MRV Chamber Awarded Recreation Hub Grant

Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom has supported and enabled the Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce to successfully receive the award of a $5,000 grant to improve and enhance the Mad River Valley’s new Mad River Valley Recreation Hub with funding for a mouldering restroom facility and a public bicycle work stand . 

This grant was made possible by The Foundation for Rural Service (FRS), the philanthropic arm of NTCA–The Rural Broadband Association in partnership with Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom.  The grant is one of 23 grants totaling over $105,000 to support projects in communities served by NTCA members.

Over the past two years a collaboration of organizations have come together to conceptualize and apply for the state’s largest Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative. The grant’s purpose is to develop a recreation hub that ties our outdoor recreational access points with our downtown business district. This project is coming along and major elements of the initiative will be installed in the spring of 2024. While the grant is extensive, there is still a gap in funding for a few critical amenities that will round out the project. 

A lack of public restroom facilities have long been a concern in the Mad River Valley and the location of the recreation hub, while ideal in many ways, there are limitations to the existing septic situation. A moldering public toilet system has been identified as a perfect solution.  Additionally, the lack of a place for the public to do basic bicycle repair is also problematic when one considers the number of visitors and locals the recreation hub will attract. The placement of a public bicycle work stand would go a long way towards solving that problem.The end goal is to enhance the new recreation hub and provide visitors with the best experience possible.

The FRS grants, coupled with support from NTCA members, enable a broad range of community projects across rural America – from providing new equipment to schools and libraries for literacy and digital inclusion efforts, expanding esports and robotics programs, supporting first responders, and more. 

“Through the community grant program, FRS is proud to help multiply the work NTCA members like Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom who are already doing so much  to give back so that their efforts can have an even greater impact on the communities they serve,” said FRS Executive Director Pam Becker. “We are grateful to the 23 NTCA companies that partnered with FRS this year to support these grants and would also like to thank Farm Credit East and the Carri Bennet Economic Development Fund for the additional support.”  See a complete list of awardees.