Testimonials

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Thanks for another successful FPF experience. The very relieved owner saw [the] message first thing this morning and has retrieved her beloved dog.I have really appreciated being on Front Porch Forum... It is an amazing service.My family and I have just moved to Grand Isle from Burlington and the first thing I did besides unpack was to look up Front Porch Forum. No quicker way to meet the neighbors than Front Porch Forum.Wow, neighbors! Thank you all for such good quick responses! It's so nice to have Front Porch Forum as a resource.I just moved to a Vermont community with a FPF from a neighborhood in the western US that was purposefully platted to discourage interaction with one's neighbors. That was a cold existence, let me tell you. After just one week I know more about my new area than I did after six years in the other neighborhood, and can't wait to get started in the life of the greater community. It is pretty wonderful.I just read a wonderful article by Bill McKibben in this month's Yankee magazine. The title of it is Making Good Neighbors. The story tells the beginning of the Front Porch Forum up in Burlington. The article warmed my heart, reading it made me proud to be a Vermonter. I could never see something like this happening where I grew up in NH. I moved to VT when I was 18 and have never wanted to move anywhere else. Things like the FPF are what make VT and it's residents so great. Kudos to you Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis!!We bought our last car on Front Porch Forum for $500 and it's been great -- best deal ever!Thank you all who responded to my request for a ride! I got several offers and have found a match. Thanks again to you all and Front Porch Forum for helping me out.FPF helped increase traffic to my website by 300%!Last night's free seminar - Solar Electric for Homeowners - was a great success! Thanks to Front Porch Forum and the attendees who found out about it thru FPF.Pardon a very old fashioned and stupid cliche but I personally think Front Porch Forum is the "next best thing to sliced bread." I LOVE opening the posts and as I live in both Huntington and Starkboro (at the same time) I am lucky to get both. I have told just about everyone I know and a zillion business people about FPF and tell them they MUST join. It's the BEST thing ever and I hope you spread it to all rural communities across the USA!!!!Last week I was at an educational session for reaching personal goals, offered at the South Burlington Library. The class was filled to capacity (with more on a waiting list) and everyone in the group (approximate age range 15 to 70) said they heard about it via the library's announcement on the various South Burlington FPF. Keep up the good work.FPF members and distant observers weighed in recently about FPF on a Knight Foundation website.Sold a vacuumWe now have a small mini fridge for our egg business! Thanks to all who responded!Thank you to Front Porch Forum for connecting our communities. When I was recruiting volunteer court advocates for children, FPF was one of the most productive recruitment tools I used. And not only did I get actual volunteer applicants, I got lots of comments from folks in my own neighborhood, so I know people are reading it! I will definitely use FPF for any future recruiting.Front Porch Forum's 2009 member appeal yielded great results, not the least of which was an avalanche of great comments from supporters.I just wanted to say I think the Huntington Front Porch Forum is the BEST!! In just a few days, I was able to sell a used dog crate to a neighbor in need, get a free futon of which I was in need AND get an affordable woodstove. I have been looking for an affordable wood stove for months now. All done right here on our very own FPF. THANK YOU!I wanted to extend a huge thank you to all who replied to my message posted just yesterday. I have been fortunate to receive at least 10 (yes, 10!) auto mechanic recommendations.Thanks to Front Porch Forum and my fantastic neighbors, I recovered my stolen bicycle within 12 hours!Thank you so much for making this great community asset available in my town. It definitely touches lives and helps to make our community stronger through the ability to communicate with each other.I wish we had this service where I live now; what a great community-builder!Front Porch Forum is a great community resource and should be expanded throughout Vermont and beyond.I posted a note looking for a caregiver for my mother, who has had a stroke. I met a lovely neighbor down the street who has started working for my mother; so Front Porch Forum was a great help to us!Thanks to Front Porch Forum for providing a great tool to connect our community and allow our voices to be heard/read.I enjoy the forum so much. Being "elderly" now it keeps me in touch with the neighborhood.Just wanted to express my sincere thanks to all who contribute to Front Porch Forum! Last week I put a couple of items on the forum for sale and low and behold they're just about gone. So thank you neighbors and forum staff.Several neighbors on my block used FPF to share used household items... Awesome! We all scored and are very happy with our paint, blinds, dog bed, microwave, etc.Many patients were needed to make this [accident simulation] realistic and we had no trouble finding 20+ volunteers after we posted to Front Porch Forum.Thank you for the vespa mechanic recommendations. I really appreciated the responsiveness of Front Porch Forum!I want to first thank the many individuals who stepped forward with materials and advice about where to find stuff, and secondly to thank Front Porch Forum - what a gift of internet communication!We were thrilled with the success of our online auction and especially appreciate the venues like FPF that allow us to publicize it. Front Porch Forum is the best! I use it often for many of my events and non-profit work. Thanks for creating such a valuable community organizing tool.Thanks to Front Porch Forum and the good samaritan efforts of our great neighbors, my daughter was reunited with her lost pet bunny within minutes of our post. So, a shout out of thanks to our neighbor for rescuing "Daisy" (who apparently was close to crossing Pearl Street), the neighbor who suggested he use FPF to find its owner, and to Michael Wood-Lewis and the others at FPF for bringing this great service to the community.Front Porch Forum is the BEST!Front Porch Forum success story! My yellow bike that was stolen was found this morning by a neighbor! Thanks to everyone for keeping an eye out for it! Reunited and it feels so gooood.I got a call about five minutes after the Front Porch Forum was posted tonight and sold the Neuton Mower. Talk about quick results! Thanks again.Thank you to the many people who responded to my question about IT help. Front Porch Forum rocks!As a testament to the incredible power of Front Porch Forum, the high school work crew I help organize was fully booked in under a week. We have over 25 work sites. Thank you everyone for your interest!Neighbor helping neighbor and paying it forward is what Front Porch Forum is all about!Today's Burlington Free Press, in Letters to the Editor, praises the Front Porch Forum for helping us to be informed in a democracy. I second this! Thank you Front Porch Forum, for helping us all, in our media-connected, busy work a day lives, for giving a sense of community.I just wanted to say that Front Porch Forum is so helpful and informative. I think it's wonderful how the concept is bringing neighbors together!I just moved across town and I'm looking forward to meeting my new neighbors through Front Porch Forum... this is really an incredible tool.Diggy, my neighbor's missing 2-year-old short haired black and white cat was found thanks to Front Porch Forum. Thanks!Whoever came up with idea should be given an award.Wanted you to know I had seven offers in response to my request to borrow a kayak for a day. FPF is a great service and I hope everyone already a part of FPF will spread the word to other friends and neighbors to join.Dear Neighbors - Thank you so much for all the wonderful recommendations that we received for painters. There is nothing like having a recommendation from a neighbor. We thank you and our house thanks you!As a college student and a renter, I often don't have the normal tools for doing things around the house. Front Porch Forum has been a great help at finding neighbors willing to lend out a shovel in the wintertime, a hammer & nails, or even flour. I definitely feel more at home here in Burlington as a student thanks to FPF.I advertised my pottery sale on Front Porch Forum and had a tremendous response. Lots and lots of neighbors showed up and told me they saw it on FPF. Sales were terrific and in no small part thanks to Front Porch Forum.I really enjoyed being part of Front Porch Forum. It was a great way to connect with neighbors and share information about things going on in the community.I actually moved a year ago, but still loved getting the emails. This is such a fantastic forum, I really enjoyed it. Not sure if there is something like this in my new home, Amherst, MA. Thanks and keep well.Front Porch Forum's service was great and kept me plugged into the neighborhood. I've moved to Massachusetts and wish there was one here!I'm sorry to put another post selling stuff but the first one worked out so well! Thank you! I heart Front Porch Forum.I loved Front Porch Forum. It was great for keeping up and building community. I would love to see FPF move into other states in New England, like Connecticut!I have found Front Porch Forum to be a great way to publicize my website and my books. Thanks.I read Front Porch Forum every day and I always look at the ads from local businesses.I'm grateful once again for the Front Porch Forum's role in helping us all overcome that potential isolation when something bad happens--whether it's vandalism, excessive noise, or even skunks.Front Porch Forum is awesome!Many thanks for your wonderful contribution to community life. I'm sure there are many people like me who can't imagine life without Front Porch Forum.I have moved away, but Front Porch Forum was a godsend while I was in the Old North End! Thanks for enriching my neighborhood experience.Thanks to the people who made this! It's pretty sweet!Without Front Porch Forum lots of our patrons would not be as aware of our programs. We don't know how we coped without FPF, Really!I can't say enough about Front Porch Forum. I have enjoyed being part of it tremendously for two-and-a-half years. I've sold a bike, found my lost cat, learned about some great yard sales and so much more! I really have enjoyed the feeling of being "part of the neighborhood" by way of FPF and hope to have that carry on into my new neighborhood!!I just moved into my neighborhood and FPF gave me a way of meeting my neighbors. I recently posted a request for an upholster and received three responses within 24 hours of the posting!A tool to stay in touch with my neighbors.Tons of responses... thanks once again to Front Porch Forum, it's awesome!!!Thank you for all of your work with Front Porch Forum. I love FPF - it really connects our community. I just found a taker for my box of burlap! So happy to have found someone who really can use it for his raspberry bushes! Thanks for the great service.I was so relieved to hear that the boys were found - I can't tell you how happy I am that we have a forum to get news like that out quickly. Front Porch Forum is a treasure!Its great there is a local web site for the neighborhood. I just started a new cleaning business. It would be great to get some clients around the area. One hand washes the other in a time of need.I love Front Porch Forum! You have helped us find cat sitters, child sitters, garage sales, too much to mention. We are so happy this exists -- in an age where everyone's porch is now a back yard deck, how nice it is to have a "virtual" front porch. Keep up the amazing work.I have been a member while a resident around Chittenden County and have loved the forum for discussion, advice, recommendations, etc. I hope you are able to expand north! [St. Albans]My husband and I lost two baby chicks to disease and were so sad! Then, I'll be damned if a week later a neighbor doesn't post on FPF that he's giving away two baby chicks! We're *so* happy that FPF connected us.I want to let you all know how wonderful this forum is. I located a Boy Scout to put in blueberry bushes, plus I found infant clothes and a much-needed baby stroller.Front Porch Forum is excellent and I wish Rutland County had a similar program!Front Porch Forum is great, and I think you guys do a fantastic job -- it's a wonderful service, and I think serves an important purpose in terms of community-building, communication, collaboration and strength.Hi Everyone...I sent out a post last week asking for help in assembling two Adirondack chairs and I was amazed at the responses. Several people offered to help just to be a good neighbor and wanted no other compensation... I could not let this go without thanking each of you for your offer. I also thank those of you who have created and joined Front Porch Forum. What a wonderful way to connect with neighbors.What a great service. Thank you and I will hope to join up again in the future.I love Front Porch Forum!We are in the middle of an eight-month tour of the world with our kids (right now in Kathmandu), so we are enjoying Front Porch Forum more than ever, as it keeps us in touch with what's going on back home.There are millions of people around the world who don't have a venue for their voice in any form. I celebrate the fact that we have a place right here (Front Porch Forum) for all our voices, whether I agree with them or not.I'd like to thank you for helping to find my missing bicycle lock, meet my neighbors, barter my roof rack carrier for some freshly smoked salmon, find a lost glove, learn more about local politics, and provide a soapbox for whenever I feel the need. Your work on the Front Porch Forum is so greatly appreciated. I think it's one of the best things that have happened in Burlington in a long time.Clothes, phone and passport found! Thanks FPF! And all those who kept an eye open while walkin' around town. If you'd believe it they were in a parking garage dumpster...I have been in the process of building my massage therapy practice. I would like to thank you neighbors for the overwhelming response I have had through Front Porch Forum.Front Porch Forum is a fantastic tool to share [all] sorts of concerns, ideas, and more... whether we agree, disagree, or simply are not sure. I am grateful to have such a communication tool available.Thanks for the spirited and lengthy discussion of the City Council meeting. I know much more about my home town since joining Front Porch Forum.Just want to say thanks for all the computer repair recommendations - our little forum is a great asset for the neighborhood.I just wanted to thank the half dozen ONE neighbors who put fingers to keyboards so darn fast in response to our request for a roofer recommendation. It just warms my heart to think about so many neighbors reachin' out to a stranger with advice....thanks to the Front Porch Forum for making these connections possible.I had 40 (yes, forty) people on our tree-identification walk today. Luckily trees are larger than wildflowers, so it wasn't too much of a problem. Lots of positive feedback. Front Porch Forum was far and away the most cited way that folks heard about the walk. Thanks so much for making the FPF neighborhood volunteers forum available too.Front Porch Forum is a great addition to our little town... glad you're covering Starksboro now!!!THANKS very much for all your efforts for an informed community. Burlington is a better place because of Front Porch Forum.Thank you to Front Porch Forum for giving us a chance to connect with our neighbors and share our hopes for our city. I am looking forward to hearing exciting news from my neighbors about ways they are making a difference, and improving our yards, homes, schools, businesses, and futures. With spring in the air, good news should be shared.Kudos on operating Front Porch Forum... what an amazing gift to give to people and their communities! FPF connects so many people in a positive way!Thank you so much for all that Front Porch Forum does, not just allowing local candidates a voice, but for all the online neighborhood forums. It is a wonderful service.Front Porch Forum is a great service. I'll rejoin when we move back to the US!I just signed up and can't wait to start using Front Porch Forum. Some friends in Burlington have it and LOVE it. I think this will be an incredible asset for our community. Thanks to everyone who helped make this happen. Yahoo! Elated in Starksboro.I LOVE THIS! if there is any volunteer work or help that anyone needs around the area just drop me a message and i would love to give 2 helping hands!Our new propane supplier is calling this the Front Porch Forum Group Buy. She had already talked to 24 people from Huntington. This change is going to save us over $200 a month (!) in the Winter season. Shows you the power of communicating with your neighbors. We're lucky to have FPF as a resource.I just wanted to send a hearty and sincere thank you your way for such a fabulous forum. This has turned out to be such a fun and creative way to meet my neighbors! I'm thrilled that you've kept up what I'm sure is quite an effort to keep this going and I just wanted you to know it's very much appreciated.The FPF is a wonderful initiative. I use it very often. I was able to find very useful information last year on how to nicely get rid of a skunk in our barn ! I was also able to donate a bed to someone who needed one for her grandson. We found skates for my son who is growing so fast right now. But even more important, we are able to participate in discussions about issues that concerns our community, like speeding cars, the price of oil, a new zoning issue, etc. FPF is bringing back the old days meeting houses is an efficient way to accommodate everybody's schedule.I am in awe of this network.A huge thank you to Front Porch Forum and Channel 17 for helping to strengthen our local democracy!I would like to thank you at Front Porch Forum for providing such an excellent means of allowing neighbors to share their ideas. It seems ours, of late, has been focused primarily on the Bridge...but I do appreciate all the other info and ideas shared. Good Luck with this, I think the whole country could benefit from this as much as Richmond South has!Front Porch Forum comes through again, I had many, many takers on the table.I would just like to express how valuable Front Porch Forum has been to me. With children grown and gone it has been easy to slip into hermit mode. This has been a valuable link in nudging me back into community updates and involvement. For example, the propane discussion is very interesting. I am learning so much.Thank you so much for the FPF Nine Words for 2009 contest. I used my $25 gift certificate to buy my grand daughter ice skates and 3 tops. Pretty neat!!!Thank you for providing this service, I absolutely love it, and I really feel more connected to my surrounding community for using Front Porch Forum.Get off Facebook, get on Front Porch Forum, Now....Thanks to the ability to post to Front Porch Forum we have found our beloved dog safe and sound. Thanks to everyone!I am so fortunate and thankful for Front Porch Forum as I'm completely new to Vermont from California.Front Porch Forum is an excellent way to learn more about my community. Thanks!I would like to Thank the Old North End for the overwhelming response to my request for a quality dentist. Just 24 hours after my post appeared on Front Porch Forum I received 13 recommendations. WOW!A sad story, but Front Porch Forum made it just a bit less so. Our cat disappeared on Halloween and we were worried. A neighbor posted on FPF that they had found a cat matching Rinster's description, which had been hit by a car. The people who found him were kind, thoughtful, and understanding. I am so grateful that we did not spend days or weeks wondering what had happened, and that we were able to mourn and bury him. Thank you for being there.My neighborhood forum means a lot to me. I have lived in the Heineberg Neighborhood Area my whole life. It is important to be in touch with members of your neighborhood. It helps create a stronger, healthier community.It is almost impossible in this era, to build a sense of "neighborliness." I've lived in my neighborhood for over 14 years and Front Porch Forum has introduced me to neighbors I would otherwise never know.I love Front Porch Forum as it often has helped me out and made me feel more a part of the community.Front Porch Forum certainly helped us get our restaurant's name (Braahmin) out there w/in hours! Thank you for that. We had several orders and of course phone calls and emails. Thanks.Thanks to a Front Porch Forum connection, our friend's dog was found - 7 miles away as the crow flies in Bolton! Thanks Jamie and thanks FPF!I had some yard tools to give away and posted a message on Front Porch Forum. To my delight I got more than 15 responses in a short time. The messages were so friendly and appreciative that I wished I had many more tools to offer! An enthusiastic woman who came for a long-handled pruner and ladder to prune her apple tree returned the following week with a delicious Apple Brown Betty she had made with her apples!After 10 years I have found and love the forum. I love knowing that those that I am talking to are my neighbors not in another state. So when is the ONE West Neighborhood Forum group having a cookout? I have the grill and maybe the chef. Ha! Ha!Congratulations on your 2-year anniversary! Thank you for a wonderful service. I look SO forward to reading every FPF I receive. I hope you're around for years to come!My daughters and I had Welsh Corgi puppy fever and decided to wait until fall to find one. Imagine my delight and surprise when a Corgi puppy showed up on our neighborhood Front Porch Forum the weekend before school started. If we had designed our own a wanted poster he couldn't have fit our family better. He has been a delight. It isn't too much to say that Front Porch Forum changed our lives. As an added bonus, everyone saw the posting, so he became the neighborhood's Corgi and joined our family as a local celebrity garnering lots of well wishes!Front Porch Forum is a one-stop tool for those of us who have little time to surf the web.I'm grateful to Front Porch Forum for helping us struggle with important issues as citizens of Burlington.I think Front Porch Forum is great to bring some community back to these technological times!I am so pleased to be part of Front Porch Forum because I learn things about my own neighborhood that I would otherwise not know. I appreciate hearing about robberies or petty crime so I can remind myself to double lock up doors and windows I might otherwise neglect. I have enjoyed reading about things for sale, events going on in our area, as well as some city issues that need our attention. Thank you so much for putting this out to us, keeping us up to date, and introducing us to so many interesting things. We love Burlington, our neighbors and our community, so being in touch is most helpful. Thanks.Keep up the great community-building (please know that it is absolutely necessary).Thanks For Such A Great Service!I love Front Porch Forum. It is just the perfect amount of communication, and a great asset.Front Porch Forum has been great for publicizing our events! It's also one of our main sources of information on what's going on in the community.Front Porch Forum is especially important to us right now as we have, regrettably, had a major theft of kayaks and find FPF is the most essential link we have in our neighborhood. Thanks againYikes! Middle school lessons start tomorrow and my daughter's flute is still in the shop. A quick post on Front Porch Forum and four neighbors offer to lend her theirs. Heartwarming.I didn't want last week's 400th issue of South Union Neighborhood Forum go unrecognized, so Congratulations, the Wood-Lewis', on the quadracentenary of our Front Porch Forum! We're so lucky to have you and this valuable community resource, and keep up the great work!! Just goes to show, the best things in life are free. (That said, be sure to use whatever influence and contacts you have to find Sponsors for this innovative, interactive newsletter. That would include real estate agents, too!)Front Porch Forum is a wonderful service and community builder.Thank you everyone who offered your Kayaks. We are all set for Saturday. This forum is wonderful! I make a request one day and I wake up the next day to several solutions. Thank you Front Porch Forum and everyone who responded.because of FPF we found our lost cat! he has been missing since tuesday and is now home safe and sound. thanks to everyone for your concern and keeping an eye out.The coolest thing happened yesterday evening. I had sent out my first Front Porch Forum bartering request -- 15 lbs of grapes for 15 lbs of rhubarb -- and a nice couple from Summit Ridge delivered rhubarb to my door yesterday evening!!! YAY, I'll make sure they get their grapes come September.This venue continues to be one of the best means to communicate important information with our citizens.I dropped my keys one morning on the way to the park and they were back by afternoon. Thanks Front Porch Forum!I am speechless. I love this thing so much!This site makes life so much easier in so many ways.Front Porch Forum is helping my neighbors find more information about our Online Marketing Boot Camp June 17-20, 2008... including $500 grants.I absolutely love Front Porch Forum and have met many new neighbors as a result of postings (which I know is the point!). One of the first things I did when my new housemate from France arrived was take her to experience a FPF-advertised lawn sale. She made friends with a young woman (her sale) and has since been to her house for dinner and has been running with one of the friends met at that dinner.I am so impressed with all of your efforts to keep our neighborhoods knitted together through Front Porch Forum - it is a terrific service (and the customer service is exceptional!)Front Porch Forum has been an incredibly positive part of the time I've spent in Vermont.I absolutely LOVE what you're doing. I think that Front Porch Forum is one of the best things to happen as a result of the internet. Everyone actually reads the emails and it's a great way to connect with folks that you otherwise would have little interaction with.I have a friend in Middlebury who I told about Front Porch Forum without thinking about the fact that FPF is not available in Addison County yet. I felt so sad for her after I realized my mistake. It was like talking about how great the cake was but there is none left for her to try.Our moving sale this past weekend was a huge success at least partially due to the unpredicted good weather but mostly due to the Front Porch Forum means of communicating with neighbors. The sale also gave me the opportunity to tell neighbors about the Forum and I've already seen new names added.I love Front Porch Forum. I asked for some help with adding some beads to a necklace to make it longer and BINGO, a woman right on my own street does just that. She did a great job, turned it around quickly and was very reasonable.An April 2008 survey yielded hundreds of additional illuminating anonymous comments from Front Porch Forum subscribers. Click here for samples.The donation was the best way I knew to express how impressed I am by Front Porch Forum. We've been in a gradual move to Brooklyn for about eight years, and have grown to depend on ParkSlopeParents.com and Brownstoner.com - two very active and helpful community forums. But neither one is quite as nice as FPF, I think. Part of it is the scale: Front Porch Forum is so much more accessible divided up into local neighborhoods, as you have. You have set a great standard for Burlington. I'm only sorry I discovered so late. Thanks for all you do.Thank you so much for your help with our community fundraiser for a neighborhood child battling cancer! Front Porch Forum has **already** exponentially multiplied the community's response to this event and for that we are incredibly grateful (as is Emily and family!)When I lost my cat I was putting up flyers and someone told me to post on ONE forum. I did and within 12 hrs I had found my cat. you guys are great.I was overwhelmed with 15 offers to loan a post hole digger. Thank you to all who responded! ... and thanks to Front Porch Forum!I love Front Porch Forum. It's such a great vehicle for bringing us all closer together. My visiting friends from across the country laugh when they read the posts about free eggs, or bobcat sightings, or someone looking for a good local seamstress, but I LOVE it. It's tough to know your neighbors through the woods sometimes, so it's nice to get to know them through the computer. And then you have something fun to talk about at the local neighborhood bash that we find out about through the forum!I think the name "Front Porch Forum" appealed to me as I grew up in a small community where people actually had front porches where we often sat and talked with our neighbors. (My Mom often said that she never wanted a house without a front porch.) Now we live in a world where people seem busier with little time for just "sitting and chatting." So I see Front Porch Forum as an ingenious idea to use technology as a way to be neighborly and to know more about community needs. This seems especially important in areas like Charlotte where our nearest neighbor may be in sight but maybe not. I have used FPF to seek information about various topics and have found it amazing that someone always responds with either the answer to my question or tells me someone to call who may know the answer. I have "met" people in the community this way.i want to thank Front Porch Forum for my new tuxedo kitty, gypsy. i saw an email on FPF from the lovely woman who took in a stray "waif" kitty, seeking someone to adopt her. i am the new proud mama to sweet little gypsy & we've already started dancing together. thanks, FPF folks and fabulous ONE neighbors. happiness avails.I think Front Porch Forum is a wonderful way to stay in contact with neighbors, especially in a rural area where we are. I have come to "know" people who live not far from me through FPF and the information that they share is invaluable.Just wanted to let you know that we sold our Minivan today to a neighbor through Front Porch Forum. We had more people expressing interest and more people showing up to look at the van who found out through the Forum than the interest generated by Burlington Free Press, Cars.com and Craigslist combined. Thanks!Just today I went back through the Front Porch Forum archives because I need a dog sitter. I knew one had been mentioned fairly recently and voila! I avoided having to use a kennel. However, if I ever do need a kennel, I know a recommendation that I feel good about would be forthcoming from members. And, I think in great part because of the forum, Westford just voted in a write-in candidate for our school board. He was able to introduce himself and detail his experience on the forum. Because of that I felt very comfortable putting his name on the ballot.I love the front porch forum. It is such a fabulous community builder.I just wanted to tell you that right after the announcement that I had started my business was posted on the Five Sisters Forum, I received an email from a prospective client. I'm happy to say that he is now an official client and I foresee a successful working relationship ahead. Many thanks to you and Front Porch Forum for making connections like these happen!I heard about this some weeks ago, then yesterday, within about 12 hours, three different people mentioned it. I figured that's the sign I need to become part. Looking forward to becoming more familiar and involved with the neighborhood.We're huge fans of Front Porch Forum. You should be proud of what you've accomplished.I'm so thrilled to discover Front Porch Forum - what a great community builder! We were recently able to find some worms for our new worm farm through the forum, and it was so heartwarming to find that others in our neighborhood were as keen to reach out to their neighbors as we are.For her 14th birthday, my daughter wanted to do a day long canoe excursion with several of her friends. I had noticed during my walks through our neighborhood that several of my neighbors owned canoes (some that did not appear to get a lot of regular use). I decided to put-out a request on Front Porch Forum to see if folks would be willing to lend-out their canoes for a day. I needed about 4. I was so excited, as I received more offers than expected. Several folks let me stop in at my leisure to pick-up and drop-off the canoes. They also lent me paddles and life vest. My daughter and her friends had a great time. Also, thanks to my neighbors and FPF, we saved about $200.00 in canoe rental costs!I love Front Porch Forum, It can be hard in rural neighborhoods to get to know your neighbors. We are more physically spread out from each other; not passing on the sidewalks or chatting over our fences.Thanks for your work and effort in keeping us all in touch. Kudos.Thank you for this great service that brings neighborhoods together.Thanks to my big FPF raffle win, I'm somewhat a celeb with my neighbors as well as with friends from other neighborhoods who participate in Front Porch Forum. It really is pretty amazing how FPF connects so many folks on a neighborly level.Thanks for all your work in keeping the forum going and in adding features like this raffle. I always read the forum as soon as I get the email, and I've emailed a few of the members to respond to their notes and queries. It's a tremendous asset to the town!Thank you for your great contribution to our community.Thanks for making Front Porch Forum such a great venue for communication!I'm a huge fan of Front Porch Forum. Winning the gift certificate would just be icing on the cake! Thanks for making this offer available to us all!Thank you for this fantastic service- Especially when the temperature is in the single digits, it is great to be in contact with so many neighbors!What a great thing you have going with Front Porch Forum. I use it for business and to stay in touch with neighbors, especially in the winter months when very few of us venture outdoors unless we need to move the 2+ feet of snow from our driveways.These raffles are yet another cool thing about Front Porch Forum.We LOVE Front Porch Forum. We tell all our new neighbors about it, and how to sign up. We use it regularly to get neighborhood news, to make connections, when we're selling or seeking items, to voice concerns or ideas effecting the neighborhood, and for neighborhood event organizing. THANK YOU!!!!!!Thanks for Front Porch Forum - it's great!Thanks for the great job you're doing. I enjoy Front Porch Forum and have posted several times (free perennials if you come and dig them!), with great results.Thanks for such an informative web site. Have really enjoyed keeping up with things around town this way!We are delighted to support Front Porch Forum with a financial contribution, and feel we have seen first hand the many benefits it brings to our neighborhood and the wider community. It is our pleasure (and responsibility!) to lend a hand.Front Porch Forum has now been elevated beyond a mere local-networking tool: it has become required political reading for those on any side of any issue, any policy debate, any ongoing campaign.Just wanted to add a positive voice to the others: I love Front Porch Forum!! Thank you to whoever started this!!Front Porch Forum sure facilitates conversation in a new and wonderful way and is fostering for me a welcomed sense of getting to know my community better as well as a renewed sense of belonging to a great town. Bravo for initiating a brilliant idea!Congratulations on our neighborhood forum's issue no. 100! A wonderful accomplishment and community builder!I just want to write and give my thanks for what you have created. The forum is great. For me it provides a sense of community and neighborliness that I didn't think was possible to achieve anymore. I am sure you have much evidence by now of the Forum actively changing communities as well, and I wanted to toss in my own example. I've just learned that my community (Westford) doesn't currently have a food shelf in operation. Thanks to Front Porch Forum, having a community-wide conversation about how best to fill this need is a cinch. I have no doubt that, with the help of neighbors rallied to the cause, we'll have one up and running in no time. You must know that not a community meeting - or practically any public-oriented conversation - goes by without FPF being tossed into the mix. What a wonderful gift you have given to us all.We had a great turn out at the Neighborhood Planning Assembly meeting this past week -- 80 plus people and almost all of them are on the Front Porch Forum. We have had 3 great meetings with numbers above 50 this fall thanks to the free advertising on Front Porch Forum.This website is a really great way to communicate with our neighbors in this rural setting.Front Porch Forum does great service to our neighborhoods and the City. Keep up the good work!Thanks all you neighbors who contacted me with ways to help my friend whose car got keyed while under my care... and those who just wanted to send their condolences. I have to say, I love the Front Porch Forum! We also found our lovely new apartment through this forum! Nothing but good things has come of being a part of it and I appreciate all of you who participate and make it a little more wonderful.Thank you for your work. Front Porch Forum is a great service and worthy of a donation to help out. It's in the "basket."We put out a national search for employees and posted it on Front Porch Forum, focusing on this neighborhood. We got more qualified people from Front Porch Forum than we did from the national search!Just wanted to say well done to all who post here and those who run and advertise on this forum. From what I've learned talking to other folks this is the liveliest front porch around. Its great to see a neighborhood dialogue happening.I joined the Neighborhood Forum today. We have lived in the neighborhood since 1980. I am a Barber/Stylist and I first heard of the Front Porch Forum by listening to a few business men that were discussing the website. They were at the Main Street Barber Shop, in Burlington, where I work, http://www.mainstreetbarbers.net They said the forum was a great site for advertising, and linking up with neighbors to hear what was happening in the neighborhood - from crime to events.I just joined the Downtown Neighborhood Forum. Just yesterday I heard an official from North Hampton MA on the radio telling an interviewer that reaching out to involve residents in local planning was too expensive. Thanks for showing that it can be done smartly.We need LOTS of community building - and Front Porch Forum is leading the way.I LOVE Front Porch Forum and am encouraging any neighbor who is not on it to get on it. We advertised a plant swap at the beginning of summer - it was a great way to get rid of some stuff, get some new plants and meet great neighbors. We'll be doing it again in the spring. I enjoy the school board updates, crime updates, free stuff, sponsor advertising, etc. We meet new folks with each posting. We're encouraged to try Dino's a pizza place on North Street from the recommendation of someone on the fourm. Honestly, I have no complaints. You've taken the conversations between immediate neighbors that occur across the fence and extended them blocks away.I greatly admire and respect the work of Front Porch Forum in bringing together neighborhoods and communities!Everyone is talking about how great Front Porch Forum is, so I thought I better check it out!The impact of Front Porch Forum is vast and not really quantifiable -- neighbors feeling secure, kids learning about and taking music lessons, friendships made and developed, dinners learned about and shared, neighbors celebrating the seasons together, and most of all community strengthened and improved for a lifetime. Thanks so much to Michael and Valerie Wood-Lewis for building Front Porch Forum. I hope they realize the next phase of the Forum's potential so other communities around the nation can have the benefit of this service. Between Burlington Telecom and Front Porch Forum I feel like I have the tools and resources to live in the 21st century.I really enjoy Front Porch Forum. Very informative.Front Porch Forum is terrific!thanks so much for setting up our forum. i received a bunch of very supportive and helpful e-mails in response to my message about our tires being slashed. thanks to the forum, we were connected with the parallel justice program which will pay for our new tires. good work!I love the Front Porch Forum. I feel more connected to my community, and have found a lot of the posts very useful! I have also successfully used the Forum to share information of my own with my neighbors. I have encouraged others to used the Front Porch Forum through my classes and through my Myspace.com page because I think it is such a great way to participate in your neighborhood community.What a wonderful idea Front Porch Forum is! It's really revolutionized neighborhood life in the 2000s. I am very sorry for people who have no sense of community. I feel so much more connected to people, to our community, because of FPF. I hope that it catches on nationwide; seems like the whole country could use a little more community.I just moved to a new neighborhood and now I'm on a new neighborhood forum! I really enjoy and appreciate Front Porch Forum.Another Front Porch Forum success story. A pair of my sunglasses, stolen from my car, recovered by my next door neighbor, linked via FPF! The glasses were bifocal, worth about $90 and relatively new.I am sending out my encouragement to everyone for use and promotion of Front Porch Forum. In my mind, the more we demonstrate the Forum's usefulness by example, the more likely we are to get others to join us. I consider the Forum to be a community voice. With it we can encourage, serve, inform, debate, recognize, and protect our community. With it we can buy, sell, barter, give away and recycle items that are appropriate to respectful and neighborly exchanges. I believe that all computer literate persons would want to use this neighborhood network, if only they knew of its existence. I believe it is up to us, who are already informed, to spread the word. I urge everyone to recruit other Neighborhood Volunteers and other neighbors who will grow our Forum network.The lost glasses posted in the last issue were mine! And while I'd finally given in and replaced them this week, I don't like the new glasses as much and was feeling bereft. Just thought you might like another success story! We just moved away from Richmond, VT. We found Front Porch Forum an amazing way to connect people within the community in terms of notifying about events, getting information and recommendations and selling/giving away items. Please come to our new hometown in NC!Why you should advertise on Front Porch Forum... My new dance school was recently advertised on FPF and every student I have enrolled that does not know me personally heard about the school via FPF! I will definitely continue to advertise on FPF in the future!Thank you for all of your help and the information as well as connections to the community and residents in my neighborhood!Front Porch Forum is great, I just moved and signed up for the Hinesburg forum. Thanks for the terrific service!I've just joined the crew. What a great way to get to know everyone and what's happening!I really enjoyed this service. I hope I can find a similar program in Arizona where I'm moving this fall.I sold my townhouse and have been busy packing. I hope they have a front porch forum in Pittsburgh, PA that I can join. It's a good feeling to know if something did happen in your neighborhood you could post it for your neighbors to read.I have just returned from my soon-to-be new home [out of state]. Almost more than missing my friends and the amenities here in Burlington, I will miss the connection I feel to Front Porch Forum. When I think of moving to a brand new community and the difficulty of learning about my new neighborhood, I think of all the advantages that the Forum brings. Is there any realistic way I can encourage my new community to begin a similar service?Thanks to Front Porch Fourm we were able to get over 70 people out on a hot night to discuss the zoning rewrite issues. News does travel fast with Front Porch Forum!!!Burlington Telecom and many other City of Burlington departments receive a lot of invaluable feedback through the 38 Front Porch Forums that cover all the neighborhoods in Burlington. If you are not participating in this free, hyper-local, neighbor-to-neighbor digest you are missing out. The effort to create and maintain the FPF is substantial! BT is proud to join other local businesses as a sponsor of this community resource. We encourage other local businesses and other city departments to consider supporting it as well.This is great! Thanks so much for establishing another way to explore the neighborhood. Now I'm inspired to spruce up the actual front porch... ;DI LOVE Front Porch Forum... Huntington is the perfect town for it... if you miss the town news at Beaudry's, you can get it on the Forum. You're doing an awesome thing, thank you!Front Porch Forum is innovative, new and community serving. What a contribution is being made to neighbors connecting and communicating! It's a current day version of the "across the fence" contact in days gone by.Front Porch Forum is a postmodern return to citizen democracy which is nurturing the burgeoning hunger for community in our society. Feeding the mind and the soul, the neighborly interchange provides the information necessary to participate intelligently in the democratic process, develop deeper connections with those around us, and provides the support and care that meld individuals who live near one another into neighbors. This may well be the most important advance in community development strategies in decades. Communities around the country will be seeking this opportunity to strengthen their social infrastructure, to foster healthy communities, and to provide the support necessary for their citizens to live vibrant, connected lives. Michael Wood-Lewis deserves a MacArthur Fellowship for an idea as visionary and important as this.I love our local Front Porch Forum. It's been a great way to connect with neighbors.Front Porch Forum drops neighborhood news in my mailbox, and I love the close community centered aspect of it. I walk my dogs every day, and when I meet people in the neighborhood who I haven't met yet, we can always talk about what's on the Forum! Newcomers can get instantly connected to their neighbors, and belong in a heartbeat -- or a keystroke!Recently a pivotal vote was held in one of our local city government affiliated meetings (NPA). As if some disliked the results of the vote, the normal distribution channel for publicizing the vote results were disrupted: minutes of the meeting were not mailed out nor posted on the city website. Thank G-D for the Front Porch Forum. Readers were quickly able to learn that an 11th hour amendment to our zoning ordinance was about to be quietly passed; that our our parking availability was being reduced, and that their neighbors voted against this proposed amendment at their NPA meeting. The Front Porch Forum helped level the playing field, helping folks inform each other; and bringing light to activities some "local power centers" seem to wish had been kept in the dark. Communications have improved between neighbors and between "we the people" and our representatives.I am a strong advocate of Front Porch Forum. In the "ancient" past, sitting on our home's front porch was where we got news and stayed connected to the neighborhood. In today's virtual world, FPF is like being on the porch at home again. Many kudoes to Michael Wood-Lewis and others who have made the forum so fantastic. I encourage others like me to walk your neighborhoods and spread the word with flyers about Front Porch Forum. But most importantly, use it!!I'm an enthusiastic participant in my neighborhood Front Porch Forum. I attend Town Meeting every year and serve as a Justice of the Peace, and I live in a cohousing community, so I have several other ways of staying connected to my neighbors. I heard about the Front Porch Forum from a neighbor; since then I have become an organizer for it and have posted flyers, hosted a pot luck, etc. I trust the info. posted because I know the people posting it, for the most part, or at least I know where they live! So far people in our group have posted information, but I look forward to a time when the group builds strong enough relationships to ask for more substantive help from each other, rather than simply information.During the winter I joined Front Porch Forum... I have grown much closer to my neighbors and have a much broader understanding of their various interests. It has been helpful in numerous ways and changed my approach to being a good neighbor, rather than just living in the neighborhood.I joined this forum about a month ago but have been "lurking." So, belatedly, "Hi, I'm Here." The magic of the internet has made me feel much more connected to many of you whom I have never met. I tried to help find Jim's laptop (never even knew the name behind the Smithy sign until then) and cheered (and blogged it) when it was recovered. I have been admiring the mailboxes along the main road, knowing the source of their new found beauty. And I have frequently passed on your queries to folks who are not on the list but I think might be able to help.I'm so glad there's a FrontPorchForum in my neighborhood in Williston, VT because there are so many neighborhoods here that the Williston newspaper can't report on all of them. Our condo association newsletter only comes once a month, but the Forum can arrive every day. It's a great way to meet and talk with neighbors I hardly ever see.My recent political activities revealed a real need for building community around a lot of other issues as well. Front Porch Forum in Burlington, VT touches all communities in Chittenden County in a way that concentrates on bringing near neighbors together.In addition to talking to Linda, the owner of our wonderful general store, I use the Huntington Neighborhood Forum (Front Porch Forum). It's a terrific way to find out the name and number of a recommended plumber, electrician, tile installer, or to help someone find their lost laptop that flew off the roof of their car accidentally, or to find a home for a couple of lost dogs, and so much more. In days gone by we would all be visiting with our neighbors and getting news that way. That still happens here in Vermont, but the front porch forums helps the news travel faster and to a larger audience.Burlington, VT's Front Porch Forum has neighborhood newsletters, so you communicate with people on your own street. We organized a yard sale that involved a bunch of neighbors with the result that we all connected with our neighbors over the weekend and got better acquainted. It's a wonderful vehicle. In addition, Burlington's city wards each have a Neighborhood Planning Association which send out monthly newsletters and hold monthly meetings - another good way to make connections.I use Front Porch Forum in Burlington, VT to keep in touch with my neighborhood. Whether I am looking for local garage sales, war protests, or the agenda to the last Neighborhood Planning Association meeting, Front Porch Forum is where I find it. It has really been catching on in neighborhoods all around Burlington in the last year or so.Front Porch Forum is a local e-mail based newsletter in and around Burlington, Vermont. We use it to share whatever is in our garage, learn who is sick in the neighborhood and find out what is happening in local politics. Why would an entire negihborhood need a canoe in every garage, when we can share, reduce consumption and create community by loaning our canoe to our neighbors. We have collected 150 sets of silverware from garage sales and tag sales and let our neighbors know through Front Porch Forum that they can borrow our bucket of silver whenever they have a large gathering. So much better than using those petroleum based plastic forks and spoons. We found out through Front Porch Forum when our neighbor's son was shipped out to Iraq and were able to contribute to weekly care packages sent by another neighbor. We find out about everything from public hearings to lemonade stands through this service and as a school board trustee I get direct feedback from my constituents. We love Front Porch Forum.Front Porch Forum, distributed free in Burlington, Vermont, is a way of keeping both a neighborhood and a community in touch. It is sent on line, is timely, and kindly in approach.Thank you neighbor for lending a frame backpack for a couple months. This site really works!Thank you for Front Porch Forum -- it is the internet at its best.Thank you for creating this wonderful resource to support our connection to one another. You've done a terrific job. I really appreciate it (and the last-minute tickets to Circus Smirkus, which was fantastic!)I posted something about seeking help with dog sitting, and I received a wonderful reply, for which I'm very grateful. Thanks very much for starting this online community!I have relocated; I hope there's a Front Porch Forum up this way! Thank you - I found it very helpful. I was able to pass along my beloved piano to a new piano player.I love Front Porch Forum. It is such a great way to be connected to different social networks and hear the opinions of my neighbors!I'd just like to offer some kudos here: (1) to Front Porch Forum for creating a medium for neighbors to communicate issues quickly and easily, and (2) to the police and government officials of all types for watching and responding to this forum on a regular basis. I think I can speak for most members of the community and say this: Whether or not we are satisfied with every response we receive, we appreciate everything our officials are doing to improve and maintain our quality of life. We have to acknowledge that FPF has created a communication path and that its being used, successfully, by our community.About 30 neighbors attended our potluck. It was very successful and fun! See what Front Porch Forum's vision hath wrought!I have been part of my Huntington forum for several months and think it is wonderful. Thank you for launching such a great community builder! I was hesitant at first to join the forum, only because in Huntington we have a wonderful/helpful/supportive community already. Once I joined, though, I realized how helpful it can be! I am in contact with neighbors I hadn't known that well - it just serves to widen my "circle."I am really appreciating this forum - finding out about goings on in the community, and the conversations, connections, that are going on whether I am participating or bystanding.Thanks everyone for the mechanic recommendations! It's been a great help and I'm glad this forum exists for such occasions.Please update my account as I've moved to a new neighborhood. I love being part of Front Porch Forum and am hoping it will help me meet neighbors at my new place!I had an extra ticket for a concert at the Flynn and posted it for sale on Craig's List. After three days with nary a bite, I tried the Front Porch Forum and received a response the following morning. Nice going!Thanks to Front Porch Forum for this service and all the work that you do to keep the magnificent line of communications up and running so efficiently. It is amazing and the benefits for all are very real. Sometimes it is easy to take such things for granted so I feel it necessary to toss in this heartfelt thanks and appreciation which I am sure is shared by everyone who has benefited from this valuable community asset. Thank you again.The Forum embodies much of what our modern society continues to find valuable in the old: real communication between real people about matters large & small that affect our community.Our neighborhood's forum discussion is a way to help us put together our ideas for improving our community. I get the feeling from reading the many responses that the very act of discussing our ideas makes us feel a greater sense of who we are and what we can be.Thank you so much Front Porch Forum. My apt rented in less than a day.Thanks for the forum... unfortunately, I'm moving to California (lemme know when you are expanding there).Thanks to this forum, we sold our snow tires in a day! This is a great way to bring neighbors together...Thank you for creating this wonderful platform for Community discussion, information and development. It has been a real boon to our TV Show in its infancy. I am forever in your debt.My son in Burlington has been wanting to live in a particular area. A friend there has been forwarding him their Forum with notices of houses for sale -- as a result, he's about to move into his dream neighborhood. Good for seller, good for buyer.You have really built something special and I always enjoy reading the musings and amusings of my neighbors. Front Porch Forum is a top notch service to our community and I thank you.Front Porch Forum is truly a wonderful thing for all of us.wow! i've gotten a ton of requests for my extra phone. i LOVE front porch forum! needless to say, the phone has been taken. thanks!Wow. What a response to my mowing plea. The 1st one came in at about 1 AM. I am not a regular computer person yet so didn't check my email until late in the day by which time someone had called me on the phone and then actually mowed my lawn. Thank you so much to the other 5 or 6 people who offered.The bingo crowds have doubled at the senior center since we started announcing them on Front Porch Forum, and that is a good money maker for us.This is great! I joined the forum today and have lived here 18 years and only know the neighbors to the left and across the street. People live busy lives, but some how we manage to spend time on our computers.I have really been enjoying Front Porch Forum - it is especially helpful with our Ward One school redistricting plan.Front Porch Forum is a great thing and I love reading it and feeling connected to my neighborhood.I continue to be amazed with the effectiveness of the Forum and give it full credit for the historically large turn-out for our recent Green Up Day activities in ONE East.I give my hearty welcome to the McGarghans and the Heveys. I am pleased that you have joined the forum and encourage you to tell others in your personal networks to join their own neighborhood forums. I think this vehicle for local communication is the best thing since sliced cheese. :-) I also am happy that my time spent distributing leaflets about the forum in our neighborhood is paying off. Please consider doing something similar to spread the word. Have a great day.I appreciate reading the forum. I like knowing what's going on in the neighborhood!Having this forum allows for neighbors to come together. Through supporting others I feel I am making a difference in my community. We all need to be aware of the world around us. In this age of computers, The Front Porch Forum is the catalyst for exchange and change. Thank-you :)Thanks for putting the forum together. It really has made the neighbourhood a better place to live.The neighbor's have come to our rescue! Thank you Tina and John for the emergency load of firewood since our furnace broke down and another storm is due tonight. And thanks to the others of you who called with concern. - Can't tell you how much it means to my daughter and me. That false (but scary) perception of "isolation" has been lifted. We feel a lot better... and a lot warmer! Thanks again.Although I have been a quiet participant I am very grateful for the existence of the forums. As a relative newcomer to the community it has been invaluable for both information and an accelerated sense of being part of the greater and great community of Burlington.I loved the comments tonight. I used to read the personals when I was lonely. Instead now, I go right to the forum. Then sometimes, like tonight I just laugh happily all the way up to brush my teeth. Jason you are really cracking me up. Despite all the issues in the O.N.E., I like being a part of this group. It really fills me up.Thanks to all of you who responded to my request for software for my camera. Good response! In fact there were six. Problem solved. Thanks again.It is with mixed emotions that I write this post. I am selling my house after living here for 15 yrs. Among the things that are the hardest to leave behind will be this forum. I have used it for emergencies (thanks to all who responded to my dire need for heaters) and for my craft sale announcements (one is coming up later this month) and to feel connected to my home on my frequent trips away. I want to publicly thank Front Porch Forum. Just having it makes me feel safer, like the netting around the trampoline, it helps me from feeling like I could fall off the edge. Thank you all.I've had great success reaching new students for my year-round art programs through the Front Porch Forums. EVERYBODY reads the forums! It's a very effective way to connect with the community and really get noticed.We were very pleased to hear of the latest accolades and honors for Front Porch Forum. They are well deserved for the incredible service Front Porch Forum provides to the neighborhoods and city as a whole.Thank you all so much for the kind referrals and suggestions regarding a veterinarian and puppy classes for our new pup! I received so many responses both on the forum and people e-mailing me directly. We went to our first puppy class and it just so happen that one of "Remi's" brothers happens to be in the class! It was fun to see the two pups together. Thanks again.Thank you for initiating this wonderful forum.Thank you SO MUCH for the greatest idea! Front Porch Forum is really connecting our neighborhood in a way that wasn't happening before!We are so happy to have Front Porch Forum. I feel much more connected to my neighborhood.This has been a great forum, and I was happy to participate in it. I hope I find something similar when I move from Vermont.I sent a brief email to our Forum to let folks know our house was for sale. Within a few days, I had 9 responses, 4 people who came to look at it, and 2 people ready to make an offer. What a great way to target folks with an interest in our neighborhood. And what a relief to have the daunting marketing of our home made so easy. Thanks!I think Front Porch Forum is great! An awesome community resource.I LOVE Front Porch Forum and would love to see it up and running in my new neighborhood! How can I get some flyers?Front Porch Forum has connected us to our neighbors and the community quickly and profoundly. We've been in Burlington only nine months but because of the forum we feel that we know our neighbors, even if we haven't actually met all of them. And when we have questions or information to share, it's an easy, friendly way to get answers or help and share what we know with other people. Our experience of Burlington is so intimately tied up with Front Porch Forum at this point that they go together in our minds. Burlington = Front Porch Forum = community = connection = Burlington.What you are doing is very special - like the honest-to-goodness connections I remember from "the olden days" - the 50's and 60's in Shelburne - that somehow we let "life" take away. Thanks for answering the yearning of so many and for updating it in such an inventive and warm way.Community policing was never this easy, until Front Porch Forum offered its services to us.Because I don't want to miss any editions of this forum, which I enjoy so much... I wanted to confirm that you have my new email address. So just checking that all is well. Thanks!! By the way, our forum has helped me find childcare and porch builders, provided a conduit for contacting my city councilor about traffic safety and the police to express a concern. It's also offered me a regular opportunity to appreciate how many cool things are going on in our community, and -- most important! -- provided me with a deeper sense of connection with neighbors and friends. Many thanks.Thank you to the neighbor who retrieved my glasses and got them back to me. Great neighborhood to live in! I love the Forum.Congratulations and a big Thank You, Front Porch Forum, for shepherding our "South Union" neighborhood through to a successful completion of its 100th Neighborhood Forum! We're really fortunate to have such a visionary service with such attention to detail, persistence and civic-mindedness in our midst. Keep up the great work!Thank you to everyone who responded for my request to have someone help my Mom with her shoveling. I had no idea there would be so many amazing responses. I have given her a list of names and numbers to call if she gets stuck again. I want to congratulate everyone involved. With so much distressing news these days, this was a very bright and shiny reminder of how much good there really is out there. Thank you all.My wife and I are recent arrivals from Seattle, Washington. We are very pleased to find community-building resources like this forum and are happy to be part of it.Thanks to everyone who kindly answered my request for a ladder and snow rake. Greg, who cautioned us about the problem of snow accumulation on flat roofs in a previous posting, offered a one-stop borrowing for both of those items. So thanks again to all and thanks to Front Porch Forum for an invaluable service.Thanks for creating this fabulous tool. It's a great way to get connected with people in the neighborhood and share information.Thankfully, the snowplows finally arrived Tuesday and worked on our road. I took the advice of neighbors on getting through to the City. Six days! Thanks. How did we get along without Front Porch Forum??????Thanks so, so much for posting the message about Operation Snow Shovel. The response was incredible! Can you believe that I've heard from 73 people willing to volunteer to shovel? 73! As of right now, every single elderly or disabled person in need of help that contacted OSS has been accommodated.You can imagine how bad I felt when I realized we returned home from the sled hill without our all-weather digital camera. Special pictures, like our daughter trying on wedding dresses, vacation that could never be replaced. I figured it was gone forever. But one posting on Front Porch Forum and it's back! How lucky we were that an honest young boy was sledding the same day we were. Thanks!Wow! I'm SO impressed! I forwarded the Front Porch Forum item about gas appliance vents being clogged with snow and a friend was so thankful to be reminded.I think the Forum is a great thing, and I appreciate your efforts to make it happen.You are doing a great service for us. Thanks.We are loving Front Porch Forum so far! Its great!Thank you so much - this is a wonderful way for me to keep up with my neighbors now that my kids are grown and I am at work most of the time!! This is a wonderful service, and I am really enjoying it and finding very useful.I emailed an announcement about Front Porch Forum to my co-workers today. Several people have already written and said they've just joined and love it! And I recently found a local seamstress through our forum!Thanks for creating such a great local resource - we really love getting our Front Porch Forums in our mailboxes.I think that you are providing a wonderful service. I don't know very many neighbors at this point, so I am hoping this will open the door to new friendships. I will certainly encourage people who are not signed up to do so.Another success: I just received, delivered to my door, 3 packages of diapers for my son. A wonderful town member did not want to throw away unused diapers, so she posted on Front Porch Forum. I replied and she dropped them off! I will be thanking her with some of my homemade bread this week. What a great way to connect, reuse, recycle and overall develop a wonderful sense of community!I spoke about Front Porch Forum to my local chapter of a women's service organization yesterday. It was a surprise for me that this group of seniors was so interested in this service and I am sure some will sign up very soon.Thanks to all neighbors who responded to my car for sale ad. A successful transfer of ownership was made to one of our neighbors! It really was quite fun and easy. Not only did we sell our car, we met a new neighbor. The forum works!Just want to thank you for... connecting so many neighbors around the county. Good work!I'm looking forward to this new communication opportunity between neighbors here in Huntington. What a great idea this is.I wanted to congratulate Front Porch Forum on your success. Such a great idea. I heard you on VPR this morning on my way into work and almost drove off the interstate... my grin was so big that my eyes squinted closed!Heard the interview on Public Radio this morning. Congratulations! Great stuff. I've been reinspired to get more folks on our street signed on, so I'm going to flyer each front door tomorrow. Keep up the great work. You've created an invaluable service.Really enjoyed hearing about Front Porch Forum on Public Radio's Morning Edition today. Great job explaining it and I'm sure all our other neighbors who are part of the Forum feel the same glow of pride that I do - Thank you for all you do.I have only lived here for a year and, between full time work and two little girls, I still have not met most of neighbors! I plan to distribute fliers and meet neighbors next week. This is a really great concept - thanks!!!Did you get our new email address? We love our Front Porch Forum; please keep it coming!I really value the forum as a neighborhood resource.We say thank you, thank you, thank you, to the wonderful crowd of friends and neighbors who came out to help last Sunday. It was humbling and heartwarming to have 36 people show up, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, in response to our request for help on our neighborhood forum and move all our things down the street into our new home in an hour and a half. [Details about this story on the blog.]I must say, this forum has been absolutely wonderful for me and my family!! Canning jars, baby clothes, great community interaction!! Congrats to you!How could I possibly resist joining my neighborhood's forum? I know a good idea when I see one! I am looking forward to learning more about what's happening around here with people, places, and things.Thanks for Front Porch Forum - I love this space to communicate with my neighbors!I love the Forum. Sometimes it's just stuff that's interesting to know about; sometimes it's something I really need to think about; and sometimes, as with our brand new apartment ad, it's of very important, practical use. Front Porch Forum is one dynamite idea.Having over half the neighborhood join so soon is a major accomplishment. Thanks for putting the forum together!How effective is the Front Porch Forum? My extra Fiddler on the Roof tickets sold before noon to a family on Howard St. And were they glad to get 'em... Thanx FPF!My sister and I have a business called Carmenia's Confections. We have both lived in this neighborhood over 50 yrs. and work out of our houses making cakes for every occasion. We think this forum is a wonderful idea and thank you for starting this and all your hard work.I've had the pleasure to belong to three different neighborhood forums in the past year during a housing transition, and Front Porch Forum is truly amazing!Wow... Great to find out about Front Porch Forum. I look forward to checking out the posts and becoming familiar with people in the neighborhood.The quick and honest responses to my request for an auto mechanic recommendation were astounding.Front Porch Forum is certainly a useful tool, especially when it fosters debate and discussion among neighbors.We posted our Subaru Outback for sale on our neighborhood's forum and within 24 hours, we sold our car to a neighbor. Neither our neighbor nor we would have matched up our mutual needs without the forum. Thanks!Many neighborhoods have listerves to exchange information... but Front Porch Forum makes it much more appealing, and also gives it a positive spin, so that folks are not just griping about things they don't like.The forum fosters a sense of community that I've never experienced before. It is virtually effortless to become more connected with your neighbors and that ultimately has a positive effect on your quality of life.Two colleagues raved about their Neighborhood Forum, [so I was eager to sign up.] I will send out an email to my friends tomorrow to let them know about it - I think it's a great service. I didn't realize I would get the forum emailed to me - I had thought I would have to remember to go check - and that makes a big difference.This is a great service to our neighborhoods!The forum is a great way to get to know one another before meeting face to face. When you do meet, it gives you one more thing to talk about!Front Porch Forum helps introduce neighbors easily so you don't have to go knocking door-to-door!I think this forum is just terrific, it helped me make new friends and lets me find out what's going on in the neighborhood. It really makes me feeling as a part of this great community.I love the forum!Thank you for the neighborhood forum. It's such a great resource!The forum gives a sense of connection and belonging to the neighborhood that I never had anywhere else I lived.We received several offers from neighbors in answer to our request. The forum really works.The forum is a great resource for our neighborhood.The forum is my ear to the pulse of the 'hood.I acquired a graffiti-removal kit, which I've used in the neighborhood and elsewhere.I read it all.The forum makes a difference. We are lucky to have it.I bought a couch from a neighbor.Thanks a million for the wonderful neighborhood service. Keep up the good work.I found a chimney sweep through the forum.The forum is definitely a neighborhood asset.The forum led me to my plumber, house cleaner and the neighbor kid who cut the grass.The forum is 1000% better than any other source of local and neighborhood news.The forum gives me a better sense of who lives close by. That's valuable.I hired an electrician based on a forum recommendation.Friendly chat. Local neighborhood news. Kids looking for work. Plumber referrals.The forum provides information about situations that would otherwise be just rumors.The forum allows me to learn what goes on in the neighborhood. I can find out who lives here, buy and sell household goods, and it's been a "virtual" neighborhood watch when crime struck our neighbors. We were able to tell neighbors and police about the break-ins instantly, and we learned of the suspect's capture directly from police. Every neighborhood should be so lucky as to have this service.The forum creates a sense of community.I like the updates from local officials.The forum served as a good organizing tool for those who were interested in cleaning up graffiti.Found a great mechanic through the forum.Sold a table saw.I always read the forum. It's a wonderful quick way to let the whole neighborhood know about great little events.I enjoy keeping up with neighbor's families and changes, and airing of opinions I wouldn't necessarily otherwise hear.Sold a canoe.I got five offers in response to my request to borrow an extension ladder.A big high-five for keeping us all virtually connected. It's no wonder everyone wants to live in this great neighborhood!I dog sat for a family I met through the forum, and it was fun to get to know new people.The forum keeps us all connected and feeling like a neighborhood.I found a wonderful apartment through the forum.I sold two cars through the forum.I think the forum is terrific. It is also very helpful when it comes to crime prevention. I wish all the neighborhoods in Burlington had this communication venue. [Now they do!]This forum is one of the many things that makes our community so unique. It's filled with houses for rent, babysitters wanted, things for sale, community information, thank yous, and thoughtful, considerate discussion of community issues.No other source of neighborhood-level news compares with the forum.I registered several neighbors to vote from an offer I posted on the forum.Through the forum, neighbors waged a heroic battle to force the phone company to fix bad phone lines in the neighborhood.The forum helps me to understand different perspectives in the community.I learned about swim and dance classes for my girls; I sold a baby jogger.My boys have both gotten lots of jobs around the neighborhood by advertising on the forum.I've seen the forum connect neighbors in terrific ways... providing support to the seriously ill, expectant mothers, and the elderly among us in the form of meals, cutting lawns, shoveling snow and more.Found a reliable roofer based on a neighbor's recommendation on the forum.I wish all the neighborhoods in our ward had forums. It's great for communicating with constituents. [Now they do!]My posting about a new veterinarian in town has helped her business grow significantly.I can't imagine our neighborhood without the forum.I sold my house through the forum.As a 43-year resident, I believe the forum has been one of the best things to happen to meld the neighborhood together.Definitely connects me with people I don't know. When we meet in the park, the name is often familiar from the forum.

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