Who we are
What We Have Done
The Snowsville Community Trust, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 2024 by a group of Braintree and Brookfield residents, drawn together around the common cause of celebrating and preserving the essential character of the small historic village of Snowsville, located in Central Vermont.
Bolstered by their admission into the Village Trust Initiative, SCT has made significant progress to bring the Snowsville community together through regular events, listening sessions, community gatherings like public Christmas Tree lightings, and other opportunities to engage neighbor to neighbor.
Since its founding in 2024, the Snowsville Community Trust has accomplished many of the early goals the group set out to achieve:
Form Inaugural Board of Directors and Establish Bylaws - December 2024
Attain State nonprofit status with VT Secretary of State’s Office - December 2024
Accepted to the first round of Village Trust Initiative projects with access to $650,000 in HUD originating funding for a major rehabilitation project in Snowsville - February 2025
Successfully petitioned Braintree voters to approve a $50,000 appropration to assist revitalization efforts - March 2025
First Community SUpper & Listening Session - June 2025
Work with the Town of Braintree to achieve Village Center Designation for Snowsville - September 2025
Attain 501(c)(3) nonprofit status with the IRS - October 2025
Organize Snowsville Fall Supper - October 2025
Snowsville Tree Lighting at Fan House & East Braintree Congregational Church - December 2025
First Annual Fundraising Appeal with Goal of Raising $3,000 for Operating Expenses - January 2026
Sugar on Snowsville Celebration - March 2026
Begin Environmental Review and Due Diligence on prospective housing and gathering space project - Ongoing
Board of Directors
The Snowsville Community Trust’s Board of Directors is comprised of talented volunteers from Braintree and Brookfield. Each member brings a unique set of skills to the team and shares a passion for serving the organization’s mission to “preserve and protect the greater Snowsville area’s architectural heritage, historic places, and cultural landmarks in an effort to foster community development and vitality.”
Betina has strong ties to Snowsville, having moved here in 1969 with her family as an infant. Spending countless summer hours trekking up and down Farnsworth Brook and many pennies on shoestring licorice at Snowsville General Store. A proud member of the final 1st grade class at Snowsville School before its closing in 1974.
Betina recently retired from Gifford Healthcare, where she spent 18 years as the Provider Recruiter. Working to bring quality healthcare providers to the community by showing them what a special place central Vermont can be.
Residing a stone’s throw from the house she grew up in, Betina and her husband, Keith, live just above Snowsville Village on Farnsworth Brook Road, where they have raised two sons.
Betina Barrett-Gallant
Stephanie's family moved to Snowsville when she was four. She attended the one-room schoolhouse for her earliest education and can remember the names of all her classmates. She also has fond childhood memories of the square dances held by the local grange in the basement of the village church. Stephanie is currently the CFO of the Department of Vermont Health Access, a primary Medicaid program. She oversees all budgeting, financial, and contract management aspects of a complex State and Federal funded $1.2 billion budget. In addition to her role on DVHA's senior management team, she has responsibility for mentoring and managing the staff of the DVHA Business Office and the Special Investigations Unit. She served for over 25 years in the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office in a senior management role focused on Vermont's annual operating budget. She maintained extensive knowledge of the State's fund structure and financial operations and reporting. She worked closely with legislative leadership, provided testimony, and brought systems thinking and risk awareness to key complex fiscal issues. She represented the State at the National Conference of State Legislatures in many capacities. Stephanie has a BA in Economics from Boston College and an MBA from UVM. Before returning to VT, she worked in Boston, including several years at PwC in real estate-related financial consulting. She has served as an auditor for the Town of Braintree.
Stephanie Barrett, Treasurer
Daniel Burson is a Vermont transplant from South Arkansas by way of Montana. A former pizza delivery driver, oil refinery worker, and mountain guide, he currently works as a real estate attorney. He also serves on the Braintree selectboard. He appreciates the sense of community in Braintree, riding bikes on our many miles of dirt roads, and exploring the woods in any season. He lives in West Braintree with his spouse and three children.
Daniel Burson
Jackson Evans has lived one mile south of Snowsville for 16 years, since his family moved to the former Fetherolf Farm. He and his wife, Katja, have three teenage children, four cats, a dog, various farm animals, and are currently parrot-sitting an African Grey Parrot named Mac. When he's not busy working as a statewide Field Service Representative for the Preservation Trust of Vermont, he's either helping Katja at their cut flower farm, doing something with his kids, or riding a bike (motorized and non-motorized). Jackson's connections to Snowsville go back to his youth, when his family would visit his great-grandparents in Braintree and stop at the Snowsville General on the way home. In his work with the Preservation Trust of Vermont, he has seen firsthand the impact that community revitalization has on Vermont's towns and villages. The opportunity to help with that work in Snowsville is something he finds immensely rewarding.
Jackson Evans, Chair
Keith Gallant was raised in the Mad River Valley and earned his bachelor's degree in Recreation Management from UVM. He began his career operating a cross-country ski center at Sugarbush before moving into carpentry, building timber-frame homes. Keith went on to serve the State of Vermont as a Game Warden for 24 years, enforcing fish and wildlife laws until his retirement in 2021, and during that time also served on the Braintree Selectboard, acting as Chair during the Town's recovery from Hurricane Irene. He is now the owner and operator of Snowsville Woodworks, specializing in custom carpentry from his timber-frame woodshop in Braintree, where he and his wife, Betina, have lived for the past 24 years.
Keith Gallant
When not in his classroom at Harwood Union High School, Tim Gershon often finds himself involved in initiatives that strengthen the fabric of his own community in the greater Randolph area. Having served on the Planning Commission in the Town of Brookfield, Tim worked closely with fellow commissioners to revise the Town's land use and development regulations to reflect the needs of all stakeholders. In 2022, as a coach of the first Vermont Little League Baseball team to make the World Series, Tim and his fellow coaches fundraised over $30,000 in a few short weeks to make the trip affordable for the players and their families. And, having helped to revive the West Brookfield Classic several years ago, Tim still forces himself to run this grueling 8.6-mile road race around the "hidden valley" of West Brookfield.
Tim Gershon, Vice Chair
Rob Leeson Mace lives in West Brookfield with his wife and owns the local bike shop, The Gear House, in Randolph. He has a Bachelor's in Outdoor Leadership and years of experience in the outdoor industry, leading cycling/ mountain biking tours and operating a service/ retail business. In his free time, Rob enjoys skiing, mountain biking, camping, and rock climbing, as well as volunteering with the Ridgeline Outdoor Collective network to build and maintain public mountain biking trails. Rob joined the SCT board in 2024.
Rob Leeson Mace, Executive Member at Large
Ryder Musselman is a geologist with a decade of experience supporting nonprofit housing and community development projects through environmental compliance. He is excited to bring his expertise to Snowsville and help make it an easier and better place to live. Ryder loves exploring the roads and trails of Braintree by foot, bike, and ski. Beyond his involvement with SCT, Ryder has served as music director for the Chandler Spring play and has occasionally worked at Brainstorm Art Supply. He created a series of crosswords for each Town in the White River Valley Herald's circulation area, which the paper published in 2023.
Ryder Musselman
Rebecca Ramos is a policy and strategy consultant who has spent more than two decades helping Vermont organizations navigate complex public issues and get good ideas over the finish line. Known for her collaborative approach and clear-eyed problem-solving, she works with nonprofits, businesses, and community groups to strengthen partnerships and advance projects that support Vermont's people and places. Her work often focuses on conservation, community development, and the stewardship of Vermont's historic and natural assets. She holds a BS from Auburn University; a JD and Master of Studies in Environmental Law (MSEL) from Vermont Law School; and completed the Harvard Kennedy School's executive program in Government, Leadership, Organizing & Action She lives in Braintree in an old farmhouse that once served as the Town's post office, where she is happily outnumbered by her two daughters and two dogs. When she isn't working, Rebecca can usually be found writing, reading, tending to her flower gardens, or walking the back roads—activities that remind her daily of the value of preserving the stories, landscapes, and buildings that make Vermont feel like home.