June Community Pouch is Youth Choice
June 7 ~ Camp Free to Be is the Middle School Youth choice
The mission of ourCamp Free to Beis to bring youth of color into nature and provide opportunities for connection, healing and joy. Our camp will serve up to 50 Vermont youth for five days of sleeping in cabins, art, music, swimming, nature, crafting, healing circles, connection, conversation, laughs, joy and learning about ourselves and each other. The camp takes place in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. Check out this this video to learn directly from youth about why camp matters. Youth from last year’s camp shared what they would tell other BIPOC youth about the camp:
- “Camp Free To Be lets you meet so many others just like you that you might not find in school. So many different people, foods, cultures, and friends to be made!”
- “would say that it is an amazing and welcoming place full of great people and I absolutely 100% know that they would love it!!!”
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“I enjoyed that we were so free to do whatever we wanted and speak to whoever whenever. It felt almost like a big family.”
Camp is highly subsidized to make it accessible for youth of all economic backgrounds with 80% of youth paying $100 or less to attend. Camp costs $1,000 per youth (not including EdJ staff salaries and benefits), so we are raising funds for 35 youth to attend camp.
June 14 – Community Harvest of Central Vermont is the High School Youth choice
High School Youth Group wrote on behalf of Community Harvest of Central Vermont:
“We nominate Community Harvest of Central Vermont because it is important to reduce food waste and provide fresh food for all. Gleaning is a way for people to connect with others and support their communities while also getting outdoors.”
“We nominate Community Harvest of Central Vermont because it is important to reduce food waste and provide fresh food for all. Gleaning is a way for people to connect with others and support their communities while also getting outdoors.”
Community Harvest of Central Vermont (CHCV) brings community together through gleaning to recover surplus food from area farms to feed those with limited access to nutritious, fresh local food, and in the process help the community to gain a greater awareness and appreciation of the local food system, healthy eating, and waste reduction.
CHCV partners with 100 area farms/food producers to keep surplus from going to waste. Hundreds of community volunteers help glean surplus, and we donate it to 33 area programs serving the food insecure. In 2025 CHCV donated 116,500 pounds of food to 7,500 food insecure Central Vermonters.
Thank you for being a generous community!