January 2021

		Happy New Year! We hope that this email finds you and your family safe and healthy. As a local Vermont, family owned business we understand how important your communications services are to you and your family during these unprecedented times. The pandemic has certainly elevated the importance of rural broadband and the critical role it plays for our customers and the communities we serve. Suddenly many of us found ourselves working from home, learning from home, and accessing telehealth services. Please know that we are continuing to make record capital investments in our network. In 2021, we are investing almost $9 million dollars to continue to convert as many customers to fiber-optics as we can. We are also aggressively applying for additional state and federal funds to augment our own investments in fiber-optics. If you are included in one of our 2021 fiber projects, we will be reaching out to you to let you know that fiber is coming to your location. Every dollar we invest in fiber is benefiting our customers here in Vermont and the local communities we serve. To date, we've converted more than 4,500 customers to fiber and that number is growing every day. That puts us ahead of the nationwide average of 32% of the United States customers having access to fiber-optics and significantly ahead of much of Vermont. Obviously that number is higher in more densely populated towns as it is much easier, quicker, and significantly less expensive to deploy fiber-to-the-home than in rural areas. Our employees have been doing an amazing job engineering, constructing, and converting customers on a daily basis. We were able to accomplish this despite additional challenges that came our way from COVID-19 that resulted in a multitude of vendor and equipment delays. Despite all of these challenges, we were still able to convert a record number of customers to fiber in 2020. However, we are by no means complete. Building a fiber-to-the-home network in rural Vermont is not easy and takes time and extensive capital. We appreciate your continued support and thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to evolve our network. Thank you for being a customer of Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom. Sincerely, Eric Haskin President and CEO Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom Is There A High School Senior In Your Family? Apply For An FRS Scholarship Waitsfield and Champlain Valley Telecom (WCVT) is proud to partner with the Foundation for Rural Service (FRS) in the 2021 College Scholarship Program. Each year, FRS gives out $2,500 scholarships to an exceptional group of rural students for their first year of college or vocational school. All applicants require sponsorship by an NTCA — The Rural Broadband Association member company, which includes WCVT. As your local telecommunications service provider, it's our pleasure to offer this national scholarship program in our service area. It seeks to sustain and enhance the quality of life in rural America by advancing an understanding of rural telecommunications issues and furthering the education of rural youth. Applicants must be a graduating high school senior and an active customer or whose parents or legal guardian are active customers of WCVT and reside full-time in the WCVT service area. Applications must be submitted by March 5, 2021 directly to FRS via their website. Did You Add More Devices This Holiday Season? It Might Be Time To Upgrade Your Wi-Fi If you added more devices this holiday season, it's probably time to look at your Wi-Fi. While the standard Wi-Fi gateways do a pretty good job of covering the average sized home, depending on the number of devices and size, layout, and construction of your home, it may be time to look at a new solution to increase your overall Wi-Fi coverage and performance. Whole Home Wi-Fi from Green Mountain Access uses multiple Access Points to expand coverage to every part of your home and cover all of your devices. At Green Mountain Access, we offer a full range of residential and business class Wi-Fi solutions from leading manufacturers including AirTies, Eero, Ubiquiti and Ruckus. Our Whole Home Wi-Fi uses multiple Access Points placed at strategic locations around your home to expand coverage, eliminating dead spots, and providing great performance for all of your streaming devices. Want To Learn More? Visit our website to learn more about our Whole Home Wi-Fi or Business Wi-Fi solutions. You can also give us a call at 800-496-3391 or send us an email and we'd be happy to discuss our solutions with you. Win A $50 Gift Certificate To A Local Business of Your Choice (4 lucky winners this month)! As you know, each month, we raffle off a prize from a local business in our service area. This month, in an effort to support the businesses in our local community, we will pick four lucky winners who will win a $50 gift certificate to a local business of their choice. It can be a restaurant, hardware store, clothing store – business just needs to be local. Simply tell us your favorite local business and if your name is selected, you will win a $50.00 gift certificate to the business you mention (we'll buy the gift certificate of course)! Drawing will take place on January 20, 2021. To be entered into the raffle, click the link below and leave your name, contact information, and the name of the business. Click Here To Enter For Your Chance To Win Looking For A Better TV Experience? Try GMA Video Free For 30-Days! GMA Video is a fully-featured, streaming TV service that is a complete replacement for traditional cable or satellite television. With GMA Video, you still get all of your local channels and the option to choose packages with all of your favorite national sports and movie channels. Every GMA Video package also includes access to Cloud DVR so you can easily record your favorite programs. Once you subscribe, you simply download and install the GMA Video app on your favorite streaming device (we support Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and your favorite internet browser or mobile device). You'll also enjoy: FREE HD Channels, Cloud DVR, Restart TV, and Replay TV Your favorite local broadcast channels and cable networks Personalized viewing recommendations Easy self-installation and no contracts Packages starting as low as $37.25 Try GMA Video FREE for 30-Days! Call 802-496-3391 today to switch.

		A Year of Giving Back To The Communities We Serve WCVT has a long and strong history of volunteerism and charitable giving in the communities we serve. Social responsibility has always been part of our company values starting with founders Alton and Eunice Farr more than a hundred years ago. 2020 was a year like no other with organizations struggling and food shelves experiencing surges in demand as the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis began to hit home for our communities. It is with great pride to share that WCVT was able to donate over $50,000 in 2020 through our Contributions Program, $12,000 of which went to local food shelves and the Vermont Food Bank. Thank you to everyone for helping to make our communities a better place to live and work. If you know of an organization in our serving area in need, let them know about our Contributions Program. Information and application can be found on our website or contact Lorraine Keener at 802-496-8379 or lkeener@wcvt.com.

		Dog Takes Itself Sledding We're not the only ones who enjoy sledding. This dog pulls the sled up the hill and then joyfully slides back down.		Dancing Mailman Pandemic isolation is eased for a little girl when a kind mailman dances with her through the picture window.

		Online Journal Is 2021 your year to start journaling? Penzu offers a free, private, and customizable way to record thoughts and activities. Learn more...		MedlinePlus Get trusted health information on topics including diseases and symptoms, tests and treatments, and prescription drugs. Learn more...		AccuWeather Go here for interactive radar maps, current conditions, accurate forecasts, and severe weather watches and warnings. Learn more...

		COOKING DEMOS January is National Slow Cooker Month, so take advantage of the convenience and try this flavorful chicken dish.		French Toast Casserole What could be better than French toast? It's French toast you make ahead, chill overnight, and bake the next morning.

		NASA Shows Us Mars Check out these "out of this world" images of the Red Planet taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.		Organize Your Reusable Bags Reusable shopping bags don't have to create a mess in your home. This video shows how to neatly fold and store them.

		Replace a Doorknob If you have a doorknob that's outdated or doesn't work well, follow these detailed steps to easily replace it with a new one.		Turn a Trunk into a Table Transform that old trunk you picked up at a flea market or garage sale into a cool coffee table with lots of character.

Green Mountain Access Mechanicsville Rd Hinesburg, VT 05461 888-321-0815 (toll-free) 802-496-8598 (local) Click here to unsubscribe.

© 2021 Cornerstone Publishing Group Inc. Trademarks: All brand names and product names used in this eNewsletter are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.