Vermont Business Magazine Norwich University cadets, alumni and friends will continue their tradition of marching 50 miles to raise money for the Veterans’ Place Inc., a Northfield transition home and support center for homeless veterans.
The three-day, Annual Legacy March begins Thursday, Nov. 11, in Norwich, Vermont — Norwich University’s original “hometown” — and ends Saturday, Nov. 13, with the students arriving back to Northfield for lunch.
The Legacy March has raised more than $30,000 over the years to support Vermont and national veteran’s organizations.
For the last several years, money raised by the marchers and the university community to support this event has stayed exclusively in central Vermont, benefiting Northfield’s Veterans’ Place, a community-based, nonprofit, 26-bed, substance-free, transitional housing program. This year’s fundraising goal is $8,000.
“Veterans' Place has had the honor of being involved with the Annual Legacy March for 11 years now,” Veterans’ Place Managing Director Karen Boyce said. “This collaboration has not only benefited the Veterans living at Veterans' Place but has been a learning experience for the Norwich students too. Students have heard residents talk about the struggles that brought them to Veterans' Place, along with testimonials about how the Veterans' Place program has restored their dignity and helped put their lives on a positive track to successfully living an independent life again.”
The march re-creates the historical movement in 1866 that brought the cadets from Norwich to Northfield after a disastrous fire on the original campus.
In the tradition of experiential education championed by Norwich founder Capt. Alden Partridge, marchers will receive educational instruction on local and regional history, pubic policy and engineering from Norwich University faculty, staff and alumni.
The march will start on the Norwich, Vermont, village green, visiting grave sites for Partridge and Truman Ransom (Norwich’s second president) and passing by Partridge’s home.
At lunch on Thursday, the students will learn about the impact of U.S. Sen. Justin Morrill, R-Vt., on American higher education, including the Land Grant College Act that bears his name and the roots of this far-reaching legislation in Partridge’s philosophy.
Numerous upper valley and central Vermont businesses, educational institutions and service organizations also contribute essential gifts to support this annual event. Many of these benefactors have supported this service event throughout its history.
Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States. Norwich is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). www.norwich.edu
Source: NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Norwich University