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The Village Mentoring Organization
Riverside DREAM Quarterly Report January – March 2014 Greetings from DREAM! Though it may not look it, winter is technically over, and it held many fun events for Riverside. Mentees and mentors participated in Winter Adventure Camp, new mentors were recruited this spring, and mentors are preparing for a culminating trip to the Fisher Cats Minor League Stadium in Manchester, New Hampshire. Please read below for highlights of Riverside’s winter quarter!
Highlights from the Quarter: • • • •
After a strong recruitment effort, Riverside invited 7 new mentors to their program. Mentors continue to go door-to-door to give program calendars to DREAM families at Riverside. Emily West Geary, a current Riverside co-chair, is currently working with DREAM programs staff to recruit, empower, and train founding members of UVM’s new program with Salmon Run. Riverside mentors wrote a grant to the DREAM Alumni Committee for their culminating trip to the Fisher Cats Baseball Stadium. After proposing their project, implementing a budget, and devising a transportation plan, they were awarded $200!
Fridays: • • • • • • • • •
Riverside kicked off the semester with a movie night at UVM. Mentors and mentees went swimming and played water games at the YMCA. Mentors and mentees attended a Zumba class on UVM’s campus. Mentors organized “Bring a Friend” Friday in order to recruit more mentors. Mentors, mentees, and potential recruits ate pizza and decorated cookies at the community center. Riverside organized a Valentines-themed scavenger hunt at UVM. Mentors spent one-on-one time with their mentees. Riverside went bowling at Champlain Lanes and ate pizza. Mentors and mentees went ice skating at Leddy Park. After plans for an egg-drop were cancelled last-minute, Riverside mentors thought on their feet and invited youth to campus to watch a movie and eat snacks.
Special Events for Children and Mentors: •
Two mentees and two mentors from Riverside attended Teen WAC at the Bolton Valley Resort, where they learned how to cross-country ski! A big thank you to Emily, an AmeriCorps member with the Catamount Trails Association.
Capacity Building and Fundraising: • •
This year DREAM raised $102,368 during its Annual Appeal. Gifts came in all sorts of sizes from DREAMers around the world. With the $20,731 raised during the Alumni Appeal, DREAM raised over $123,000 this quarter. DREAM was recently awarded $15,000 from the Hoehl Foundation and $5,000 from the Redducs Foundation for work at Camp DREAM. These grants were awarded for the construction of a new bathhouse in Fletcher, VT, where Camp DREAM is located, and for working with New American
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