In an effort organized by the Exit 1 Gateway Project and Green Up Vermont, a visiting Americorps team and local volunteers expanded the Exit 1 gardens on May 4, Green Up Day, and May 9, 2013. They Greened Up the Exit 1 end of Canal Street.
They turned over fresh ground to prepare more garden space. They planted a bank of daylilies, as well as brightly colored pansies and other annuals that are blooming now.
Laura Schairbaum, volunteer coordinator for the Southeastern VT Long-Term Recovery Committee, in partnership with United Way, sent these young people to Exit 1 to help out. The National Civilian Community Corps, a program of Americorps, is a team-based national service program for 18- to 24-year-olds. They are in Windham County through May 14 and then will travel to points north through the end of May. They are working on Irene recovery projects such as debris cleanup, home construction, tree planting, Green-Up Day, and the like.
“We are so grateful to have them here, especially to help with so many things that had been on the back burner as we focused on more pressing needs of homeowners,” said Schairbaum. “I’m glad we were able to connect with the Exit 1 Gateway Project, as this is an important initiative to improve the quality of our landscape and welcome at Vermont’s First Exit.”
Martha Ramsey, facilitator of the Exit 1 Gateway Project, said, “We are very grateful to these young people. They appeared like angels, happy to do hard physical work. They worked with dedication to help us build the gardens at Exit 1. The uplift of everyone’s spirits post-Irene, and in the face of continuing challenging times, is a central aim of our project.”
The Exit 1 Gateway Project is supported by volunteer work and modest contributions from ilocal donors. Canal Street businesses gave donations and Deer Ridge Farm gave daylilies that made the creation of these new gardens possible. The Project is an initiative of local citizens who care about the First Exit and work to make it a place of welcome and beauty. They have established several gardens there and last fall organized the planting of 1,000 daffodils by volunteers. They warmly welcome new volunteers to help with upkeep as the gardens expand. Anyone interested in volunteering should call or email Ms. Ramsey, 802-254-2331, martha.ramsey@comcast.net.
Celebrating the uniqueness of our community and natural environment by transforming the Gateway to Brattleboro and Vermont through local citizens’ ongoing efforts.
Exit 1 Gateway Project
The flowers are lovely and
The flowers are lovely and definitely provide a much needed diversion from the ugliness of that exit. Too bad the flower crews weren’t consulted about what color to paint the outlet building – that garish purple color is terrible.
Great to follow the progress of this project
This is one of those projects that builds over time. It’s seems only yesterday that there was nothing special going on at Exit 1, and now we’ve had a sustained effort for while and it is paying off with flowers, gardens, and places for bugs and birds to enjoy as much as the people driving by.
Nice work!