Vermont Evaporator Company Supports Alnôbaiwi This November
Backyard maple equipment manufacturer will support Vermont Abenaki Nonprofit this year
MONTPELIER, Vt. -- (November 1, 2023) – In honor of Native American Heritage month, and in the spirit of Thanksgiving, Vermont Evaporator Company is donating a portion of its sales to support indigenous peoples and causes for the sixth year in a row this November. This year, the company will be setting aside a portion of its November sales for a local nonprofit, Alnôbaiwi.
“The original inhabitants of North America discovered how to make maple sugar and passed on that knowledge to European immigrants” says Vermont Evaporator Company CEO, Kate Whelley McCabe. “All of us who work in the maple industry benefit from this knowledge transfer on a daily basis. At the Vermont Evaporator Company, we stand with native communities like the Vermont Abenaki who seek to engage in cultural practices on the very land where they discovered maple thousands of years ago.”
In past years, Vermont Evaporator Company has supported a tribe's struggle to reestablish sovereignty over their ancestral lands, organizations helping indigenous communities emerge from COVID, and groups leading BIPOC food and land justice and sovereignty efforts across the country. This year, the company is bringing its dollars back home to support people working to preserve Vermont Abenaki cultural heritage right here in Vermont.
“It’s important for the public to understand how vital it is for the Vermont Abenaki to preserve the lifeways that have been handed to them by prior generations, that Vermont Abenaki have always been here, that they are still here, and that they will remain here,” says David Schein, Grants Coordinator of Alnôbaiwi. “The Abenaki should be recognized as an important and continuous part of Vermont's history and culture, and we appreciate that Vermont Evaporator Company is willing to both support our mission and spread the word.”
If you would like to help Alnôbaiwi preserve Vermont Abenaki ways, you can do so by purchasing a product from Vermont Evaporator Company during the month of November; the company will pass on 5% of that sale to Alnôbaiwi. You can also donate directly to Alnôbaiwi on their website.
About Vermont Evaporator Company:
The Vermont Evaporator Company, LLC, located in Montpelier, Vermont, is a family-owned business that manufactures small, home-scale sap evaporation units for the backyard maple sugaring enthusiast that are portable, multifunctional, and easy to use. With the Sapling Evaporator and accessories, as well as a line of sugaring pans and other tools of the trade, Vermont Evaporator Company is making maple country’s favorite pastime fun, affordable, and accessible for maple lovers everywhere to create delicious syrup from tree to table in their own homes. For more information, visit www.vermontevaporator.com.
About Alnôbaiwi:
Alnôbaiwi is a nonprofit organization headquartered at the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington, Vermont. Its mission is to "preserve and practice Abenaki culture and heritage and to educate about the First People in Vermont." Alnôbaiwi, which is Abenaki for "in the Abenaki way," is inclusive all four of the Vermont bands of Abenaki---Mississquoi, Elnu, Koasek and Nulhegan---as well as Canadian Abenaki.
Alnôbaiwi brings people of Abenaki heritage together to engage in ceremony and to learn and pass on their language, foodways and craftways. Alnôbaiwi is also a center of education for people outside of the Abenaki community about the history, traditions, and present-day lives of Abenaki people.
If you would like to learn more about Alnôbaiwi, please use this contact form.