable for me to shop at either the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, The Adamant Co-op, or the Plainfield Food Co-op. Howard: You know, when you move to a new place, one of the first things you do is check out where you’re gonna buy your groceries? Kate started doing some research. And, we liked the scale of things, needed a big change at the time, and it worked out really well.” Kate: “We’d come up to Vermont several years in a row on vacation and always just felt really at home. She came from New Haven, Connecticut a few months before COVID-19 hit. Howard: Kate moved up to Vermont with her partner about three years ago. Kate works at the Vermont Historical Society in Barre, and so I drove up to talk to her.

Howard: Kate Phillips, the question-asker this month is a librarian. Josh: So about every month a different VPR reporter gets to work on Brave Little State, and for this episode, Howard, who is usually VPR’s southern Vermont reporter, is taking the wheel. Howard Weiss-Tisman: And I’m Howard Weiss-Tisman. That sentiment is one of the reasons Fickes prefers to shop at RuraLove before other stores.Josh Crane: From Vermont Public Radio this is Brave Little State. They love to see people take care of each other when in need. RuraLove is focused not just on short-term investments in individual people, but on long term investments in the community as a whole. We’re so thankful, but it does become overwhelming, just the sheer magnitude of the graciousness of others. Weekly the things come in, and it’s just controlled chaos. “Maybe one day we’ll be able to get through the lion’s share of donations,” Wollenberg added. Our community has supported us so well that we are above and beyond our capacity, but we’re loving every minute of it.” It’s been a little challenge finding space, but it’s a very good thing. “We actually now have stuff coming in faster than we have stuff going out. “A year ago, we could have a truckload of stuff get sorted through and priced to go out for Wednesday sale,” Losinski said. That intense cleaning has led to a massive influx of donations to RuraLove. “Most people were cleaning out their houses because they had nothing better to do.” “The pandemic really wreaked havoc on us in a good way,” Losinski said. The last few months have presented a new – but welcome – challenge. “We may not have been able to help 100 percent, but we were able to help in some way, shape, or form.” “Not one person was turned away financially,” Wollenberg said. Nonetheless, they continued to provide financial assistance to people in need. Fickes spoke fondly of the unique goods she has been able to purchase at RuraLove.Īs a result of the pandemic, RuraLove had to close the thrift store for about three months. Sure enough, a dinette set from a camper came into the store. For instance, she’s recently been gutting a 1969 camper and asked the volunteers to keep an eye out for anything with a retro vibe.

“If a game comes in like Monopoly or Scrabble, and it’s missing some of the pieces, they save me a bag – really it’s just junk – but it makes me so happy because I incorporate it in my art.”įickes added that whenever she needs something specific, it tends to show up at RuraLove. “I do a lot of up-cycling of crafts, making things just out of game pieces or just junk or just something I look at, and think maybe I can make something, maybe an accessory or home decor,” she said. When there are missing game pieces, Heather Fickes, who has been shopping at RuraLove on a near weekly basis for the past six years, steps in. “Sometimes, they will take home games and puzzles to make sure all the pieces are there and wash the clothing.” “Most days, people sort through stuff that’s been donated,” Wollenberg explained. On a weekly basis, RuraLove is staffed by anywhere from 18 to 30 volunteers.

Goodway store montpelier va