VBSR Member News Round Up 7-10-24

Green Mountain Transit: Green Mountain Transit is adding five electric transit buses to its fleet. This is part of the Burlington's Net Zero Energy strategy to reduce carbon emissions in Vermont and provide cleaner, quieter public transportation along GMT service area routes. The buses will be based and charged in Burlington with renewable energy. Learn more here.

BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont: On July 20 at Prouty Beach, Newport, Gold Member BlueCross BlueShield of Vermont is offering free kayaking for their Kayak Days 2024 program. They’ll have free boat rentals and personal flotation devices, giveaways for the first 50 attendees, lawn games, healthy snacks, and drinking water. Learn more here.

DeltaClimeVT, VSJF: The DeltaClimeVT Energy 2024 climate economy business accelerator recently announced this year’s program winners. The program, managed by Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF), aims to bring innovative technologies, services, and business models to Vermont to reach Vermont’s climate and renewable energy goals more quickly while also ensuring the inclusion of low-to-moderate income residents in our energy transition. Learn more here.

King Street Center, ECHO/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain: The King Street Lemonade Stand has moved to ECHO/Leahy Center for Lake Champlain, after a 23-year-run serving lemonade and limeade on Church Street. The lemonade stand's primary purpose is to give job experience to middle schoolers served by the King Street Center and remains the "cornerstone" of its teen programming. Learn more here.

Mercy Connections, Pride Center of Vermont: Mercy Connections, in collaboration with Pride Center of Vermont and others, has announced the Vermont Pride and Prosperity Network. The group aims to build power and prosperity for LGBTQIA2S+ business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs in Vermont through connection, education, and celebration. The Vermont Pride and Prosperity Network is currently onboarding additional small business support organizations, as well as LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC-led initiatives to join the Network’s founding organizations. Learn more here.

National Life Group: On July 13, Champion Member National Life Group’s Do Good Fest returns to their rolling lawn in Montpelier. All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Branches of Hope, the cancer patient fund operated at Central Vermont Medical Center, and Howard Center, providing mental health, substance use treatment, and developmental services with many programs specific to children and youth in family, residential, educational, and community settings. Learn more here.

Rhino Foods: Gold Member Rhino Foods is well-known for implementing progressive employment policies and hiring members of marginalized communities. One of its more recent endeavors involves stepping up support for employees in recovery. Rhino now holds a voluntary hour-long recovery group every Wednesday called Rhinos for Recovery. What started out as voluntary drop-in sessions every other week became popular it was expanded to weekly sessions last year, all on paid time. Learn more here.

Sunset Lake CBD: Sunset Lake CBD has announced the release of sugar-free CBD Softgels. As part of serving customers' various wellness needs, and based on a recent survey, they determined that their product mix was falling short for people living with diabetes. Developed in direct response to valuable feedback from those customers managing diabetes, their new CBD Softgels address concerns over the sugar content in traditional gummy formulations. This innovation ensures a diabetic-friendly option that meets their dietary requirements without compromising efficacy or convenience. Learn more here.

Turning Point Center of Chittenden County: A new support group for families affected by addiction is launching in Burlington. This weekly group meeting will offer "education, guidance, support and fellowship for friends and families navigating the challenges of a loved one's addiction.” The Family Restored Family Support Group will meet at the Turning Point Center of Chittenden County. Anyone affected by a loved one's addiction is welcome to attend, at no cost and with no preregistration required. Learn more here.

VEDA: New opportunities to participate in creative financing programs with Gold Member Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA) are now available to those working in the state’s forest economy. Through a new Forestry Loan Program, $3 million in financing will be provided in loans, each up to $500,000, with subsidized interest rates. Loggers, foresters, log haulers, biomass producers, sawmills, firewood producers and wood product manufacturers may be eligible for funding to support working capital, equipment and refinancing. Learn more here.

Vermont Foodbank: Food insecurity in Vermont (and specifically Chittenden County) remains high and food shelf visits are still at an unprecedented level. Vermont Foodbank invites you and your organization to engage by offering nourishing produce to people within the community. Vermont Foodbank’s gleaning program harvests crops at local farms to reduce food waste and increase food access to neighbors in need. If you’ve got teams that want to get outside, get physical and give back to the community, then gleaning is for you. Learn more here.

Vermont Green FC: Close to 3,000 people recently attended Vermont Green FC’s first-ever game fielding a women’s team – a club record. The game was meant to showcase the state’s appetite for organized women’s soccer, as Vermont Green builds up a permanent women’s team in the coming years. In fact, the game was the most-watched, men’s or women’s, in team history. Learn more here.

Some of VBSR’s most well-known members also happen to be some of its tastiest. We are talking, of course, about the various dairy icons known both here in Vermont and abroad.

Several of them have had particularly impressive impacts in recent months related to their roles as sustainability leaders. Read on to learn more...

Cabot Creamery Cooperative: Gold Member Cabot Creamery Cooperative recently announced that it will transition to a 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) packaging for its flagship 8-ounce cheese bars later this year. This decision follows the completion of a comprehensive sustainable packaging study initiated in 2022 and will result in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and fuel requirements by up to 25%, alongside significant water savings during manufacturing of their 8-oz bar line.

Study findings will be made available industry-wide with hopes of broadening the positive impact of the packaging study. Learn more here.

Also: The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) recently announced the successful conclusion of its workshop, “Deepening Sustainability Assessment Initiatives,” held at Concordia University, Montreal. This landmark event brought together sustainability experts, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss and advance methodologies for sustainability measurement and reporting.

Among those participating? VBSR Board Member and Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s VP of Strategic Engagement and Sustainability, Jed Davis! Jed gave a brief presentation discussing context-based sustainability metrics from the vantage point of a co-op that is also a certified B Corp. Learn more here.

Vermont Creamery: On June 24, at the Specialty Food Association (SFA) Awards Gala in New York, Champion Member Vermont Creamery co-founders, Allison Hooper and Bob Reese, received an SFA Lifetime Achievement Award.

The award recognizes their pioneering contributions to the specialty food industry, their commitment to quality, and their dedication to sustainable practices and community support. Learn more here.

Ben & Jerry's: Champion Member Ben & Jerry’s continues to expand a pilot program focused on reducing U.S. dairy farm carbon emissions – this time by adding two new Vermont farms. The multiyear program, Ben & Jerry’s Low Carbon Dairy pilot project, aims to reduce on-farm emissions by 50% from a 2015 climate baseline. An additional 10 dairies in the Netherlands are also participating.

The pilot, which began in 2022 and will continue through 2025, represents the manufacturer’s core values of producing ice cream that changes the world by protecting and restoring the Earth’s natural systems.

It builds off of Ben & Jerry’s longstanding Caring Dairy program and its four key pillars: Supporting dignified livelihoods for both farmers and farmworkers, providing an excellent life for cows, implementation of regenerative agricultural practices and advancing low-carbon farming. Learn more here.