Super Senior: Barb Hyde

DOVER, Vt. (WCAX) - Students took a break from classes at the Dover School earlier this week.

But just past the southern Vermont school’s “Cafe-gym--atorium,” there’s a flurry of activity. Volunteers have been packing bags of food to give kids nourishment for the weekend that they might not otherwise have at home.

It was 85-year-old Barb Hyde’s idea to start a local chapter of the grocery giveaway called Food4Kids. “It gives me chills, too. These kids don’t have enough to eat, who knows why,” Hyde said.

The group of mostly women also pack meals for schools in Wardsboro and Wilmington, an area where million-dollar homes dot the mountainside. But there are pockets of poverty. Hyde says many locals work seasonal jobs. “A lot of the second homeowners have no idea that there is poverty or that there are kids that are hungry,” she said.

That once included Hyde herself. She and her family traveled up from New Jersey to ski on the weekends.

Reporter Joe Carroll: How would you describe yourself?

Barb Hyde: Oh, I guess I’m a doer.

And she’s still a skier. “It’s what I do in the winter,” Hyde said.

She convinced the Mount Snow ski resort to donate $12,000 towards the hunger program. “I had no idea it would be that much money,” Hyde said.

That was a few years ago. Now, their cash on hand is low, but the price of food is high. When the group started in 2017, it cost them $3 a bag. Now, it’s easily over $5.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Do some of you folks put in your own little bit of money?

Barb Hyde: Yes, yes. Because we really do believe in the program.

This year they’ll pack 2,500 bags of free meals. They’ve packed 17,000 since starting seven years ago.

Barb’s former life was as a high school principal, encouraging her students by example. “I know when I became principal of the high school, I think I was the first female principal,” Hyde said.

She also speaks her mind, taking this reporter to task and giving me my just desserts.

Reporter Joe Carroll: So you said you’ve never seen “Super Seniors” before, so you took a look at it online.

Barb Hyde: I did... I noticed it was primarily men.

Reporter Joe Carroll: I find that women don’t want to talk about themselves as much as men do. And it could be...

Barb Hyde: Men like to brag a lot!

But on this day the focus is on food.

Reporter Joe Carroll: Do you think you’re making a difference?

Barb Hyde: I hope so. It’s very hard to know precisely how much of a difference we’re making.

If it’s any indication of the amount of bags going out the door, their work is certainly fulfilling.

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