Raffle highlights Central Vermont Land Trust's annual meeting Friday
Toolbox
By Mel Huff TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: March 25, 2008
BARRE - There is such a thing as a free lunch, or in this case, a free dinner.
The Central Vermont Community Land Trust's annual gathering on March 28 in Montpelier includes all the free American Flatbread pizza you can eat, along with a spaghetti dinner. And everyone is invited.
"It's a fun time," said development director Chris Wood. Although there's an annual meeting thrown in, the attraction of the evening is the fundraising events. Friday's silent auction will include more than a hundred items, such as season ski passes at Sugarbush and Mad River Glen and dinners at Sarducci's and Hen of the Wood in Waterbury.
This year, for the first time, there's also a raffle: "Bringing It All Home." The winner will get to choose among three prizes: a lifetime deeded time share on Cape Cod for Memorial Day; a 2008 Chevy Aveo5 from Cody Chevrolet; or $8,000 cash.
"For us it's a big step to have a raffle with a car and $8,000 dollars," Wood observed. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. at Trinity United Methodist Church.
Over the past year, the Land Trust, Central Vermont's largest nonprofit provider of affordable housing, has been working toward finishing the River Station condominiums. (The River Station apartments on Barre Street opened at the end of 2006.) Some condos are still available, Wood said. Six of the 18 units are set aside for people on limited incomes.
Another of the year's accomplishments was the opening of 29 renovated apartments in seven buildings in Bradford. "We basically restored a whole section adjacent to downtown on South Main Street," Wood said. "It was a very derelict area."
The Land Trust moved the residents of the substandard apartments to other sites and paid their rent while their former apartments were gutted and rebuilt. Over the summer and through November, the renters moved back in. "It's all low-income housing, but very gorgeous housing," Wood said. He noted that Bradford "is looking to spruce up its downtown" and consequently gave the project a great deal of support.
In addition to helping renters, the Central Vermont Community Land Trust also offers a variety of programs to help people buy homes. Once a month, through a program called the HomeOwnership Center, the Land Trust offers a full day of training on what it takes to be a homeowner.
Despite the mortgage crisis, the workshops are full. "There's still some movement in the market around here in terms of buying houses," Wood observed.
The HomeOwnership Center provides credit and budget counseling, home maintenance education and information about how to finance a house purchase. Buyers whose income is at or below the median may qualify for the Homeland Program. Through the program, the state provides grants of up to $40,000 to be used for down payments on houses of the buyers' choice, in exchange for restrictions that make the houses perpetually affordable.
Over the past eight years, the Central Vermont Community Land Trust has given out 104 Homeland grants, Wood said. "It makes a huge difference," he observed.
Raffle tickets are still available. A maximum of 250 tickets will be sold at $100 each. If that seems like a lot of money to gamble with, Wood says, "Find four friends, and you each get $2,000 if you win."
When: March 28, 5:30 p.m.
Where: Trinity United Methodist Church, 137 Main Street, Montpelier
Raffle tickets: call Peg Monley at 476-4493 x 213.
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