Compost with Confidence State law bans food scraps from the landfill starting July 2020.

• At Home: It could save you money on trash
• Drop-off: Transfer stations, bag drops, and 2 compost facilities accept food scraps
• Curbside Collection: Ask your hauler if they pick up food scraps for composting. Visit VTrecycles.com @VTrecycles

The Chester Andover Family Center Thrift Shop will be open for business starting Friday, June 19, 2020. The CAFC Board recently adopted new protocols to guide how we administer our Food Shelf, Financial Assistance and Thrift Shop programs. All new protocols are consistent with CDC and State of Vermont Guidelines and are intended for the safety of our customers, recipients and volunteers.
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Our Food Shelf will continue to operate with a drive-up, take out system. Recipients will continue to receive their food boxes outside. Volunteers and recipients who may need to be in the CAFC are required to wear masks, use hand sanitizer when they enter and respect social distancing. Food Shelf hours are Thursdays, 1-5 and Fridays, 10-2.

Financial Assistance requests must be made by calling the Center at 802-875-3236 and leaving a message with your name, a phone number where we can reach you and a description of your need. This phone is monitored daily and your call will be returned by a FA Volunteer.
Our Thrift Shop will be open for shopping beginning Friday, June 19 for two days a week: Fridays, 10-4 and Saturdays, 10-3. Thursdays will be reserved for cleaning and processing donations.

To keep our customers and volunteers safe, we are putting in place a few safety protocols.

•       A limit of five customers will be allowed in the store at one time.
•      Customers will be required to wear a mask, sanitize hands prior to entering and maintain social             distancing of six feet.
•      The bathroom and dressing room will not be available.
•      We will receive donations on Fridays and Saturdays, outside, at the rear of the building.

We know that while these new rules are not convenient, they are not unusual for these challenging times. Patience will be required by customers and volunteers. We are confident and determined to provide a safe, enjoyable shopping experience.

Please go to our website at www.chester-andoverfamilycenter.org and check out our Thrift Shop page. You will see a list of acceptable donations as well as items we cannot accept.  As always, we request that donations are not left on days when we are closed.
The Chester-Andover Family Center is located at 908 VT Route 103 South. Call us at 802-875-3236, check us out on Facebook or visit our website at www.chester-andoverfamilycenter.org.

In previous years, the Town of Chester has mailed tax bills the second week in July. This year, there will be a delay in mailing tax bills.  The State of Vermont will not be setting the Education Tax Rate until August 1st with this date “being subject to change”.   To avoid potential confusion and additional expense of mailing two separate bills, the town will not be mailing tax bills until the Education Rate has been set.  At this time, the tax due date will remain September 15, 2020.  Should the education rate be delayed further, we will reevaluate this process. 

This delay in billing will have a significant impact on the cash flow for the town and may cause a need for additional borrowing.  In effort to help minimize this impact, we are encouraging property owners to make prepayments for their property taxes in July and early August, based on their 2019 tax bill.  Prepaying any amount will also help relieve the overall financial burden for property owners when the final bill becomes due.   

Payments can be made by hand delivery, mail, direct debited from a checking/savings account, or paid by credit/debit card (3% fee for this payment option). Payments can be dropped off to Town Hall Monday through Friday 8;00-4:00 or can be mailed to Town of Chester, P.O. Box 370, Chester, VT 05143. If you would like to make a payment or set up recurring payments to be taken out of an account, please call the Town Office at (802) 875-2173.

​Thank you to the property owners that will take advantage of this option and to everyone for their understanding during this difficult time.