The DREAM Program, Birchwood, Quarter 1, 2012-2013

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

Birchwood DREAM Quarterly Report September – November 2012 Greetings from DREAM! The Birchwood DREAM program has finished up another wonderful semester of DREAM activities. The children were sad to see the mentors leave for winter break but are looking forward to their return in January. Here is a summary of all the Birchwood DREAM happenings from the last quarter.

Highlights from the quarter include: • This semester, Birchwood DREAM recruited 3 new mentors and is currently in the process of recruiting new children for the program from the Birchwood Community.

• Laura Kingston, a former Champlain College DREAM mentor has joined the Center for Service as a Campus Compact. In this position she is also serving as a program partner for DREAM. • Six Birchwood teens attended the Teen Futures Retreat accompanied by three Birchwood Mentors. Teens learned about preparing for college, summer opportunities, and applying for jobs, all while bonding with other DREAM teens from around the state Friday Activities: • Mentors celebrated their first Friday of the semester by taking the youth to play in Bombadier Park near the Birchwood Community.

• Birchwood DREAMers competed in a rousing game of kickball at Champlain College.

• The Birchwood DREAM Program took advantage of a beautiful fall day by going to Oakledge Park for a barbeque and water bottle decorating.

• The program went to Shelburne Orchards for an afternoon of apple picking.

• Birchwood DREAM hosted a very successful Pie your RA fundraiser that raised $196 for DREAM activities during the fall semester.

• DREAMers from Birchwood and Champlain attended the Chili Cook-off, which was hosted by the Elm Street and Riverside DREAM programs at The University of Vermont.

• Mentors brought their mentees to the Cafeteria to learn about healthy eating habits.

• Mentees picked out pumpkins to decorate at the Isham Family Farm and went to the petting zoo.

• Mentors and mentees enjoyed a Halloween themed afternoon with bobbing for apples, donuts on a string, and toilet-paper mummy competitions.

• Younger mentees enjoyed a cooking class where they learned how to make pasta and sauce from scratch while the teens attended the DREAM teen dance hosted by the Franklin Square DREAM Program.

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

•

Mentors headed down to the Birchwood community for an afternoon of video games and board games in the community center.

Special Events for Children and Mentors: • Seven Birchwood mentors attended DREAMstock, the DREAM office’s annual mentor training event. This year’s event featured sessions on: being a co-chair, how to be a mentor, working with teens, open space opportunities, and behavior management.

Capacity Building and Fundraising: • The Birchwood DREAM Program hosted a very successful “Pie your RA Day” where Champlain College students were invited to pay to purchase a pie, which they could then toss at professors, resident advisers, or DREAM mentors. The day earned $196 to help pay for upcoming DREAM activities.

• On November 19th, DREAM launched its Annual Appeal! Keep a look out for your letter and please consider donating. So far the annual appeal has raised $45k from 73 donors.

• Mike Foote re-joined the DREAM office as the Director of Strategy and Growth in early October and will be spearheading expansion efforts into Philadelphia.

Mentor Training and Workshops: • Mentors received their annual Mentor Boundaries and Guidelines Training to kick off the semester and help orient new mentors to DREAM. • DREAM VISTAs partnered with VISTAs from the Champlain College Center for Service to put on a day of mentor training at Champlain. DREAM VISTAs lead a session on Behavior management.

Camp and Teens: • Six Birchwood teens attended the Teen Futures Retreat accompanied by three Birchwood Mentors. Teens learned about preparing for college, summer opportunities, and applying for jobs, all while bonding with other DREAM teens from around the state • Teen Futures Retreat—November 3-4. 60+ mentors and teens gathered to hear about future opportunities available to them. If you would like more information, check out this article from our Alumni Newsletter, the Blue Wagon, http://www.dreamprogram.org/about/announcement/teen-futures-retreat-skyrocketingfuture.

• Camp Work Days and Days of Caring occurred in late September and early October.

Approximately 100 volunteers assisted staff in various work projects around camp in order to clean up from the summer and prep camp for Winter Adventure Camp in January.

• On September 30th, mentors and alumni joined DREAM Support Staff for the DREAMstock camp workday.

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

•

• •

On September 30th a group of Elm Street Mentors and Teens hiked a portion of the Long Trail as part of the Catamountain Classic. The event was in honor of mentor Avi Kurganoff.

Other clubs from UVM also volunteered by hiking their own sections of the Long Trail.

This fundraiser helped to set up a scholarship for a DREAM teen to attend an Outward Bound Program. The event planners hope to make this an annual fundraiser to keep the scholarship available to DREAM teens in the future.

Camp DREAM has partnered with Yestermorrow, a sustainable design school, to create a sustainable design plan for the new bathroom facilities and kitchen at Camp DREAM. Camp DREAM was proud to be awarded a VT Buildings and General Services Recreational Facilities grant to help fund the new septic system that will be installed at camp.

Alumni Involvement: • Laura Kingston, a former Champlain College DREAM mentor has joined the Center for Service as a Campus Compact. In this position she is also serving as a program partner for DREAM. The South Burlington DREAM Office also welcomed alumni Steph Baer, Nicole Stevenson, and Caitlin Patey as Burlington-area Program Partners.

• The South Burlington DREAM office welcome alumni: Danielle Jenkins, Andrew Lassiter, Nicole Stevenson, Phil Ortego, Rachel Kauppila, Jenna Rae Genest, Caitlin Patey, Paul Espina, and Megan Kerrigan as volunteers at DREAMstock and the Teen Futures Retreat. th • On October 18 we launched our annual alumni appeal. For the appeal, a group of Birchwood mentors travelled to The University of Vermont to participate in the annual alumni phone-a-thon. So far the Birchwood program has received donations from 11 of their alumni. Overall, the alumni appeal has raised $33k from 196 donors.

• Two former DREAM mentors, Kate Piniewski and Alison Siegel joined the DREAM Support Staff as Program Empowerment VISTAs serving in the White River Junction and Bennington offices.

• DREAM Support Staff have begun the process of engaging with DREAM alumni in Philadelphia, PA and Washington, DC to gauge opportunity for DREAM to have impact in these new cities.

Office: • •

• •

DREAM launched its new website in October, check it out at www.dreamprogram.org Mike Ewan, former South Burlington DREAM office member, has recently transitioned into a new role as the Program Director, Advanced Support working with all of the DREAM offices.

The DREAM office welcomed back former Program Empowerment VISTA Sarah Caliendo as the Program Director, Direct Support for the South Burlington DREAM office.

DREAM has recently extended its support network through opening a DREAM office in White River Junction at the Northwoods Community.

The DREAM Program, Inc. P.O. Box 361 Winooski, VT 05404 (802) 338-8979 tel www.dreamprogram.org

•

DREAM moved one step closer to attaining its goal of opening programs at all the State Colleges in Vermont by launching a program at Johnson State College this past fall.

Thank you for your ongoing support of DREAM. If you would like additional or more detailed information, please contact me by email or by phone. You can always look back at past reports or other programs’ reports by visiting the “program reports” section of our website.

DREAM big, Britt Wedenoja Program Empowerment VISTA Britt@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979