- [Announcer] "Our Town Barrington" is made possible by the following premiere sponsor.

- [Announcer] Residential Properties, proudly independent, with nine local offices serving communities across Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts, founded in 1981 with a mission to provide quality service through innovation and hard work.

- [Announcer] And the following benefactor sponsor.

- [Announcer] Barrington Books, serving Rhode Island's literary community since 1986, offering a curated selection of books, toys, gifts, and more, barringtonbooks.com.

- [Announcer] Rhode Island PBS presents "Our Town," the program where we learn about the people, places, history, and happenings of each town around the Ocean State through the eyes of those who live there.

Watch now as they show us everything that makes their community a great hometown.

Sitting on the east side of Narragansett Bay, just seven miles from Providence is the town of Barrington.

Its history may only be rivaled by its scenic beauty.

Barrington is part of the native lands of the Pokanoket tribe in the Wampanoag nation, where they have lived for at least 12,000 years.

In the 1700s, Barrington was initially located in Massachusetts, then transferred to the colony of Rhode Island in 1746.

In 1777, Barrington was separated from Warren, becoming its own town.

At the time, it was a sparsely populated agricultural area.

In the 1800s, railroads, mills, and brickyards connected Barrington and the rest of the East Bay to Providence, promoting industrial and residential growth.

Today, Barrington is a popular suburban community noted for its quality of life, highly rated school district, and a history that dates back beyond the Mayflower.

Join us as we hear from the people and about the places that make Barrington such a picturesque place to live.

This is "Our Town Barrington."

(bright music) (cheerful music) - Hi, I'm Melissa Moniz, principal over at Nayatt School.

- And I'm Cherylann Bertoncini, and I'm the librarian at Nayatt School.

We are here today to tell you a little bit about Lunch and Learn.

- My name's Daisy, and I wanna be a teacher when I grow up.

- My name's Isha, and I wanna be a lawyer when I grow up.

- My name is Ava, and I wanna be a hairstylist when I grow up.

- My name is Matthew, and I wanna be a police officer when I grow up.

- My name is Katie, and I wanna be a pediatrician when I grow up.

- So the Lunch and Learn series was something that we had previous to COVID years, and there was a slight pause.

We brought it back and actually really wanted to just have an opportunity for community members to come in and share what their careers are, showcase some different life paths for students.

- Do you guys know what a pediatrician is?

Yes?

- [Student] It's a doctor for kids.

- Doctor for kids, absolutely.

Do you know what ages we tend to care for?

Yes?

- We have had such a wonderful array of volunteers that have come in.

We've had veterinarians, doctors, people that work on construction sites, electricians, Air Force pilots, people that have been in the armed forces or in the military.

We try to aim for at least one a month, but last year, we had such a high volume of volunteers that were willing to come in, we did sometimes two and three in a month.

- The students sign up for topics they are interested in.

If they choose to come to a presenter, and they're selected, they come during their lunch period.

They bring their lunches into the library.

And then we have the guest speaker talk to the children while they're having lunch.

- So we work in a couple different places.

Can anybody name one place that pediatricians work?

Yes?

- Maybe the doctor's office.

- [Katie] Pediatrician's office, absolutely.

What else do we do?

Yes?

- You give us shots?

- Yes.

Can anyone tell me what that is?

Yes?

- [Student] I think you put it on your finger, and it checks your temperature.

- Children are engaged and hear about topics that they might not have heard about before or topics that they're interested in.

It's just growing, and the students love it.

- [Interviewer] Principal Moniz, what did you want to be when you grew up?

- From second grade, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher.

I absolutely always have had a love for learning, and I share that knowledge with students every day.

I'm so lucky to be where I am.

(light music) - [Interviewer] Cherylann, what did you want to be when you grew up?

- Well, I did want to be a private investigator, and that is going to be my next job after retirement.

But being a librarian is somewhat like being a special investigator.

But I did always want to be a librarian.

- We really just want to let students know that there are so many opportunities, whether they choose to go to a college or a university or a trade school or go into, again, a different pathway.

There are not only opportunities for them to learn from the community, but they can possibly get involved as they get older as well.

- So right here, if you put your thumb up in the air, there's an artery that goes all the way up to your heart.

You can put your two fingers on it.

You can feel your heart right here, in your wrist, too.

You can all try it.

Put your thumb- - One of the things that's been happening naturally is the speakers have been talking about how important it is to read and how important it is to learn.

- Yeah, so you can kind of see the top part of your belly.

This is your diaphragm right here.

Does anyone know what this is, this big lump?

Yes?

- [Student] Your spine?

- So your spine, absolutely.

You can see it kind of coming down this way.

Yes?

- [Student] Your heart?

- This is your heart.

Great job.

- There's always a presenter that, somehow they always tie it back to learning, to reading and exploring, and I think it's organic, and it's so natural for the children to see what learning in school today will be applied to what they decide to do in the future.

(light music) - You were a wonderful audience.

Let's give our presenters a big round of applause.

(class applauding) (gentle music) (wind whooshing) (someone speaks faintly) - When we look back on the history of volunteerism, I think many organizations feel like it's tough to get volunteers, because we have households where they don't have as much time for volunteering.

So I have been really amazed by the level of volunteerism that I've seen here in Barrington over the time that I've been working as director of the Land Trust.

They're doing it not because they have free time, 'cause most of these people are very, very busy people; they're doing it because they really care about a particular cause.

I'm Cindy Elder.

I'm the executive director of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.

I was raised in Barrington and moved back here in my 30s and have now lived here for many decades.

There, there, there, there.

I became involved with the Land Trust as a supporter.

I lived in town.

I knew that it was important that we preserve our very limited open space in a suburban town that was getting chopped up into pieces.

The Land Trust owns about 300 acres of open space in Barrington, which is quite a lot, given that the town itself only has 5,300 acres in total.

There is enough birding bush to keep us busy for the next 50 years.

(volunteer chuckles) It was back in 2022 when I was asked to consider being executive director.

One of the things we're doing today is we are pulling it up by the roots.

The bulk of our work is the everyday work of maintaining trails on conservation land and taking care of pollinator meadows, removing invasive species so that native species have room to grow.

So there's a lot of hands-on work.

We have a student stewardship team that is engaged in all kinds of activities, both outdoor activities, research, photography, website design, you name it.

(gentle music) - It's a lot of fun.

We have this big tree remover that pulls up the roots, and that's a lot of fun to use.

And it's also very satisfying, after you've worked for like an hour or two, to see all the progress that you've made and how much better the trail or preserve looks than it did before you came.

It's just a really nice feeling.

- Well, my mother is a member of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust, so I had some early-on exposure to it.

And I just saw all the work they were doing for the environment, preserving local land, and I thought that was really cool.

- I think it's important, especially when you're this young, to think about how you think of your life in 30 years.

When I'm 70, I wanna think about this time as doing something, like I didn't just sit on my couch all day and do nothing.

I actually got out there, and I can come back to Barrington in 30 years and say I worked to preserve this land.

- [Cindy] So I have been really amazed by the level of volunteerism that I've seen here in Barrington.

It feels as though people are making time for volunteerism because they believe it's important, and because they see gaps in the work that can be done, and so they're filling in those gaps with their own time.

- I'm a lifelong resident of Barrington.

I've been a member of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust for many years.

You feel like you're contributing something.

And working with people in the community, they're all great people.

So I feel a sense of accomplishment, that we've accomplished something important, you know, and that will be appreciated in years to come.

(gentle music) - I've always been interested in wildlife and hiking outdoors, and so it was a natural segue into looking at lands that needed protection, and that was what the Land Trust was doing here.

- I think it is part of being a small community where people know each other, and one person taps another person on the shoulder and says, "Hey, do you wanna come out and do some trail work with me?"

And they enjoy it, and then they tell their friends.

And it's a very organic building process.

This may sound funny, but I like this town a lot better now than I did growing up.

You seem like, you showing it, I think that'd be a little better.

- I do not mind.

I see real differences in our town than back in the 1960s.

It is a more diverse community.

There is a large population of young parents who are actively engaged in the issues that are affecting people's lives right now.

The most rewarding element for me about being the director of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust is that I see the power of volunteerism.

I see it every single day.

We are almost exclusively operated by volunteers.

They pull together, and they get it done, and that is far more powerful than money.

(gentle music swells) (peaceful music) - [Kelsey] Roll to the water, ready to roll.

- [Teammate] Yep, yep.

- You'll see us out on the Barrington River at 5:30 in the morning.

Ready.

So I have bowman three rowing.

Bowman three, row.

And it really is a beautiful scene.

(tranquil music) Walker Farm is beautiful.

There's a lot of wildlife.

And then you have this added benefit of being on the water.

It's like glass.

You'll never experience better conditions.

My name is Kelsey Gosch, and I am the director of rowing and a coach for East Bay Rowing.

(gentle music) East Bay Rowing is a nonprofit rowing club.

We are open to adults rowing, youth rowing.

We started in Barrington in 2011.

A couple saw a gap in the rowing community and said, "Here's this beautiful body of water at Walker Farm.

Can we get boats out there?"

We pull a lot from Barrington High School, Barrington Middle School.

A lot of the parents of these kids will come and row with us.

So it really is quite a community at this point that's based out of Barrington.

- Hi, I'm Andrew Dunn.

I joined rowing for two parts.

So both my siblings, my older brother and my older sister, both rowed for EBR at different points in their high school.

And I saw just how much fun they were having.

- It's really just a huge group of people that row together.

We do team dinners.

And there's a lot of connection and community involved with EBR.

- For me, the greatest benefit about EBR is, well, the workout is one of them.

You know, as a diabetic, it's important to always do exercise.

And so, for me, I've found something that it's gotten me working every day.

- I have a long history in rowing.

I started rowing in eighth grade in Buffalo, New York, and I was immediately hooked, I loved it, and then got recruited to Wellesley College, where I rowed competitively.

And then I started coaching at East Bay Rowing shortly after I graduated in 2020 and have been with EBR ever since.

Rowing is a very unique sport.

It's one that prioritizes determination, mental toughness, physical strength.

There's no sport that requires people to be as in sync with the other people in your boat.

There's a lot of trust that's built into that.

So you really do need to connect with your teammates, and that applies from any age.

East Bay Rowing is a prebuilt community.

We really prioritize everybody moving and having the opportunity to race, to row.

No matter what your goals are, we wanna make sure that we're providing that experience for folks.

I think the practice of, you know, getting up in the morning, of being a part of a team, it's a really unique opportunity and community to be a part of.

We participate in a handful of races throughout the northeast, including the Head of the Charles in Boston.

Locally, we will have a lot of internal regattas on the water.

And then in addition to that, you know, we like to have social events.

We do a couple of events like trivia nights and pickleball tournaments, for example, that also encourage the community to have fun with us.

There is an incredible community to be a part of.

People are incredibly welcoming and always trying to help each other reach their goals, whether they're on or off the water.

So we're really, really grateful for all of the people and organizations that have, you know, contributed to our success and allow us to continue contributing back to our community in Barrington.

(gentle music) (water sloshing softly) (lively music) (soft music) (group chattering) - There are so many memories that we've had over the years.

I mean, it's funny because people will ask me, you know, what's your favorite show you've ever done?

And it's impossible to pick, because every show has its own life and its own little group of children.

(lively music) My name is Dena Davis, and I am the artistic director of Arts Alive!

Arts Alive!

is a nonprofit children's theater education program, and we started in Barrington, and we have been spreading to the other communities around.

But really what we do is we're about bringing theater and keeping theater in the schools.

I think what we do that's maybe different than other theater programs across the country is that we're introducing children at a really young age to theater.

So they're starting in first grade, and they typically stay with our program all the way through high school.

What we find happens is, when you introduce children at a really young age to the arts, they start to discover talents that maybe they didn't know that they have.

You're so concerned about hitting notes that you just, you need to, especially if Mama, like... She's singing- - Feeling bigger than mine.

- Yeah, so you've got it.

Believe in yourself and hone it.

And the whole point of the arts is to enhance the creativity of students and build confidences and form friendships and teamwork.

We need creative thinkers, and we need kids who are gonna have communication skills and be empathetic leaders for the future.

So it's super, super important to keep the arts, I think, involved in education.

So I basically have spent my whole life in theater.

I mean, I started doing theater when I was a kid, and I ended up starting my career in London.

I worked in theater there for over 10 years.

And what I did on the sideline is, I set up a weekend acting class for kids.

I think I always knew, inside my soul, that I wanted to work with children.

In 2010, I had just moved to Barrington with my very young children.

And I have a background in theater, so when we came into that elementary school, which was the Nayatt School, the principal had asked if I'd be willing to put on a school play.

'Cause they hadn't had one in like 25 years.

And I was like, sure, that's what I do.

And what happened is we had over a hundred children sign up to take part in that play.

We officially formed a nonprofit at that point.

Because it couldn't be all, you know, myself and my colleague, Kimberly Durkin, who is our costume designer, working out of our houses and doing costume fittings in our living rooms.

It had to kind of evolve from there.

- Art's Alive!

in general and as a whole, it helps us explore every part of theater, and it helps us explore on-stage, backstage, you know, and it shows how much people it takes to put on a show and how much work and dedication and love and passion it takes.

And Arts Alive!

is just so special.

- If you are reading a book, and there's a character, and they're just amazing and happy, and they do everything right, you're not really interested in that person.

There's nothing to learn from it.

And like learning from... Like, it's such a privilege to be able to experience just literally stepping into another person's shoes.

- I think, for me, working with this organization is really everything I live for.

I care about it so much.

I care so much about how important the arts are, that we keep them alive, which is why we're called Arts Alive!

and being a positive influence on these children who have so much pressure on them to succeed and just realizing that they have their own personal resources that they can bring into the world and really make an impact and a difference.

And I feel like, if that's my one achievement in my life, it's good enough.

(lively music) (mellow music) (lighthearted music) - [Patron] I think the library is an incredible gathering place and the hub of our community.

It's the heart.

It's the soul.

- [Patron] Oh, I think it is a center point.

I think that shows that people cared so much about what the library means to the community.

- Like many public libraries in communities, this one started about 1806.

A pastor decided that it would be really important to have a engaged and educated community.

So he started a social library.

And I think that that's something that has just carried through Barrington.

My name is Kris Chin, and I'm the director of the Barrington Public Library.

This building that we're in has not always been a library or community center.

It was originally the Leander Peck School.

In the late '70s, enrollment dwindled, and they had to make a decision what to do with this building.

It went to the town, what to do, and then there were two ideas floated.

One was for affordable housing, and the other one was for a library, which would also house senior center, Tap-In.

There was a lot of support for both, but in the end, of course, it became the library.

(lively music) The success of this library comes down to support and interest.

We are generously funded through tax dollars for our operating expenses.

But then we have these two groups.

There's the Friends of the library that give us, gosh, almost 90% of our programming budget.

And then also there is the foundation that's administered by the board of trustees.

They manage our endowment and they give us funds for bigger-capital projects.

We have 15 professionals on staff, which, for a library in a town this size, is pretty remarkable.

We have the highest number of card holders per capita, which, again, is a testament to the lifelong learners in this community.

Those are the things that really make Barrington Public Library what it is.

- [Lee] I've lived in Barrington since 1967.

I learned to read at Barrington Public Library.

I went to the library when I was about five years old, with my sister and her friends.

And they were six, so they could all read.

I went in, and I took out a book, and it was the Papa Albert series.

And I sounded out the word papa and screamed that I could read and ran around showing the others.

- You know, 1984, we came into this building, and then somewhere in the '90s, they renovated the first floor.

Now the second floor, it was the second floor's turn.

So 2017, they started that renovation, and that is what has brought us, you know, a couple of really great meeting rooms, study room.

They redid the children's room, and that is just a beautiful space.

And they redid this auditorium so that it's as beautiful as it is now.

We're known for our programming.

We're able to afford wonderful music programs, movie lectures, book discussions, myriad of kids programs.

And many people comment that when they come in, they're always treated wonderfully with respect, and everyone is very knowledgeable.

Really a testament to how a community came together and recognized the importance, just like that pastor did back in 1806, of having a very informed community.

They are so engaged, lifelong learners.

(lively music fades) (bright music) (waves crashing softly) - I think what makes West Barrington such a unique part of Barrington is just the community that's built around it.

(birds hooting and chirping) So I just thought it was really cool to research this and kind of connect it to what I'm seeing today in my own neighborhood, and why that history is so important to my neighborhood today.

(gentle music) My name's William Sturla, and I'm a senior at Barrington High School.

I've grown up in Barrington for my whole life.

Growing up, I sort of saw this history around me, and I knew there was something there.

I would see the historic labels of all the houses.

And I was just curious to see what this history actually was of this neighborhood.

That's the reason why I wanted to research more into it.

Beside me is the O'Bannon Mill, which was once the largest employer of the town.

The nearby waters of Allin's Cove provided ideal conditions for oystering.

The Providence, Bristol Railroad, whose remnants you can see right beside me, were a symbol of the Industrial Revolution in Barrington.

This is the side of the old railroad where Alfred Drown was station master.

I really focused on the development of the neighborhoods, that being Alfred Drown and Bay Spring.

Alfred Drown is mostly residential community.

It's called Alfred Drown actually because the Drown family was the initial farmers that bought the land and farmed that area.

The Bay Spring area was very much an industrial area, so it had, in the early 1900s, a big presence of factories.

You had a laceworks factory, and you also had a textile factory/leather-making factory, and those really defined that area.

If I were to give a guided tour of this area, the number one coolest part for me was seeing the sight of the old railroad along the bike path.

When it was originally founded, it was the Providence, Bristol Railroad ran right through where the East Bay Bike Path is now.

And Alfred Drown was sort of known for being kind of a curmudgeon, I guess you could say.

He was very much someone who, the train would be one minute late, and he would get really mad about that and start, you know, looking at his watch and being all angry.

I would keep walking along the bike path or the railroad, and you arrive at the O'Bannon Mill.

It was a couple different purposes, but what it's most known for is providing a lot of synthetic leather products to the military during World War I.

And now you can actually see right there is the water, and that water, that area, it was the same area where the Blount family actually started their oystering business.

Those oysters would've been picked up, brought onto the railroad, and then brought to Providence, Boston, and beyond.

Another cool part that I could take somebody, if I were giving them a tour of this area, would be just the residential communities.

It's pretty incredible seeing that some of the houses from the early 1800s are still standing.

And you can actually go back and look at pictures of what these houses used to look like, comparing with them now.

You're almost living in the history of what these people used to live in.

(gentle music) I would say that the future of West Barrington, it would definitely be a residential community, and that's sort of what it's grown into.

And you just see throughout history these two neighborhoods growing through the times, and you see the Industrial Revolution happen.

And the railroad runs right through these two areas.

It used to be sort of a farming community, and then you kind of see it change with the time.

So it became an industrial community.

And now it's more of a suburban, residential community.

And I would say that we'll probably still see these changes with modern evolutions of the history.

(waves crashing softly) (lighthearted music) (mellow music) - I love being a part of Tap-In.

I don't just enjoy it.

It is such an amazing moment to feel our town is a village.

We see the need, but we also see people taking care of that need by providing donations.

So it's a pretty powerful force of people doing the work.

My name is Carrie Newton, and I am president-elect at Tap-In.

Tap-In stands for "touch a person in need," and we are serving the East Bay community, so that's Barrington, Bristol, Warren, and East Providence, mainly as a food pantry, but we do provide other services.

We are able to provide medical rides to clients that need it.

We do do food delivery if a guest or client isn't able to visit us.

And we also provide things like linens and towels and housewares to our guests.

We are over a hundred volunteers.

The vast majority, if not almost all are coming in from Barrington, and we see the support of the work we do in our community.

So we just celebrated our 40th anniversary.

So 1983 is the date we were created.

And it was actually started by six women in the Barrington community.

- There seemed to be a lot of people in need, and it seemed to be that people didn't know where to turn to get help.

So we talked a lot and decided, hmm, maybe we should do something about that.

Let's gather a few others and talk about what we might be able to do to plug people in to the existing agencies and organizations that could help them.

And then in one of our conversations, when we were still brainstorming, one of the other women that we had brought in said, "You know, Tap-In, touch a person in need."

We had such marvelous support from the community, unbelievable support, and we still do.

- You're all set.

- When I walk through the door, I just feel like I'm going into my own home.

They are so wonderful.

And they show me the groceries, or what do I need?

It's just been so helpful to me.

- I have been a volunteer at Tap-In since COVID, so it's been the fall of 2020.

I'm very happy to be involved.

The volunteers, the people I have met are just off the charts.

They're just wonderful people, a whole new friend group.

- Right now, we are working predominantly as a food pantry.

We are one of the member agencies for the Rhode Island Food Bank.

And so we provide food for families twice a month.

Our number of households that we have been serving has increased almost by 25% over the last two years.

So I think that need will continue to exist into the future.

I think it makes it a better place in many ways.

It supports residents of Barrington who come in as clients, but it also shows the power of community and the village that we have in Barrington.

And I think we're always trying to consider how we continue to do work in the community to touch anyone who's in need.

(mellow music slows) (bright music) (gentle music) - Barrington is a beautiful place to live.

Conservation is very important to us because we're so close to the waters.

You're always learning about gardening.

By working in the gardens, we learn from each other.

I'm Maria Kallis, and I'm president of the Barrington Garden Club.

The Barrington Garden Club was created in 1931, May 26th, 1931.

And its purpose is to beautify Rhode Island, with its mission of environmentalism and conservation, flower arranging, and landscaping education.

Barrington Garden Club is responsible for eight gardens.

We have them throughout the town.

We have the Booster Board Garden when you enter town.

We have the VFW Honor Roll Garden in front of the town hall.

We have the Presidents' Garden.

We have the Memorial Stone Garden.

We have the Blue Star Memorial.

And we have the garden in front of the library, which is the McIntyre Library.

- My name is Kathy Lariviere, and I've been a member of the Barrington Garden Club for a little over 25 years.

Currently, I am chairperson of the community outreach committee, along with maintaining and planting the town gardens that everyone sees when they drive through Barrington.

A lot of our emphasis is on reaching out into the community through education, both young and old.

As an example of what we do for young people is, we have monthly meetings at the Hampton Meadows Elementary School with hands-on learning.

Those students have planted things.

They've done floral designs.

They've studied things about the environment.

We also have a committee called Garden Therapy.

Garden Therapy reaches out to our home-bound residents along with senior residents in our town.

We provide, at various times of the year, different floral arrangements as well as Garden Therapy classes where we work with the residents to design something.

We have lots of choices of where people can become involved.

Some people do all of it.

Some people focus on one little part of it.

And that's one of the gifts of the Barrington Garden Club.

- I have been very, very active in this club, which is very dear to my heart.

- I've been a member of the Barrington Garden Club since 2017.

I've been an avid gardener my entire life.

- This is my first year as president of the Garden Club.

We have 120 members.

And we are the largest garden club in Rhode Island.

I moved to Barrington seven years ago, and I attended a meeting, and I instantly had 120 friends.

I'm a master gardener.

And it was something that I was looking for when we moved here from the Midwest.

We always advertise in the paper.

And in fact, my husband saw it and said, "You need to join the garden clubs."

We have garden walks.

We have plant sales that the community participates in.

We have a wreath workshop that our community supports.

So we're very proud to be serving in beautifying Barrington.

It's been 94 years, and we are still going strong.

We're so happy that the community supports us.

And it's really important for us to beautify Barrington.

When people move into town, we send them a welcome letter.

And we have gotten quite a few members because of that.

And it's a great way to meet people.

And we're hoping this will cultivate lifelong relationships within the organization.

(gentle music fades) (bright music) (group chattering) - The Barrington Farm School is such a sacred place of land here in town.

Not only does it gather people together, but we're working for a common good.

We are outside.

We're in the sunshine.

We are getting our hands in the dirt.

And we're just able to work towards something bigger than ourselves.

- [Onlooker] Woo-hoo!

- My name is Jessalyn Link, and I'm the community engagement director at Barrington Farm School.

The Barrington Farm School started in 2017 by a group of community members who wanted to save this farm from a family who'd been farming the land continuously since 1897.

So when the last family member passed away, it was in his wishes that the land would continue to be farmed by students who he had hired as helping hands.

They raised funds to save the land.

And it was purchased back in 2017.

And it has become part of the Barrington Land Conservation Trust.

And now a nonprofit has been formed called the Barrington Farm School.

It was named not because it's a school where we school kids throughout the day, but it's more of an educational place where children and adults alike can all learn how to farm, how to garden.

We work together.

It's unique from a community garden where people would borrow that land and farm it themselves, where, instead, we work together at the same area.

So we have rows where we're working together with community members, volunteers, both children and adults.

And we're teaching and passing on how to do regenerative farming and sustainable agriculture.

I am a Midwesterner who moved to Rhode Island about 15 years ago.

But I did not grow up farming.

I grew up around it but not doing it.

I grew up in suburbia, very similar to what we have here.

In my young motherhood, I was just curious about gardening and wanting to grow my own produce in my backyard.

I would drive by the farm school in its early days and wonder kind of, what's going on behind the farm stand?

I actually came in, and I was like, I'm not a farmer; can I actually be a part?

They said, "None of us really know what we're doing, so let's all figure it out together."

We do a lot of educational programs with children.

We do a lot of educational programs with the local school system and private schools as well.

We have a huge compost program in the back.

And that's where the farm was really originated from.

Before Billy Vendituoli passed away, there were two guys that started a compost program back in the back part of the farm.

And it is now a robust, fully operating composting group that meets twice a week.

Farming and getting out in the the dirt is beneficial in every sense, for every part of their body, from a mental standpoint to a physical standpoint, a social and a spiritual.

It taps into every single one of those facets.

The farm school is a gem in this community.

It pulls together people of all different walks of life.

The farm is multi-generational.

It is beautiful to see kids working with adults and just the community coming together, in a way that you just don't get in other places.

(group chattering) Anyone is welcome to come to the farm.

It's not limited to a certain group of people.

You don't have to have any skills or talent to show up.

It's really for anyone.

(bright music) (lighthearted music) (duck quacks) - In 1992, there was a very contentious town meeting.

The funding for public education in Barrington is organized through a town financial meeting, and so people have to come out and vote.

And a large group of citizens came out to vote against something that the schools were asking for funding for.

And so other members that were at that meeting, they decided to form the nonprofit to help raise funds to be able to provide support to the public schools.

- Hi, I'm Laurie Tickle, and I am the president of the Barrington Education Foundation.

The Barrington Education Foundation is a small nonprofit to help support programs, curriculum, and activities within all six Barrington Public Schools.

When BEF was originally founded, it started with no money.

So they literally came together and passed a hat amongst the members to get their first seed funding.

- At one of the first meetings, if not the first meeting, as you can see, I am someone who wears a hat most days, when I'm not being filmed, I wear a lot of baseball hats, and I took off my baseball hat in the middle of the meeting, I'm 27 years old at the time, and said, well, let's pass the hat.

I had a grand total of maybe $5 in my wallet, threw it in the hat, went around the room of 12 or 15 people, and the next thing we know, we had, you know, 200, $250 in the hat.

- BEF provides funding support to the Barrington High School, the Barrington Middle School, Hampton Meadows, the Nayatt School, Primrose Hill.

We allocate through grant process, so we respond to what teachers and other educators in the district apply for.

- When I came into Barrington High School, I heard almost immediately about the previous support that BEF had given to not only BHS but the other schools.

And so we had heard about a program from Challenge Success.

They do a speaker series, and it's titled A Healthier Approach to the College Admissions Process.

It got our students, our families, and our faculty just thinking differently about, you know, again, this pressure or kind of perceived pressure of, I have to get into the top school, and so I have to take six APs my senior year, and I have to get at least a 1500 on my SATs, and my life is not, is gonna be terrible if I don't achieve all these goals.

And it was like, actually, no.

Due to BEF, we're just really grateful for the work and support.

- I really wanted to support what the teachers are trying to do.

But I also have a clear understanding that 80% of the school budget, roughly, goes towards staffing expenses.

Currently, we have three main fundraising activities.

We have an annual giving drive.

We also are able to raise funding through our STAR campaign.

In 2024, decided to bring back the famous BEF Duck Race.

We ignited the event again in October, and it was hugely, hugely successful.

So the duck race works, we're able to acquire actual racing ducks.

They are a thing.

So it's not your typical just standard rubber duck.

They all have numbers on the bottom.

This year, I think we purchased 650 ducks.

And then we dumped all the ducks.

And the community gathered around the pond and got to watch the ducks get forced across the racing lane.

And the first three ducks, first, second, and third prize, across the lane, won a monetary prize.

I think BEF helps improve the children's lives in Barrington because it allows teachers to access programs, equipment, supplies that they need but otherwise could not get, because they're outside of the scope of the school budget.

It reaches literally every student in this district.

Because we fund across all the schools.

And most of the things that we fund have lasting impact, meaning they can be used across the years.

(lighthearted music) (gentle music) (group chattering) - [Daniel] As it stands right now, it's a community center.

(choir harmonizing) ♪ Bring me love ♪ - [Daniel] It's a building owned by the town.

We kind of work together to use the space to curate, you know, cultural programming, educational programming- ♪ Call out their names ♪ ♪ I want to call out their names ♪ - gatherings of all types, social gatherings, like book clubs, things like that.

It's a space really for innovation, for creation, and to gather the community in different ways.

(choir harmonizing) (audience applauding) My name is Daniel Penengo.

I'm currently the chair of the board of directors at the Friends of the Bay Spring Community Center.

In general, the building's the same as it used to be.

It was originally a firehouse.

Yet it always had a community space upstairs.

So the second floor, it has a stage.

It's kind of a hall.

They would do holiday celebrations, birthday celebrations.

(singer vocalizing) (audience cheering and applauding) Well, the town owns the property in a partnership with us, the Friends of the Bay Spring Community Center, being a nonprofit organization who partners with the town to create the programming.

(group chattering) The Friends, I think, was formed originally in 2013, I wanna say.

Originally, it was a group from the town who had families right from Bay Spring.

And the building itself was kind of needing some repair and some fixing up.

So they approached the town to say, hey, what can we do to make it all work?

So there was an agreement at the time that the town would make sure that the building was kept up and taken care of as far as the physical space and the property.

And then that the community would do its part by making sure that the place was functional, it was being used for the volunteers or the community thought it needed.

There was a grant that the town was able to acquire.

We've had a handful of community meetings to discuss the plans with the community and have community input.

And so the first floor is getting pretty much a complete renovation and remodeling so that it's gonna be much more accessible for ADA compliance and also for different uses.

- Jumped on and turned over the ignition, hit the gas.

- [Daniel] And make it all one open, really clean, usable space for the community to enjoy.

♪ I'm overflowin', I've been restored ♪ - Barrington is a bit more diverse, and so there are all kinds of ways to represent the diversity, the multiculturalism that is present in the town.

I think, continuing to build sort of community in whatever form that might take, whether it's food security, we always pitch to the community itself, what is it that they need?

So the iteration, the future usually comes from those community conversations.

For me, it's really about having a diverse sort of programming that we can have a real good variety of programming going on at the community center.

So that's what we're hoping to see in the future.

- [Jack] The Bay Spring Community Center holds a special place in my heart as a vibrant hub for creativity, connection, and personal growth.

Whether it's the joy of watching a budding artist perform or the shared experience of a dance night, the center uplifts spirits and strengthens the bonds that make our community so special.

(audience cheering and applauding) (gentle music) (group chattering) - Each time we have an event, new people make new friends.

People find out about new charities.

It's really just like, can we get out of our little comfort bubble of our home, get out there in our great little town, and hear about what people are trying to do to make a difference?

My name is Cristina Nardozzi Buehrer, and I'm the founder of the Barrington Social Club right here in Barrington.

So the Barrington Social Club is a small club that helps our community.

So we have so many people in town that own small businesses.

And I thought, why not have a club where we're really elevating what they do and giving them exposure to their organizations and their small businesses?

- Third is collage and fourth- - I want people to know like, I'm your friendly face to introduce you to someone new or to a new charity.

You know, we can all be friends.

And anything small can make a huge difference.

So each month, I personally try to have one to three events highlighting and putting a spotlight on local businesses, people who own small businesses, and charities in town.

My favorite event of the year was with Josh Riazi.

And he is a local chef and chef consultant right here in Barrington.

And he works for the Genesis Foundation, which is a charity out of Providence, Rhode Island.

The Genesis Foundation owns a restaurant called CHOP PVD.

And we had about 108 Barrington residents, and some people were outside of Barrington, come in for a charity fundraiser for the Genesis Foundation.

And we raised almost $8,000 in one night for the Genesis Foundation.

(audience cheering and applauding) We will do donations for Tap-In, which is a local charity here in Barrington.

At events, I'll ask for people to bring in canned goods.

Each event, I try to benefit either a local or national charity in some way.

My best friend is a breast cancer survivor, and she is the founder of a breast cancer foundation.

We try to do wreathing events.

And the proceeds from that event will go to her charity.

So every single event, I try to give back in some way.

My life in Barrington is very busy.

I have three young kids.

I moved here from Los Angeles, California.

But I'm actually from Seekonk, Massachusetts.

So I moved back for the schools and for the community.

And I started Barrington Social Club back in 2022 as a book club.

And it turns out that I didn't have time to read books.

But it was easier to gather friends and family and businesses to highlight those people rather than read a book each month.

My dream is that Barrington Social Club will someday become the East Bay Social Club, I have the Instagram page saved, and maybe even eventually make a national impact.

You know, how can our small little community reach far, far away places and put a smile on somebody's face that has a small business, that has a dream to be a big business?

That's really just the goal.

How can I help somebody feel better about what they're doing?

I am just running this club by myself.

Normally, when my three kids are put to sleep, I'm on Canva making up ideas of what we can do.

So if anyone wants to come and help me here in Barrington, make this little book club turned social club into something bigger and better, find me online.

(laughs) (gentle music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) (upbeat music continues) - [Announcer] "Our town Barrington" is made possible by the following premiere sponsor.

- [Announcer] Residential properties, proudly independent, with nine local offices serving communities across Rhode Island and Southeast Massachusetts, founded in 1981 with a mission to provide quality service through innovation and hard work.

- [Announcer] And the following benefactor sponsor.

- [Announcer] Barrington Books, serving Rhode Island's literary community since 1986, offering a curated selection of books, toys, gifts, and more, barringtonbooks.com.