The VHFA Socially Responsible Committee's Community Awareness Program (CAP) will hold its second event Nov. 10.

Barbara Rachelson from the Lund Family Center in Burlington will speak on how to "adopt" a family for the holidays. She'll walk staff through the steps of the process and will outline the typical needs and challenges faced by families in need.

CAP is a voluntary program that encourages VHFA staff members to gather on designated lunch hours to hear from a variety of presenters speaking on issues pertinent to our community and how we can help make it a better place to live.

VHFA has published its 2008 Annual Report/2009 Wall Calendar.

This is the eighth year we've published the report in the form of a calendar, in an effort to give the report a longer "shelf life" than a typical annual report might enjoy.

Each month of the calendar features a homeowner VHFA helped with a mortgage, or a multifamily project we helped finance.

Planning for the publication begins each April, and photography typically takes us to the four corners of the state.

Homeowners in this year's report are from Swanton, Montpelier, Hardwick, Burlington, Danville, and Arlington.

If you drop by the Agency this week and think things look a little more casual than usual, it's all for a good cause.

All week long, employees who donate to the United Way of Chittenden County "buy" the right to dress casual.

The price? A very reasonable $2 a day.

Sign me up ...

The annual conference of the New England Housing Network (NEHN) will feature a number of speakers from Vermont.

The day-long event, coming to Needham, Mass., on Dec. 5, will include:

• John Fairbanks, Vermont Housing Finance Agency
• Erhard Mahnke, Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition
• Rick D'Angelis, Vermont Housing & Conservation Board
• Nancy Owens, Housing Vermont
• Noelle MacKay, Smart Growth Vermont

The theme will be "Providing Affordable Housing in a Time of Financial Uncertainty."