This year is the 50th anniversary of law enforcement personnel and Special Olympics athletes running the Flame of Hope through the state of Vermont to the June 1 opening ceremonies in Burlington.
The torch will be going through Hartford on May 31, at 8 a.m., via three routes: a run from Gateway Motors, a bike ride from Dothan Brook School, and a walk through downtown White River.
All routes will converge on Maple Street and head back to Hartford Town Hall for a ceremony and light refreshments.
This is the main fundraiser for members of law enforcement who are supporting Special Olympics around the country. The Hartford Police Department and the town of Hartford have embraced this event and encourage all to come out and support them and the Upper Valley Hawks Special Olympics team raise public awareness of the athletes who live, work and compete in our community. More information is available on the Special Olympics Vermont website (specialolympicsvermont.org) or by calling 802-295-9425.
Randi Harron
West Hartford
Thank you to staff writer Tim Camerato for such a wonderful article about our project (“Lebanon Group Home Proposed, May 17). It was beautifully written, but I need to clarify that we do not consider ourselves a “group home.” Instead, we consider the Visions for Creative Housing Solutions model to be “supported housing.”
A group home is a model that was used starting in the 1950s that supported six to 12 individuals in the same house. Often the individuals did daily group activities together. Activities were not as individualized as they are in the models we have now. Visions prides itself in supporting individuals to become independent in their own living space. No two individuals at Visions have the same needs; therefore, they have individualized supports and schedules.
We are looking forward to providing our model of supported housing in the Upper Valley. Please refer to Visions in the future as “supported housing,” which is a better description of what we do, and not as a group home. We thank you for your continued support.
Sylvia Kluge Dow
Enfield
The writer is the executive director of Visions for Creative Housing Solutions Inc.
Thank you so much for Liz Guenther’s beautiful essay about her farm in Corinth (“Eyes on the Land: Years of Observation Shape a Corinth Farm,” May 16). When so much madness, cruelty and greed are featured elsewhere in the news, I find real respite in reading about the curiosity, respect, hard work and care that Guenther brings to her land and all the living beings supported by it.
Her words remind me of my own — and everyone’s — potential to live in balance, as contributing partners in a web of life. I appreciate the Valley News for its support of a local ecology of meaningful storytelling. Keep up the good work.
Julie Püttgen
Lebanon
Liz Guenther’s essay (“Eyes on the Land: Years of Observation Shape a Corinth Farm,” May 16) is a graceful reminder that careful observation and a sensitive, responsive relationship with the land are their own rewards and, for the rest of us who follow other roads, that patient, truth-seeking behavior remains possible in our time of exaggeration and braggadocio.
What a beautiful piece.
Kenneth Rower
Newbury, Vt.