courtesy photo
HARDWICK – It seems like everyone is fundraising these days. Politicians, parties, charitable causes . . . they all have their hands out. But one fundraiser is making an offer that stands out from the crowd.
Starting on Giving Tuesday, the next 10 people to give $500 or more to The Hardwick Gazette will receive a plush, cozy comfort chicken handmade by Gazette staffer Sandra Atkins. It’s the most appropriate gift imaginable for these troubled times. (As of Sunday afternoon, three chickens had been adopted; just seven more to go!)
The origin of the comfort chicken, or “emotional support chicken” as some call it, has been traced to a fiber artist at a Los Angeles craft store called The Knitting Tree. As blogger David Friedman wrote, the idea “spread like wildfire through the knitting community . . . They’re roughly the size of a throw pillow and are stuffed with material to be soft and huggable.”
Atkins explains how she started making chickens: “A friend of mine made one for her daughter, who got so many comments about it that I decided to try it. I enjoyed it and kept on going. I love color, so my chickens are very colorful.”
Unless you’re a friend or relative of Atkins, there’s only one way to get one of her comfort chickens: Donate $500 or more to The Hardwick Gazette at https://hardwickgazette.org/donate/.
The Hardwick Gazette is a weekly newspaper that serves 11 communities in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, including Cabot, Calais, Craftsbury, Greensboro, Plainfield, and Woodbury. The Gazette has served its area for close to 140 years; it was reinvented as a community-governed nonprofit organization in 2024. Donations to The Gazette are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. For more information, and to contact The Hardwick Gazette visit www.HardwickGazette.org
John Walters is the sole author of The Vermont Political Observer, readable for free (but donations cheerfully accepted) at thevpo.org. Walters has had a long career in print and broadcast journalism. He’s been an observer of Vermont politics since 2011, including a three-year stint as political columnist for Seven Days. He is on the board of NEK Public Journalism. He lives in East Montpelier with his loyal spouse, two house rabbits and two cockatiels.
