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).  The weather was difficult that day with temps and humidity in the mid to high nineties.  This was a tough initiation to a wonderful event. It was a wonderful experience riding with so many like-minded people. Since then, I’ve ridden a number of centuries as well as quite a number of 50-mile and 25-mile events.”

 Much has changed since that first Prouty experience, says Richards. “If I remember correctly, there were a few hundred riders, not the thousands of participants we see today, and I don’t recall that you could participate in ways other than riding your bike.”

The various challenges encountered while riding over the years always keeps cyclists and organizers prepared for the inevitable miscues.

“Many years since that first century riders, I remember additional centuries, 75-milers, 50-milers and 25-milers. Other years I remember one of my friends riding too close, grazing my back wheel, going down hard and needing medical assistance. Then there were the unplanned flat tires and mechanical problems that Prouty volunteers were so wonderful in fixing,” recalls Richards.

To keep mechanical issues to a minimum, Prouty volunteers in repair vehicles are very evident on the cycling routes, fixing bikes when needed.

“The many people who participate and selflessly contribute in making the Prouty the meaningful and terrific event that it is,” says Richards.

Those people – the volunteers, sponsors, participants, and the organizers of The Prouty – give the event a feeling of goodwill and camaraderie few other events can match.

“Over the years, the Prouty has become an event for thousands of participants who are coming from near and far,” says Richards. “My family and friends participate as many times as we possibly can to support a cause that hopefully may bring Dartmouth Health closer to the breakthroughs that we’ve all been hoping for. When I ride with my wife, my son, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and friends there is such a feel-good feeling that we share that we will always continue to support this noble effort.”

These feelings of goodwill, determination, togetherness, and positivity felt at The Prouty all result from the cause – the reason so many come together – the fight against cancer.

“The ravages and heartache that individuals and families suffer from cancer are well-known,” says Richards. “Anyone who has had cancer or had someone who is near and dear to them know what I’m talking about, and that’s most of us. Chemotherapy is no joke. It may prolong your life but there are severe consequences. And it doesn’t matter whether it’s breast cancer, prostate cancer, leukemia, lung, ovarian or any of the many other forms of cancer.”

Playing a part in this fight, by raising money for research and patient services, gives a sense of well-being and hope to all involved.

“We all can play a part in participating in trying to find better treatments and cures for this terrible disease,” says Richards. “I very much look forward to riding again and playing my small part in trying to help. This year my grand-children may ride with me. I know that many of you out there will be joining me and I look forward to seeing you.” n

This year’s Prouty event takes place on July 8 and 9, with the starting point and festivities once again held at the Richmond School in Hanover.

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. 

The Tysea Orphanage was founded in 2013 in the Carrefour neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. Tysea is an acronym for the creole phrase “Timoun Yo Se Espwa Ayiti” meaning “Children are Haiti’s Hope.” Tysea is now home to over 30 children, providing them with a safe home, regular meals, clean water, access to education and recreation, and dental and medical support.

Answering Jean’s call, Foster sprung into action. In addition to grassroots fundraising, Foster formed a non-profit, Partners for Global Change, to help him in this mission to save the orphanage. Foster and his team have already raised $12,000 with many of the donations coming from Norwich and Thetford, but they still have a ways to go.

“I’m going with the idea of the Upper Valley adopting the orphanage,” Foster says, “I hope to make the Tysea Orphanage a household name in the Upper Valley.” There are already indications Foster’s work is paying off; he recalls being stopped in Dan & Whit’s by fellow residents to talk to him about Tysea.

Important to Foster is creating sustainable funding for the orphanage. The project had a lot of momentum to begin with, he says, but now it’s time to use strategy to figure out how to sustain this with ongoing support. In addition to looking into grants, Foster has built a weekly donation plan that he feels can be taken on by residents of the Upper Valley. With different levels of sponsorship, donors are able to give between $10.00 and $40.00 from their paycheck directly to the orphanage. “If a person can give a certain amount each week such as the cost of going out for one meal, it really can save the life of a child in Haiti. It is really going to help the child,” Foster says.

The situation is desperate in Haiti, Foster says, after facing serious unrest in 2021. The orphanage already had to make the move from Port-Au-Prince, where it was no longer safe, to Jacmel. Foster initially had plans to visit and considered setting up a Dartmouth medical school students service trip, but has been unable to due to the safety restrictions. “It’s hard not to visit, and I would love to meet the kids, play with them, and be a part of the community,” he says. This unrest also affects the orphanage’s ability to get support from their government; absolutely no funds are currently available to them.

Foster has spent nearly all of his life involved in community work. It was his first trip to Africa at age 17 that started his passion for helping communities in need around the world. “I fundamentally believe every child in the world deserves clean water, education, and a roof over their head. It’s at the core of who I am,” Foster says.

A native Englishman, Foster found his way to Norwich alongside his wife 35 years ago. Being a resident of the Upper Valley has also influenced Foster in building Partners for Global Change. “A lot of people in the Upper Valley are creating their own non-profits,” he says, “It’s a very empathetic community, very open to these kinds of projects.”

His hope is to sustainably fund the orphanage, improve current facilities, and ultimately have the home become a family support center. Some children have living family members who aren’t able to care for them for a number of reasons. “Ideally the children could be back in their community with support from the center, ultimately reducing the number of children in the orphanage. That feels like the right goal to have,” Foster says.

Foster has hope that Partners for Global Change will be able to take on more projects like this in the future, connecting Upper Valley residents to projects throughout the global neighborhood, all over the world. 

Friends of Tysea plans to have a stall at the Lebanon and Hanover Farmer’s market selling Haitian art products, Haitian food, and Support Tysea T-Shirts and hold a Haitian Art Auction.

Readers can donate at PartnersinGlobalChange.com or send a check to Partners in Global Change, 108 Academy Rd Norwich VT05055. Those interested in volunteering can email savetyseaorphangehaiti@gmail.com.

Partners for Global Change offers levels of support & readers can sponsor a child:

Gold Sponsor $40 per week

Silver Sponsor $20 per week

Bronze Sponsor $10 per week

Sustaining member one time gift of $100-500

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. Ten years ago, Wallis introduced some of her friends to pysanky during Easter and that June: “They called me up and said, ‘We’re gonna egg, do you want to come over?’ and we started getting together once a month.” This turned into a year round activity and Wallis has now been making a living as a pysanky artist for 5 years.

The word pysanky comes from the Ukrainian word “to write,” hence why the art form is referred to as “egg-writing.” “Often people think about writing a story while they’re working on their eggs,” Wallis says, “The story may be a prayer, it may be symbolic, or it may be for the recipient.” Traditionally, the pysanky eggs hold a cultural meaning – they have been planted in fields to ensure a good harvest or placed in the cow barns to enhance milk production. In Spring, Wallis says, girls would write an egg and give it to the boy for whom she held affection. “There’s a story you’re putting on the egg, that’s why we say ‘to write.’”

The action of the art itself reminds Wallis of writing. The artist uses a teeny bundle, called a kistka, filled with beeswax that has been melted over a candle or electrically to write on the egg. The egg then goes into a dye and the eggs become colored wherever the beeswax is not present. This may sound familiar to many of us; Wallis says the process is similar to using a white wax crayon on an Easter egg – albeit with a much finer point! The alternate wax and dyeing process continues with as many color layers as the artist wishes to add. “For every color on an eggshell,” Wallis says, “there’s that many layers of wax and dye.” The pysanky artist doesn’t know what her egg will look like until the final step when all the wax is then melted off the egg. Sometimes the final design can be quite a surprise.

Wallis loves creating pysanky because of the geometry of the egg: “It’s different at the equator than it is on either end,” and that it allows her to vary her designs with her interests. “Whether it’s a design or a color pattern or a color scheme, I can play around with things.” When being juried into the League of NH Craftsmen, Wallis was worried the group wouldn’t see enough of a cohesive theme but they liked her collection all the same.

Although Wallis herself is not Ukrainian, she has met a number of pysanky artists who came to the artform through their Ukrainian or Eastern European heritage, and Wallis says they are always glad to have more people practicing the art form. “It’s a the-more-the-merrier feel,” she says.

This appreciation for people taking up the artform comes from the fact that it was at risk of being lost in Ukraine. “I’ve learned Ukrainian culture was suppressed in Ukraine,” Wallis says, “They weren’t allowed to speak their language or practice their arts, so some of it went underground but a lot came with the immigrants to North America.”

The artform making its way to North America with the large Ukrainian diaspora has been essential for the form’s survival. There are many people of Ukrainian heritage across Canada and the northern United States and Wallis feels lucky to have tapped into the network. She has Ukrainian-American friends from Massachusetts and Pennsylvania with whom she zooms once a week, and they assist Wallis with Ukrainian cultural and language questions. This May she attended a 5-day pysanky retreat in the Catskills at a Ukrainian cultural heritage center where she both taught and attended classes.

Wallis also participated in Pysanky for Ukraine Day on April 1st. A Canadian pysanky artist started this tradition in 2014 after Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as a day for artists to get together and write. “It was like, ‘What can I do from here?’” Wallis says. “Let’s get together and pray and write and let people in Ukraine know that we’re with them in spirit.” This year over 150 people attended the virtual event where three Ukrainian pysanky artists spoke, including the head of the Pysanky Museum in Ukraine. Wallis herself has an egg over in Ukraine now that was intended to be part of an exhibition of Pysanky in North America. This has been put on hold and the eggs have been moved to another location after several cultural areas were bombed in central and eastern Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has unsurprisingly affected and inspired Wallis’ work. She’s recently purchased eggs from and taken a Zoom masterclass with a Ukrainian pysanky artist, Tetiana Konoval. Wallis ended up being the only student in the class and laughs recalling neither Konoval or Wallis spoke the other’s language and had to type to each other with Google Translate. Konoval explained to Wallis her recent designs, which are in the style of traditional village scenes but now feature tractors pulling tanks, Ukrainian flags, or the Mariupol iron plant, with people hiding underground at the bottom of the egg and soldiers around them defending the plant. “It just gives you chills to look at these eggs,” Wallis says, “She’s making statements about the war and is really very much writing the story.”

Currently, Wallis says, she, and many of her friends have also been creating a lot of blue and yellow eggs in the colors of the Ukrainian flag. She has also been working on a number of eggs with traditional designs from five different areas in Ukraine that all were directly affected by bombings or invsaion for the upcoming Day for Ukraine fundraiser at La Salette Shrine in Enfield on June 11th. Wallis will be demonstrating her art at the event and have plenty of eggs for sale as well. The writing process can take Wallis anywhere between one and four hours so she plans on having a number of nearly finished eggs at the event so people can watch the big reveal at the end. Wallis hopes the participants not only get to learn about pysanky, but also come away with a greater understanding of Ukrainian culture. She notes that she has learned it is best to refer to the country as “Ukraine” and not “the Ukraine” as adding “the” can be offensive to some folks who feel that makes the country seem to be only a region. “I want to make sure people understand that Ukraine is a sovereign country with a real cultural heritage and that these people are really fighting for their sovereignty,” Wallis says.

Wallis recently held her own fundraiser for Ukrainian relief, donating 25% of her sales to World Central Kitchen during the four weeks leading up to Easter. This combined with donations made through her fundraiser page totaled over $3,000.00. She also participated in a Ukrainian relief fundraiser with the Library Arts Center in Newport, NH and donated 10 eggs to Long River Gallery in WRJ; all eggs have sold with proceeds going to World Central Kitchen.

Even the act of writing pysanky can help, Wallis says. She’s shared designs on social media and people currently in Ukraine have written to express their appreciation for her writing eggs. Wallis shares an old legend from western Ukraine that tells a tale of a monster chained up in the mountains who, every spring, sends his minions out to the villages to see if people are writing pysanky. If they are, his chains tighten; if fewer people are writing his chains loosen. If no one at all is writing pysanky, then evil will be free to rain terror. Wallis mentions she has always read that folktale at the beginning of her classes, but feels it’s taken on new meaning with the war.

Wallis is grateful to continue creating pysanky with her global community and sharing this artform with a new group of people at the Day for Ukraine: “I truly feel really honored to be an ambassador of the art form.”

The Day for Ukraine fundraiser will take place on June 11th, 2022 at the La Salette Shrine in Enfield, NH. Please visit La Salette’s website for more information on the day: www.lasaletteofenfield.org. Shannon Wallis can be found on her site: www.shannonwallisdesigns.com.

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.

Lucinda credits the Norwich community for making the library the dynamic place that it is today, and is humble about her role in navigating the many changes in library services that have evolved over the two decades of her tenure. “I cannot believe it’s been 20 years. I feel so fortunate to be embraced by the community and the professionals and volunteers at the library. It’s so nice to go to work each day and be challenged and have an impact.”

Staying true to its mission to “…serve as a community center for the town providing traditional and innovative resources for all patrons and offering library experiences that support education, imagination, and community engagement,” Lucinda feels fortunate to have started working at the library when it had just been renovated. “With a brand new building, the community really embraced the library – it became the place to be after school. The community room was booked every night by local organizations, and still is. We went from a quiet library to a busy, vibrant community space.”

In fact, in 2020 the Library Journal designated the Norwich Public Library a ‘star library’, one of only three in Vermont, and 260 nationwide. The ranking is measured by circulation data, library and program visits, and public internet computer use. Lucinda notes, “We’ve been able to keep pace with trends, and the town has been amazing in its support.”

Stepping into the Director’s role in 2002, Lucinda followed Sylvia Fraser, the previous librarian, who oversaw the early library renovations. “Sylvia was a tremendous creator of collections. She applied for many grants that allowed for new shelves and additional staff for the library.” When Lucinda was hired, the Board supported her ideas for building on Sylvia’s efforts, and she was able to add a youth services assistant, fully staff the children’s area, and hire a programming person. “The additional staff meant we could expand children’s and adult programming. We also Increased the collection by buying DVDs, where we previously relied on donations, and expanded our audiobooks collection.”

Originally from Windsor, VT, Lucinda remembers talking with her high school guidance counselor about college. “He threw out the idea that I should become a librarian because I liked to read. I was incensed because the librarians I’d run into through most of my childhood were difficult people. They didn’t have much of a sense of humor, and didn’t really direct my reading.” Lucinda’s love of reading and research led to working in a library for a business newspaper in New York City. “This was the ’80s, before the internet, so you spent a lot of time at other libraries in Manhattan like the New York Public Library. I love untangling the puzzles I was given in that job.” Lucinda’s opinion of librarians took a 180 degree turn. “Librarians in college were amazing people.”

Lucinda earned a Master of Library Science at Long Island University and her library career was off and running with jobs at the Brooklyn Museum of Art Library and the San Francisco Mechanics’ Institute Library. “The Mechanics Institute Library was a technical institute created after the gold rush to keep people in the city – that’s when I got my real love of working with people.”

After moving back to Vermont, Lucinda explored many of the libraries throughout the Upper Valley. “At the time, it seemed like librarians were staying forever. In all honesty, I wondered if I was seasoned enough. When the Norwich position opened, I visited the library to get a sense of the place. I went in on Saturday, and saw Lisa Milchman, who was wearing Tevas with wool socks. I immediately felt like these were my people and that this was the spot for me. I was delighted and astonished that I was hired.”

Many of the highlights of the past 20 years for Lucinda revolve around her interactions and relationships with people. “I’m wired to take risks in the library world, so when people come to me with a new idea, I like to help them achieve that idea. Being able to help shepherd people’s ideas forward makes the library a community-based institution.” Professionally, Lucinda has advanced her own creative ideas to improve communication and networking among librarians throughout Vermont. She co-founded the Green Mountain Library Consortium in 2007, which was successful in bringing the progressive notion of ebooks and audiobooks to Vermont. And, as of February 2020, the Norwich Library no longer charges fines for overdue items. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. Fines are a huge barrier to access, and eliminating them helps ensure that everyone can have equal access to the library.”

Lucinda’s leadership style is one of collaboration and listening. “I do my best work with a collaborative leadership model. Today’s libraries are community centers, and we take care of people at their best and sometimes their worst. We learn to become empathic by hearing other people’s stories and the library has to be a place where that can happen.”

During the 2008 financial crisis, Lucinda heard stories from fellow librarians in the Vermont Library Association about patrons sharing their stories of financial hardship. “I created a presentation about librarians as social workers, because people are often sharing very intimate parts of their lives with us.” This has been true as society begins to emerge from the pandemic. “Many consider this time ‘The Great Unraveling.’ We’ve all been isolated, scared, and grief stricken, and people are unburdening. We need to take care of each other during this time. We want every action we have with a person to leave them feeling better.”

Lucinda is excited to return to the time when libraries are the community places where you can pick up your dry cleaning, CSA share, and access the food shelves. “We’re happy to hold things for people to come and pick up. We rent electric bikes. We host Kindergarten Clean Ups for Earth Day. Community members host meetings here and can use the library as a work space and get tech help. Our WiFi is available 24/7.” Lucinda believes libraries are only successful if the staff and volunteers are able to connect with people and track down what they need. Much of the librarian’s day is spent troubleshooting and problem solving.

Along with curiosity, perceptively reading situations that arise, and extreme multitasking, communication and collaboration are all in a day’s work for Lucinda Walker. “Word of mouth continues to expand the use of the library. I want to shout out to the fact that a successful library is a wonderful reflection of the community it’s serving. Norwich is filled with remarkable people, and the Friends’ group is pivotal. We’re only successful because of our relationships with other people.”