Capstone and VSECU Partner Provide Emergency Food and Heating Assistance to Vulnerable Vermonters

(BARRE, VT) Capstone Community Action and VSECU (Vermont State Employees Credit Union) have teamed up to launch Fuel Your Neighbors, an initiative to support emergency food and heating assistance for vulnerable central Vermont households.

Winter is a tough time for thousands of central Vermonters. Families often must choose between basic necessities like food and heat. Children and seniors are the most vulnerable to the high costs of winter, and are the most adversely affected. This year Capstone will work with over 7,000 people to help combat these challenges, putting food on their table and keeping the heat on during the cold winter months.

Capstone Community Action and VSECU, with support from The Point FM, are partnering on Fuel Your Neighbors to engage the community on this important need. Fuel Your Neighbors is a 12-week initiative to raise $50,000 to help prevent our neighbors from going to sleep cold and hungry. The initiative kicks-off on November 29, Giving Tuesday, which is the international philanthropic day of giving.

To inspire others to take part in this effort, VSECU will match the first $10,000 donated, magnifying the impact of each donation.

“This is a tremendous opportunity, thanks to the generosity of VSECU, to bring our community together to meet this pressing need,” said Dan H. Hoxworth, Executive Director of Capstone. “One-in-five central Vermont children don’t have enough food to eat; which impacts their ability to thrive in school because they are hungry. Forty percent (40%) of those we help with emergency heating are retired seniors whose fixed income can only be stretched so far.”

“At VSECU, we believe in the power of cooperation, and that incredible things can be accomplished when people come together,” said Rob Miller, CEO of VSECU. “Fuel Your Neighbors gives Vermonters the chance to do what we do best – support each other and positively impact our neighbors in need. We’re proud to be a part of this initiative.”

Capstone Community Action was founded in 1965 and works to alleviate the suffering caused by poverty and to create economic opportunity for people and communities. Capstone’s programs include emergency food, heat and utility assistance, housing counseling and homelessness intervention, transportation assistance, workforce development, home weatherization, and child and family development programs in Early Head Start/Head Start. We serve over 15,000 people through these programs each year. www.capstonevt.org.

VSECU is a member-owned cooperative and not for profit credit union for everybody who lives and works in Vermont, offering a full range of affordable financial products and services to its member-owners. VSECU is committed to improving the lives of Vermonters by empowering the possibilities for greater social, environmental, and financial prosperity. For more information about VSECU, call 802/800 371-5162 or visit www.vsecu.com.