Upper Valley residents in search of a physical challenge paired with a meaningful cause have, for years, relied on The Prouty to fulfill both. As we approach another Prouty event, the 41st annual, area roads are busy hosting cyclists training for Prouty weekend. Norwich is always well represented with Prouty participants cycling, walking, golfing, rowing to raise money for cancer research.

Norwich resident Stuart Richards is one example of a longtime Prouty veteran who has logged many tough miles on his bike raising money for the annual event.

“My participation goes back to 1986 when I rode my first Prouty Century Ride (the 100-mile course). … Read More

About five months ago, Paul Foster of Norwich received a shocking text. Marcel Jean, director and manager of the Tysea Orphanage in Jacmel, Haiti, was reaching out to Foster to let him know the funding the orphanage relied on to operate, was suddenly about to disappear. Their main benefactor was pulling out and the orphanage would have to close.

Foster had met Jean five years prior and gotten involved in Tysea by helping with educational costs; now Jean was reaching out to see if Foster might be able to assist him raise the funds to save the orphanage. Foster was immediately ready to help prevent the closing of the orphanage: “I couldn’t let that happen, I wouldn’t let that happen,” he said. … Read More

Psyanky, or egg-writing, was the last lesson Shannon Wallis of Norwich taught as an elementary school teacher some 23 years ago, though she did not know it at the time. Teaching art to fourth, fifth, and sixth graders at Hanover Street School and Seminary Hill in 1999, Wallis was ordered on bed rest while pregnant: “I took a leave of absence and then didn’t go back to teaching art, so that was the last unit I taught,” she said.

A coincidence that now feels fateful, Wallis is a full-time pysanky artist creating intricate designs on delicate eggs. Wallis first learned this Ukrainian artform while training to become an elementary school teacher about 30 years ago.… Read More

On a typical day at the Norwich Public Library, Lucinda Walker might find herself checking in with the library staff, responding to patrons’ questions about how their phones work, listening to a student talk about her day at school, loaning out an energy meter, managing the library budget, buying the latest books and media for the library collection, greeting enthusiastic library volunteers, and considering an innovative idea for a new library activity from a patron. And we used to think a library was only about books!

Celebrating 20 years as the Director of the library, what Lucinda has come to appreciate most are the positive relationships with the people who come to the library not only to check out books and media, do research, or play in the backyard, but to enjoy the sense of community Lucinda and her team have created for Norwich residents and guests.… Read More