June 30, 2014
“A Huge Step Forward” – The dedication of the Hoehl Family Building at 50 Joy Drive
“Lund has been a mainstay in caring for women and children for many decades in Vermont. Today we make a huge step forward in making these services comprehensive, more organized and more available. Today we set ourselves on a course for the 21st Century.”
The Honorable Howard Dean, Honorary Co-Chair of the 50 Joy Drive Capital Campaign.
“For me, it’s pretty simple. It’s not about a building. It’s about providing hope and opportunity for every child.”
T.J. Donovan, Capital Campaign Co-Chair.
Thursday June 26th was a day of joy and celebration at Lund as we officially dedicated the Hoehl Family Building at 50 Joy Drive. Lund’s adoption, parent child center, community treatment, early education, and high school completion programs and the business and development offices are located in this building. Lund launched a capital campaign in the early summer of 2012 and moved into the building in October of that same year. The new building allows clients to access integrated services in one location and the spaces were all custom designed to efficiently house the programs. No longer are programs and services spread out amongst various inadequate and expensive rental spaces. Everyone at Lund is very grateful to all the generous supporters of the 50 Joy Drive Capital Campaign.
Executive Director of Lund, Barbara Rachelson, gave a little history of how Lund came to Joy Drive, “Everyone worked out of Glen Road and we had a lot of people working in the basement. Our child care center frequently flooded and not always with just water. Our New Horizons Educational Program had a blue tarp that we kept over the computers because we so often had water flooding down from above. We moved out into temporary space and by temporary, I mean about seven years. When Jim [Pizzagalli] gave us a tour of this building, I was ecstatic. The timing was uncanny and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be the perfect home for the rest of Lund. I was over the moon when I realized that our address would be on Joy Drive. I cannot think of a more fitting address given the work that Lund does bringing joy to children and families, often for the first time.”
Barbara Rachelson tells the tale of how Lund arrived at 50 Joy Drive and left the blue tarp days behind. (Photo: Alison Redlich)
President Elect of the Lund Board of Trustees, Sara Byers, who introduced the speaking program also referred to joy and especially the joy that she personally has experienced through Lund’s programs, “Lund’s work does make a difference. By being here today, by supporting this building, by supporting Lund’s work, you too are making a difference. You too are helping to bring joy to the lives of families just like my own.”
The Co-Chairs of the 50 Joy Drive Capital Campaign, Melinda Moulton and T.J. Donovan also spoke during the ceremony. Melinda told of the 124 year history of Lund and invited the more than 100 attendees to share in this special history “that has served our community was passion, empathy, shared purpose, team work and social justice”. T.J. spoke from his position in the criminal justice system, “Folks like me and others in child protective services, we will do our part but our best hope, our best defense, is to support programs like Lund. They make the difference with early intervention and giving people who are struggling with addiction and mental health issues a chance. This is where we are going to make a difference in this state to give everybody, every child and every family the opportunity for success.”
Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott and Campaign Co-Chair Melinda Moulton share a moment of joy. (Photo: Alison Redlich)
Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott was also in attendance and spoke about the statewide reach of Lund’s services, “One fact about Lund that struck me was the number of individuals and families that you have helped over the last year. Almost 5000 people and when you consider that over the period of Lund’s history, that’s an astronomical number. How lucky we are to have a non-profit like Lund to take on this monumental task of helping so many Vermonters. I can’t imagine where we would be without them.” Congratulatory statements were read from The Honorable Howard Dean and Governor Peter Shumlin, both of whom were traveling and could not be present.
The Honorable Jim Douglas, who was also an honorary Co-Chair of the Campaign, officially dedicated the building as the Hoehl Family Building in recognition of The Hoehl Family Foundation’s generous leadership gift of $1 million to the campaign. He thanked the foundation for their generosity,”The foundation was started in 1993 by Bob and Cynthia [Hoehl] to enrich the lives of the people in our great state. They have affected the lives of so many people in Vermont and I thank them for their leadership.” He then invited the assembled guests outside the building to “destroy a perfectly good ribbon” and officially open the building.
The leadership of the 50 Joy Drive Capital Campaign cut the ribbon and officially dedicate the building. (Photo: Alison Redlich)
The rain had stopped and the sun was shining as guests took tours of the building and shared in the celebration. Meanwhile behind the doors of the Early Childhood Education Program, mostly unaware of the large amount of guests milling around out front, the children were finishing their snack of apples and crackers and getting ready to play outside. Downstairs mothers were about to start work on the lab reports in science class and as the celebrations wrapped up the adoption workers, family educators, case managers, clinicians and others went back to their work helping the women, children and families of Vermont. After ribbons have been cut and the photos taken, the important, life-changing work carries on here at Lund, for another 124 years and more.
October 21, 2013
Business Leaders Learn about Lund
What better way to spend a morning than taking some time to admire the view from the Great Room at Main Street Landing, enjoy a Skinny Pancake breakfast and learn about one of the oldest non-profit organizations in Burlington? Surely many of the guests a recent event hosted by Melinda Moulton couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend their time. Business leaders from across Burlington were invited to hear Melinda, Rick Davis of the Permanent Fund for Vermont’s children, Governor Jim Douglas, State’s Attorney for Chittenden County T.J. Donovan and Lund’s Executive Director Barbara Rachelson speak about why it is crucial that they support the work of Lund.
Melinda introduced the event by making reference to Lund’s 123 year history as an organization that provides comprehensive treatment, education and support services to women, children and families as well being Vermont’s oldest and largest adoption agency. All of the speakers spoke of how investment in Lund’s programs makes economic sense as to put money into treatment of substance abuse disorders, early childhood education and support towards self sufficiency now significantly saves the tax payer later on. T.J. Donovan spoke of how it costs $79,000 a year to pay for one woman’s incarceration and that the state spends more money on corrections than it does on higher education. By making strategic investments in substance abuse treatment programs and focussing on finding homes for young people before they age out of the foster care system the number of women incarcerated will decrease.
T.J. also spoke about the huge saving, around $4.8 million in 2013, that was a result of the 183 foster care adoptions that took place between July 1st 2011 and June 30th 2012. Finding forever families for every child in foster care is the number one priority for Project Family, Lund’s innovative partnership with the Vermont Department for Children and Families. This of course benefits the children by providing the loving security of a permanent home but it also has a hugely positive financial impact. Governor Douglas spoke of an conversation that he had with foster children during his tenure as governor and he asked them what was the most helpful thing he could so for them. “Stop bouncing us around from home to home, ” came the answer. Children need the consistency of a forever family and that is what Lund is striving for. Barbara Rachelson brought to tears to more than just a few eyes a she read from a letter from a foster child who had recently been adopted.
The point of this event was to introduce Lund to people who had not heard of the organization before or had only vague or inaccurate ideas about the programs. Benjy Adler, CEO of the Skinny Pancake, was quick to admit that he knew little about Lund before attending this event, “I had no idea that Lund was so old or, frankly, what the organization did. Everything I learned about Lund surprised me.” Operating a business in the heart of Old North End, one of the most economically troubled areas of town, Benjy says that he sees first hand the effects that drug abuse, child neglect and poverty can have on a community. “I see the destructive forces of addiction & generational poverty fully on display every day. It is frustrating & bewildering and frankly, seems like it has been getting worse in the last 1 – 2 years. At the Chubby Muffin, we have had several attempted burglary and a few successful ones. One time, they broke in the door and destroyed the cash register before the alarm scared them off. Most recently, we had a neighbor addicted to pills routinely stealing our tips.” These are problems faced by everyone in the community and all the attendees were invited to participate in the 50 Joy Drive Capital Campaign and help Lund to provide support, help and treatment to women,children and families as they seek to break the cycles of abuse, addiction and poverty.
Thank you to everyone who attended this event and our generous hostess and true friend to Lund, Melinda Moulton. To learn more about the 50 Joy Drive Campaign. Please watch our campaign video.
Governor Jim Douglas speaks about the need to invest in children in Vermont so that they stay here and themselves invest in the future of the state.
May 16, 2013
Bikers take on hills and chills but no spills at Lund’s Ride for Children
Saturday May 11th dawned a little chilly with some ominous looking clouds but that did nothing to deter the riders who took on the 55 mile Ride for Children route at 8am. The tent was full of seriously athletic looking women and men who moved between registration and the breakfast table with their bike shoes clicking on the pavement and their minds set on getting out onto the route that rolled through scenic Shelburne, Charlotte and Ferrisburgh. No sooner had they set off than the riders for the 30 mile and then 16 mile rides came into register, fill up on breakfast generously provided by Shelburne Supermarket, Starbucks and Hannaford and get their bikes checked out by the crew from North Star Sports. The 4 mile family ride participants were a bit more relaxed as their route was substantially shorter but their commitment to the bouncy house and the antics of Joey the clown was equally as intense as the 55 milers to their mileage!
A happy rider takes to the trails
(Photo: Julie Richards)
Riders on the road
(Photo: Julie Richards)
Joey the clown jokes with some family riders.
All rides ended back at 50 Joy Drive where there was a post ride celebration with food from Boloco, Bluebird BBQ and Ben and Jerry’s, and fun activities. The sun was firmly out by this point and many of the riders took the time to relax, pick up some bargains at the Terry tent sale, and swap stories about the horrendous headwind on the southward part of the ride.
Over 126 people registered for this year’s Ride for Children and the total amount of money raised so far, thanks to their hard work at fundraising and the generous support of our sponsors, is $54,696! There is still time to donate at bike.lundvt.org
Thank you very much to everyone who rode, supported, volunteered and staffed the Lund Ride for Children. The funds raised will go directly to supporting the programs and services that Lund provides to help families thrive. Biking up a long hill with 45 miles already under the wheels might be have been hard for these riders but knowing that their efforts would be rewarded with life changing differences for children must have made those pedals a little easier to push.
Check out our facebook page for more pictures.
Thank you to our sponsors – PC Construction, Terry Bicycles, Local Motion, Fitness Options, Boloco, North Star Sports, Bluebird BBQ, Vermont Gas, Home Instead, Fletcher Allen Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont, Free Press Media, WCAX, Ben and Jerry’s, Good Health, Windows and Doors by Brownell, MP103, JB Kennedy and Associates and Casella Waste Management.
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