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

Every individual matters.

Every individual has a role to play.

Every individual makes a difference.

~ Jane Goodall

It’s unusual for a small Vermont town like Norwich to be featured on the CBS national news because of its citizens’ goodwill. But that’s exactly what happened in early December when Dan & Whit’s general store owner Dan Fraser put out a plea for help due to the statewide worker shortage. Every position needed to be filled or the store would close. That’s when community members stepped forward and volunteered to stock the shelves and run the registers. Remarkable as the turnout has been, and it has been an amazing event, this is far from the first time the people of Norwich, sometimes as a group, sometimes as individuals, have stepped forward.… Read More

“How can we help?” Reverend Jan Hutslar and the folks at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley in Norwich were able to answer this question by hosting the retrofitted RV that Simon Dennis, director of the Center for Transformation Practice (CTP) in Hartford, and his team put together to house two previously un-housed persons. 

The RV has been outfitted into two apartments that can each house a person comfortably with the necessary amenities for most activities of daily life. The church first became involved in the project after Dennis sent a letter to the congregation gauging their interest in hosting the RV home.… Read More

A local store struggles to maintain staffing during the Covid pandemic and is faced with the possibility of having to shutter for good. The owner throws a Hail Mary pass and puts out a call for help to the community – would residents and customers be willing to take a weekly shift? And in a resolution fit for a Christmas movie, many people answered the call. The store is saved.

Of course, this isn’t a Hallmark movie, and it isn’t any local store. It’s the true story of how Dan & Whit’s stayed in business despite losing most of its staff due to the exigencies of a global pandemic. … Read More

“Hey mom! What kind of dogs are those?”

“Those are probably street dogs, Azor,” Aimee responded. “They’re called village dogs here.”

“Well, where’s the owner? And why are they out on the streets?”

“They don’t really have owners. That’s why they’re called village dogs. They kind of have their own communities.”

“Ok, well can we feed them? Can we take them home? They look starving, and they’re all so skinny!”

“You can feed them, but we can’t take them home.  I know it’s hard but there is not a lot we can do.”

It was 2010. Aimee Goodwin and her sons, Azor and Sam, along with Eydie, John, and Brook Leigh, also of Norwich, were cycling the streets of Tulum, Mexico.… Read More

For a clear historical snapshot of a community like Norwich, there is no better resource than a census report. The census sketches out the character of a town by providing information about where people were born, size of family, education, occupation, and income. If you look carefully, you can get a sense of the society in years past, especially when you examine the occupation column. For example, in the 1940 Norwich census, laborers, farmers, lawyers, doctors, and professors were positions all held by men. Most of the women were listed as housewives. It was a rarity of the times to find a woman who worked outside the home.… Read More

When Norm Levy decides to learn about a new topic, he does his research. As a member of the Norwich Energy Committee and an emerging Upper Valley philanthropist, Norm is a passionate advocate for extending access to lower cost solar electricity for low/moderate income Vermonters and Upper Valley nonprofits. A retired laboratory physician who has invested wisely over the course of his career, Norm set about wanting to ‘have fun and do good’, landing on a non-traditional investment model called “community impact investing,” specifically focused on installing solar arrays. 

Says Norm, “I believe lower income Vermonters care as passionately about climate change as their more affluent neighbors, but feel they have to focus their finances on the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, and childcare.… Read More