The DREAM Program, Birchwood, Quarter 2, 2012-2013

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The Village Mentoring Organization

Birchwood DREAM Quarterly Report December 2012-February 2013 Greetings from DREAM! This winter held a lot of exciting events for Birchwood DREAM mentors and youth including Winter Adventure Camp and the annual Iron Chef Competition at Champlain College.

Please read below for more information about events and highlights for Birchwood DREAM this quarter.

Highlights from the quarter include: •

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In honor of National Mentoring Month, Birchwood mentors were thanked for all their service with a celebration at the South Burlington DREAM Office. A special thank you goes to Ben and Jerry’s for their support with this event.

Two Birchwood mentors and two Birchwood teens enjoyed a wintry day of fun at Camp DREAM for this year’s Teen Winter Adventure Camp. Activities included broomball and commando, the DREAM version of Capture the Flag in the woods, involving scrolls, megascrolls, and other epic adventure elements.

Three Birchwood youth attended Winter Adventure Day at Camp DREAM. Winter Adventure Day is an annual DREAM office hosted event for DREAM youth between the ages of 8 and 12.

Activities included broomball, sledding, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

Birchwood mentors volunteered at a very successful Iron Chef Competition at Champlain College. This annual event pits staff, mentors, and volunteers against each other in an iron chef style competition. For each hour that staff, mentors, and volunteers cook and serve food, the money they would have earned as a Sodexo employee is donated to DREAM.

Fridays: • • • • • • • •

Mentors and youth celebrated the final Friday of the fall semester with a trip to Champlain College where the group split up to do one-on-one activities.

Mentors returned from winter break and ventured to the Birchwood community where they went sledding and had a snowball fight with their mentees.

The program started the semester off on a positive note with a discussion of the DREAM rules and one-on-one time.

For the last Friday of January, mentors and their mentees had one-on-one time and went to the Champlain College cafeteria.

Mentors and mentees participated in a rousing game of dodge ball in the Champlain College Gym. th Due to the large snowfall in the Burlington area, DREAM was cancelled on February 8 .

Youth participated in a “Minute to Win It” style game show hosted by Birchwood co-chair, Josh Tubbs.

For the final Friday of February, teens and younger mentees divided up for activities. Teens discussed upcoming events while the younger kids competed in an egg drop.

Special Events for Children and Mentors: •

In honor of National Mentoring Month, Birchwood mentors were thanked for all their service with a celebration at the South Burlington DREAM Office. Mentors had the chance to bond with mentors

Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org

from different programs, meet members of DREAM’s board of directors, and eat ice cream. A special thank you goes to Ben and Jerry’s for their support with this event.

Capacity Building and Fundraising: • •

DREAM’s 2012 Annual Appeal officially came to a close at the end of February. This year’s appeal raised more than $100k from 210 donors!

Birchwood mentors volunteered at a very successful Iron Chef Competition at Champlain College. This annual event pits staff, mentors, and volunteers against each other in an iron chef style competition. For each hour that staff, mentors, and volunteers cook and serve food, the money they would have earned as a Sodexo employee is donated to DREAM.

Mentor Training and Workshops: • Mentors participated in training on mediation techniques for use during disagreements between older mentees. This training also gave mentors a platform to discuss behavior rules for the semester as well as decide on a course of action for when mentees’ behavior becomes unacceptable.

Camp: • •

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DREAM staff members were busy this quarter preparing, collecting forms, and talking to families about Winter Adventure Camp (WAC), which took place over several weekends in February.

Three Camp Work Days occurred in December and January. DREAM staff and volunteers prepared for WAC by moving hay, setting up tarps, and building a warm space (nicknamed the Zombie Apocalypse Shack) at Camp DREAM. The 2013 WAC season was a success! After some last minute changes due to a lack of snow, 29 teens and 15 mentors celebrated Camp DREAM’s history by participating in games and competitions at Teen WAC. DREAM staff organized a Winter Adventure Day for youth in the Northern Vermont Local Programs. Activities included sledding, broomball, and cross-country skiing. This year, 43 mentees and 33 mentors attended Winter Adventure Day, which originally had to be postponed due to cold temperatures.

After Winter Adventure Day, 7 youth and 3 mentors attended Overnight WAC. Highlights included night broomball, roasting apples, and sleeping at the Grange!

For the Poultney and Willowbrook programs, Winter Adventure Day took place at Emerald Lake State Park in East Dorset, VT, where 6 youth and 4 mentors joined staff members for a day of sledding, broomball, and making fairy houses.

Alumni Involvement: •

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The 2012 Alumni Appeal wrapped up after setting a record for the number of individual Alumni donors! The Appeal rose over $40k from 273 donors, and five Local Programs reached or exceeded their goals of giving from 25% of alumni.

The Alumni Organization launched its first annual scholarship opportunity for DREAM mentee alumni who are pursuing college degrees. This year, three former mentees were awarded $1,000 scholarships to help pay for college.

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Alumni members in DC and Philadelphia have organized and participated in fundraising events to support DREAM’s expansion into those cities. So far, they have raised several thousand dollars!

DREAM Alumni members Paul Espina, Evan Eckstein, Devin Kulick, and Travis Near volunteered at several WAC weekends in February.

Office: • • •

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DREAM staff learned how to update DREAM’s new website at a staff retreat in December.

Vermont Programs Staff reflected on the fall semester and looked ahead to spring semester and summer planning at a Programs Staff retreat in December.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., DREAM staff and volunteers participated in several Day of st Service events on January 21 . In Vermont, several staff members and volunteers headed to Camp DREAM to prepare for the WAC weekends ahead. Others prepared a meal at the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington and coordinated volunteers and service projects in Bennington. In Boston, staff members volunteered with one of DREAM’s housing partners, Madison Park Development Corporation and on campus at Northeastern University. th On January 24 , DREAM’s Executive Director, Mike Loner, and Evaluation Coordinator, Elizabeth Haag presented at the National Mentoring Summit in Washington, D.C. They presented DREAM’s Village Mentoring model and approach to working with college student mentors to mentoring supporters from across the country.

Lisanne Hegman joined the DREAM staff as a bookkeeper in the South Burlington Office.

DREAM’s newest Local Program at Johnson State College held its first DREAM Friday on st February 1 . The group participated in activities including building a newspaper fort, playing games, and dancing to music from a jukebox on campus!

DREAM staff distributed surveys to parents of DREAM youth. More than 65% of parents responded! The surveys are part of DREAM’s commitment to assessing the impact DREAM has on families in the program.

DREAM was named a Champion in Action by Citizen’s Bank in Boston. The award includes a $35k unrestricted grant, media coverage, and extensive promotional and volunteer support for DREAM's work in the Boston area.

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 going to: http://dreamprogram.org/mentor-program/vermont/local-program-reports.

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