Submit your story. A highlight of the Sheldon Museum’s weekly e-newsletter update are images of the humorous, unique doll “The Man,” created by Middlebury artist and Sheldon Member Debbee Smith during her recent days of sheltering in place. The museum is inviting folks to write a story about one or a series of these scenes, or to share personal stories, pictures, video clips of how you are dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Email your stories and other materials to [email protected] with the subject “COVID-19 Stories.”
Learn some coping strategies. The Vermont Association of Area Agencies on Aging is offering online training sessions to help Vermonters deal with the stress and grief caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The first, Navigating Through Grief and Loss During the COVID-19 Pandemic, is on Friday, May 8, from 1-3 p.m. The session, which costs $20, is aimed at exploring the complex layers of grief during these difficult in times of uncertainty. 
Then on Friday, May 15, at 2:30 p.m., there will be a free Mindfulness Practices for Stress Reduction and Self-Care in Uncertain Times. The training will focus how mindfulness concepts, skills, and practices can helps with stress reduction and self-care during the pandemic.
Register here. Email [email protected]. Donations are welcome.
The Lineage Lines Project. Between May 1 and June 19, the Vermont Folklife Center invites teams or individuals to register free of charge to self-guide their Lineage Lines project. The project, which is for all ages, aims to document people’s shared history and perhaps find a glimpse of a shared future. Upon registering, participants will receive a tutorial guide to help them develop their lineage project at their own pace. To support participants, Folklife Center educators will host a series of online workshops in the coming weeks, which are listed on the organization’s website. Final projects, large and small, can be submitted to the VFC Archive, a repository of Vermont voices dating back as far as the 1890s. Click here to register and for more information or send an email to [email protected].
Make It Together: Paper Bag Hats. Imagine knights, dinosaurs or aliens romping about the house — get creative with these easy paper hats you can make with your little ones.
Materials Needed:
•  Large paper grocery bag
•  Glue and tape
•  Pompoms, pipe cleaners, shapes cut from magazines or colored papers, other decorations
•  Scissors
•  Crayons, markers or colored pencils/pens
•  Hole punch (optional)
Step 1: Roll the top of the bag down to your desired size (height). Pinch and grip the bag as you roll it down, creating the desired circumference size for the head of the person who will wear it. Tape to secure it in place.
Step 2: Decorate the hat. Use crayons, markers and other items that you might glue or tape on.
Step 3: Coil pipe cleaners around a pen or pencil. Glue a pompom or other item at one end. Punch a hole in the hat and bend/tape the other end to the inside to make antennae or other add-ons.
Step 4: Wear your new hat!
TIPS/IDEAS: When you are rolling the top of the bag down, be gentle to avoid rips. Also, use a sandwich bag or other small brown bag to make a hat for stuffed animal or a (cooperative) pet.
Get your baking on (if you can get some flour). The website of Vermont’s own King Arthur Flour has a wealth of baking skills videos, from creating and feeding a sourdough starter to how to braid challah to flooding cookies. Click here and have fun!
eMakery classes. Hannaford Career Center’s eMakery continues to offer online classes for free or a nominal fee. Join a chair yoga class with Ambika Gibbs on Thursday, May 14, from 5-6 p.m. Chair yoga is a gentle way to practice yoga using a chair, translating traditional yoga practice to a language most bodies will appreciate and understand. Register here.
A follow up Instagram Q & A happens on Thursday, May 14, from 7-8:30 p.m. Now that those who did the Instagram workshop have had practice, this session is designed to answer questions that have come up over the last two weeks. Those who did not attend the April event are welcome as long as they know this is not an overview but a deeper dive into answering questions.
Classes have a limit of 30. Costs are $6 whole fee, $3 half fee or free, according to your ability to pay. Register here
Donate Blood. With no known end date to the coronavirus fight, the American Red Cross is encouraging healthy individuals to make appointments to donate blood or platelets to ensure blood remains readily available for patients who still rely on transfusions. The need for blood for trauma patients, children battling cancer, mothers experiencing childbirth complications, patients with sickle cell disease and others continues. Donated blood has a limited shelf life of 42 days for red cells and just five days for platelets, so the supply must constantly be replenished.
Each Red Cross blood drive and donation center follows the highest standards of safety and infection control, and additional precautions — including social distancing and face coverings for donors and staff — have been implemented to safeguard donors, volunteers and employees.
Healthy individuals who are feeling well are asked to make an appointment to donate this May by downloading the free Red Cross Blood Donor App, visiting RedCrossBlood.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or enabling the Blood Donor Skill on any Alexa Echo device. Donors are asked to schedule an appointment prior to arriving at the drive and are required to wear a face covering or mask while at the drive, in alignment with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public guidance. 
Blood drives are being held in Addison and surrounding counties as follows:
•  Middlebury: May 12, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., American Legion Middlebury, 49 Wilson Rd.
•  Hinesburg: May 7, 12:30 -6 p.m., United Church of Hinesburg, 10580 Route 116
•  Pittsford: May 13, noon-5 p.m., Furnace Brook Wesleyan Church, 2190 Route 7.
Beef up STEM studies. FourScienceVT, a museum consortium led by ECHO, Fairbanks, Montshire and VINS, has been formed to address the disparity of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education of Vermont’s communities during the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic and beyond. Through offerings such as live science broadcasts on Zoom and Facebook, video content with friendly and knowledgeable educators, behind-the-scenes tours of collections, and downloadable resources for families and teachers, the group’s collaborative efforts cover a spectrum of learners. To guide people through the stream of digital and downloadable resources, go to FourScienceVT.org, a curated platform for families and schools to access Vermont-centric STEM interactive curriculum and experiences.
Speak up about deer. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department will hold two more public hearings on deer. These electronic public hearings are meant to solicit input on deer on the following dates from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. through the following means:
May 11: Through computer at us02web.zoom.us/j/83167838494 and conference call: 929-436-2866, meeting ID: 831-6783-8494.
May 12: Through computer at us02web.zoom.us/j/84013715841 and conference call: 929-436-2866, meeting ID: 840-1371-5841.
To participate via smartphone or tablet, download the free Zoom Cloud Meeting App and enter the appropriate 9-digit meeting ID. The conference call number is the same for both meetings, but each meeting has a unique ID number and weblink. Be sure to use the correct information for the meeting you are joining.
The department urges members of the public to review information that will be discussed by going to vtfishandwildlife.com/deer-moose-hearings prior to the hearings. This includes a video presentation from Fish and Wildlife’s deer biologist Nick Fortin on the antlerless harvest and youth season recommendation as well as information that would normally be provided at the in-person public hearings. A copy of the proposed 2020 antlerless harvest and youth season recommendation can be found on this page as well.
Join a virtual military campaign. Fort Ticonderoga has created a 2020 Digital Campaign virtual campus that features interactive programming, engaging lectures series, and a preview of the many experiences that will be featured on-site once Fort Ticonderoga’s gates open in 2020. Virtual visitors can enjoy behind-the-scenes information, previews of upcoming programs, and special insider content on the 2020 season wherever your “fort” may be. Programs include:
May 7, 1 p.m., ZOOM — A Soldier’s Life: 26th Foot Clothing. Dive into the details of buttons, facings, and trimmings that distinguished the 26th Regiment of Foot from others in the British Army. Explore seasonal and regional uniform adaptations that allowed British soldiers to serve around a global empire.
May 8, 11 a.m., Facebook Live — Demonstration: Oxen & the 26th Foot. Watch Mick & Mack in action and learn more about oxen’s role with the British guards of Fort Ticonderoga. Whether carting barrels of food up from Lake Champlain or fixing the road to Crown Point, oxen provided the pulling power to make garrison life possible for soldiers of the 26th Regiment of Foot.
May 9, 11 a.m., Facebook Live — Green Mountain Boys: Live from Hand’s Cove. Fort Ticonderoga digitally visits Shoreham, Vermont where the Green Mountain Boys made their final preparations and crossing of Lake Champlain. Learn about the key characters in America’s First Victory and the challenges they faced capturing this British-held fort.
May 10, 1 p.m., Facebook Live — Lecture Series: Images of the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga. How do you imagine the capture of Ticonderoga in 1775? For generations artists have tried to visualize the surrender of Fort Ticonderoga. Join Fort Ticonderoga Curator Matthew Keagle for a look at a newly acquired painting and explore how art reflects myth, memory, and history.
Visit fortticonderoga.org for more live videos, lectures series, and educational at-home activities that bring history to life.
Online Art Classes for Kids. The Middlebury Studio School has created a series of online art classes on Friday afternoons from 3-3:45 p.m. to help keep the kids busy and fuel their creativity. Classes have a fee and run as follows:
Friday, May 8: Easy Paper Marbling — Art Paper. Tuition $15.
Friday, May 15: Draw a Magical Unicorn in an Enchanted Forest. Tuition $15.
Friday, May 22: Design your own T-shirt using the traditional West African Art of Senufo Mud Painting. Tuition $17
Friday, June 5: Paint a Blue Whale. Tuition $15
Friday, June 12: Magnificent Mountains Painting. Tuition $15
Register here.