Suzy Shedd, Associate Director
P.O. Box 454
Hardwick, VT O5843
Phone: (802) 472-3127
Fax: (802) 472-3128
E-mail: cmaloney@npo.state.vt.us

We are located in the Partnership Block on Main Street, across from Good & Ready takeout. Patch is a partnership of human, health and educational service organizations. Goals include making unified services easily accessible to residents of the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union (Hardwick, Greensboro, Craftsbury, Stannard, Wolcott and Woodbury), engaging citizens in decision making as to the kinds of service and service delivery they want, and building local capacity so the existing strengths and resources of our community can be developed and sustained. We are particularly interested in supporting connections among neighbors and families.

Partner Agencies:
Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union
Lamoille Family Center
Department of Health
Social & Rehabilitation Services
Lamoille Mental Health
Department of Employment & Training
Department of Social Welfare
Vocational Rehabilitation

Mission statement: Patch will help our community develop its rich resources and support learning and growing for all our citizens. Hardwick Area Patch is a team of community members (parents, church leaders, business owners, law enforcement officials, medical professionals, educators, and concerned community residents) education and human service staff (state agency and local non-profit employees), and other interested persons.

• making services more easily accessible to local residents by being located in the community;
• actively involving community residents in the planning and delivery of services;
• building on the community's strengths and resources, and the skills and talents of local residents to create a healthier place to live and raise children; and
• involving all members of the community in solving community-wide problems.

• People come together for a weekly "Job Club" where they learn about interviewing, resume writing and other skills they need to get off welfare and into the work force.
• Young children in the community gather to play and learn with other kids, and develop skills needed for school.
• People who want to quit smoking attend a smoking cessation class.
• A troubled high school boy and his parents meet with a mediator to come up with rules they can all live by, to keep the boy at home and out of states' custody.
• A senior citizen who has run out of money for heating fuel meets with a worker and applies for supplemental fuel assistance.
• Local clubs and civic organizations hold evening meetings at the Patch Office.
• A group of local parents come together for a parenting class. They learn about child development and talk about effective ways to cope with their children's behavior.
• A father is having trouble making ends meet. He stops by the Patch Office and checks out the Job Service listings on the computer in search of a better paying job.