Email: info@gbicsbennington.org
  802-447-3700

Category: Wellness

Category: Wellness

You First, a program through the Vermont Department of Health, is federally funded by two grants from the CDC. Our goal is to provide access to breast and cervical cancer early detection, as well as heart health screen and heart disease prevention. The You First Navigator helps guide members from screening to diagnosis to treatment. The Your First Lifestyle Program Coordinator and Health Coach helps members achieve their fitness and nutrition goals for better heart health.

The You First Bennington program provides eligible individuals in Bennington County personalized support to pay for breast, cervical and heart screenings, diagnostic tests and heart healthy lifestyle programs. As part of You First Vermont, we are able to offer incentives to members like local gym memberships and summer CSA vouchers.

How You First Works

To start with, contact our Health Champion to discuss enrollment. Eligible individuals will fill out the You First application. Once you enroll in You First Bennington, you will receive your You First membership card and packet. A You First team member will call you to welcome you and answer any questions you may have. After that, you’re all set to schedule your screening appointments with your healthcare providers. Once your provider receives your results, they will submit them to You First. If a You First member is advised to seek further testing to establish a diagnosis for breast or cervical issues, You First pays the copays and/or deductible for the additional testing. Members will re-enroll each year and get screened again.

Wanda is here to help! She can assist individuals through the application, enrollment and re-enrollment process.

You First Services

Breast Cancer Screenings

  • Starting at age 50 (unless recommended sooner)
  • Breast exam every year
  • Mammogram every other year (or as often as recommended)
  • Additional testing as needed

Cervical Cancer Screenings

  • Pap test every 3 years (or as often as recommended)
  • HPV test
  • Additional testing as needed

Heart Health Screenings

  • Members aged 30-64
  • Blood Pressure
  • Height & Weight
  • Cholesterol testing
  • Blood sugar testing

Lifestyle Programs

  • Health Coaching
  • Weight Watchers
  • TOPS (Taking Pounds Off Sensibly)
  • Self-Monitored Blood Pressure Program
  • Local fitness centers

Transportation to You First appointments

Interpretation services for You First appointments

Eligibility

Who is eligible:

Residence: Must live in Vermont

Age: Must be over 21 years old; our heart health program is available for members ages 30-64

Insurance Status: Can be uninsured, have Medicaid or have private health insurance (including Vermont Health Connect); Coverage for members with Medicare Part B is different. Call program for details.

Screening Need: You have (or have had) breasts or a cervix, or need preventative breast or cervical cancer screenings.

Transgender, non-binary and intersex Vermonters are eligible to receive services through You First. Call 1-800-508-2222 or visit the You First website to learn more.

Income: 250% of the federal poverty level, based on number in household.

Food Fit Bennington is more than just a cooking class. It brings people together to set goals and learn new skills. With a focus on healthy eating and exercise, participants make measurable changes in their overall health and fitness. During each 10-week session, participants immerse themselves in cooking, nutrition education, and physical activity as part of a community. Together, our goal is to eat more fruits, veggies, and whole grains, while slowly increasing our physical activity level.

Four women around a table reaching for skewers of watermelon in Bennington, VT

We adopted this hands-on food, cooking, nutrition, and exercise program from Canada. With funding from the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, our staff spent a year re-writing the Food Fit curriculum from the perspective of the United States. Additionally, we’ve published the Food Fit Cookbook with more than 250 healthy recipes. Participants use these recipes throughout the course and beyond in their daily lives.

Finally, we’re in the home stretch of developing a curriculum for Food Fit Bennington Mentors. Once it’s completed, the Mentor curriculum will allow us to have a standardized method for developing new mentors who can help teach the program. Mentorship creates opportunities for participants to take leadership roles and build stronger communities.

Sign Up for Food Fit

Woman with red hair sautes vegetables at the stove

Interested in joining Food Fit Bennington? You should know the course requires a 10-week commitment and is completely free to participants. Plus we offer sessions both Monday mornings and evenings in the winter, summer, and fall, so participants can find a time that fits in their schedules. Additionally, we host our cooking and nutrition class in our Learning Kitchen, conveniently located at GBCS in downtown Bennington.

To learn more about when FoodFit may be resuming classes, please call the office at (802) 447-3700.

Someone wearing a denim jacket arranges cans of pumpkin on a wire shelf next to stacked cans of potatoes

The Kitchen Cupboard provides free food to individuals and families in need and teaches them how to eat better on a budget. Because we offer a variety of produce, distributions often include food to sample and recipes featuring new ingredients. Open to anyone in need of food, the Kitchen Cupboard regularly provides food to over one thousand Bennington families every year.

We welcome guests at the Kitchen Cupboard in Bennington the way we welcome guests to our home, because we understand how food impacts our physical, social, and emotional wellbeing. Guests come to food distributions because they care about the health of their families and themselves. If you or someone you know needs help paying for enough healthy food, you may qualify for 3SquaresVT. Visit https://vermontfoodhelp.com/apply-now to learn more.

Visit the Kitchen Cupboard

The Kitchen Cupboard is located at GBCS at 121 Depot Street in Bennington, VT, one block west of the intersection of US Route 7 and Vermont Route 9 (Main Street).

We do not have a large waiting area, so we encourage shoppers not to come early for distribution hours. Limited off-street parking is available. We ask able-bodied guests arriving in cars to leave nearby parking spaces for people with disabilities. Please do not idle your car in the parking lot.

Smoking, alcohol and firearms are prohibited inside the Kitchen Cupboard and on our property.

Eligibility

The Kitchen Cupboard is open to anyone who needs food. We don’t require financial information from our guests or proof of need. Shoppers are not required to take a predetermined allotment of food; instead they make their own choices, within the limits of availability.

Shoppers may visit the Kitchen Cupboard once each calendar week. Some shoppers may only need to visit once or twice a year, while others will visit weekly. Our shoppers include both individuals and families with children.

Our Partners

Food for the Kitchen Cupboard comes from a variety of sources including the Vermont Food Bank, local supermarkets and corner stores, local farms, family gardens, and local food drives. Raising funds to purchase food for the Kitchen Cupboard is a big job and ongoing commitment for GBCS.

Box of tomatoes from Mighty Food Farms

Our primary source of food is the Vermont Food Bank, of which we are a community partner agency. Varieties of food include canned and boxed goods, frozen meat, dairy products, and produce. Occasionally, we obtain other non-food products like energy efficient light bulbs, toiletries, dish and laundry detergent, but most of our dollars are invested in food items.

The next largest source of food for the Kitchen Cupboard is local farms. We have a special relationship with Mighty Food Farm in Shaftsbury. During the growing season, they donate a truckload of organic produce each week. Thank you, Lisa and crew!

Support the Kitchen Cupboard

More than a thousand Bennington-area households rely on the Kitchen Cupboard for food each year. In turn, we rely on the support of our partners and generous donations from the community. Our donors are people like you who understand that the only way we can reduce poverty in our neighborhoods is by supporting each other. Access to fresh, nutritious food for everyone is one of the first steps in lifting our community up. There are lots of ways to support the work of the Kitchen Cupboard. Find out how you can support your community and Get Involved.

young girl smiling in grass with pigtails

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