LATEST NEWS!
2021 TOWN REPORT
Old School Community Center
Town Report 2020
It has been a busy year for the Old School Enrichment Council (better known as OSEC). We are an eight member, volunteer board committed to creating a much-needed community center in the Deerfield Valley. We have accomplished a lot in the last three years since we have purchased the building, and in spite of the pandemic, we continue to move forward.
Prior to the pandemic, our gym and meeting room were bustling with activity. Pickleball, volleyball, Valley Youth Sports, Cub Scouts and the Wilmington Firefighter’s training all took place in our gym. Many of these activities have been temporarily suspended as of this writing in November, with a surge of Covid cases causing people to stay home and stay safe. We have installed an air filtration system in the gym for when we are able to reopen. The meeting room has been used for Pettee Memorial Library’s various groups – story hour, book club, crafting group and support group. The Old Home Week Committee, Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, Wilmington Works and our board also utilized the meeting room before we were forced to go to Zoom meetings. We have ten full time tenants in the building and that number has grown steadily. This includes Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, Deerfield Valley Community Partnership, Wings, Cronin Company, White Fiber, Butter Mountain Bakery, TaeKwonDo, Suzuki Violin, 802 Fitness and, most recently, Barbara Bragg.
Our focus in renovations this year has been the cafeteria, thanks in part to the generosity of the Mark Dooley Foundation who donated $10,000 towards this renovation. They use the cafeteria annually when they have the Mark Dooley road race. We are looking forward to the completion of this project.
There is much more to be done to the building. We are a non-profit 501(c)3 and we are continually applying for various grants to help us with renovations. We also fundraise whenever we can. Most recently, we had a very successful “Toast of the Valley” fundraiser. When it was determined last summer that the Boyd Farm to Table dinner had to be cancelled due to the pandemic, wineglasses were sold so people could toast the valley on the night the dinner would have been held. We raised over $15,000 to put towards our renovations and repairs. We are also still selling bricks! Our walkway is complete but Phase II of the bricks will be the installation of bricks on a wall. Information on this fundraiser can be found on both our Facebook page and webpage.
We are excited and enthused to see our vision come to fruition and we are looking forward to having this pandemic behind us so the building will once again be bustling with happy activities. We would like to thank everyone who has given us support in so many ways, be it financial or in volunteer hours. This is your community center and we look forward to seeing it grow and prosper.
Respectfully submitted,
Steve Goldfarb, Chair Meg Streeter, Vice Chair Cammie Swanson, Treasurer Diane Chapman, Secretary Cindy Hayford Janet Boyd T. J. Sibilia Janet Sherman
