Dear Neighbors,

Join the Queen City Saints this Sunday, August 13 from 10 am to 2 pm in the Williston Walmart parking lot to fill backpacks with back-to-school supplies! Please find details below, as well as other ways to help.

It has been an extremely wet and perpetually unpredictable month since the initial floods in early July. More communities have been impacted by subsequent storms, and continued flood warnings are on the horizon. As glaciers melt and fires rage, our weather hardiness as Vermonters, along with our physical and social infrastructure, will be put to the test.

There are relatively few of us left in the legislature who served during Tropical Storm Irene, but one thing I took away from that time is that the brunt of the impact to displaced families is still yet to come. Many hard-hit Vermonters are just learning about financial gaps in the support they expect to receive, and they will run out of places to stay and emergency resources as winter approaches.

We are continuing to hold hearings with the possibility of directing additional support to communities this fall, but in the meantime, it is up to each of us to stay Vermont Strong and help our neighbors. As we continue to distribute much needed clean-up supplies, PPE, dehumidifiers, and camping gear, Queen City Saints is now turning our attention to our impacted kids, who need to know we are there for them as they start the school year after a difficult summer.

We are gathering the following new supplies, and we are grateful to be able to start with 100 backpacks generously donated by Burton to stuff!

Youth Backpacks
Composition Books & Notebooks
Construction Paper & School Scissors
Pencils, Pens & Pouches
Crayons, Markers & Colored Pencils
Art Supplies
Insulated Lunch Bags
Binders & Folders
Stationery
Rules & Protractors
Gently Used Tech (e.g. Graphing Calculators, Tablets)
Athletic Equipment
Gift Cards

Again, please drop off NEW items to the Walmart parking lot in Williston this Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Thanks to Rep. Angela Arsenault and the Williston-Richmond Rotary Club for joining us to volunteer. If you can't make it and still want to help, please take a look at our Amazon Wishlist (https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/22FY1Z7IY3L6G?ref_=wl_share) or purchase the items above locally and drop them off at Lyric Theatre between 11 am and 3 pm on weekdays. Another option is to donate via Venmo (@QueenCitySaints) and we will buy more needed supplies to send to the growing list of impacted communities.

Let's show our kids we care, and that the challenge is great, but Vermonters are greater.

Thanks,

Kesha & Queen City Saints

May 16, 2024, 6 to 8 PM

May 18, 2024, 2 to 4:30 PM

May 18, 2024, 5:30 to 8 PM