dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram
The Village Mentoring Organization
Riverside DREAM Quarterly Report April – June 2014 Greetings from DREAM! Riverside has finished up another wonderful semester of activities. Though youth are sad to see their mentors leaving for summer break, they look forward to their return in September, and also have a whole summer of exciting programming to keep them busy! Here is a summary of all the Riverside DREAM happenings from the last quarter.
Highlights from the quarter include: Fridays: • • • • • • • • •
Riverside organized small group activities to help new mentors pair up with youth. Riverside attended Spring Thing at UVM, where they ate delicious food and petted a calf. AmeriCorps members Rachel Zelouf, Meagan Borofsky, and Amna Mustafic began their term as th Summer Community VISTAs on June 16 ! For their first day of programming, Summer VISTAs passed out permission slips and played getto-know-you games at Riverside. Summer VISTAs organized arts and crafts in the community, and played a game of capture the flag. VISTAs helped pass out food for the free lunch program with Parks and Recreation. DREAM’s Summer VISTAs, Burlington Housing Authority, and Parks and Recreation worked together to throw Riverside’s Community Kick-Off Event! A group of mentees ate popcorn and watched Cinderella at a VISTA’s apartment. Riverside, Salmon Run, and Elm Street youth joined together for an epic community basketball game at Roosevelt Park.
Special Events for Children and Mentors: •
• •
The DREAM Office hosted a Teen Identity Retreat April 4-5, where teens gathered in Burlington and participated in informative sessions about health and identity, talked with panelists from local organizations, had a Q+A with a Burlington Police Officer, tried out Zumba and made connections with teens from all over Vermont. 2 Riverside teens attended the first half of DREAM’s Teen Identity Retreat where they ate healthy food and made connections with teens throughout Vermont. For their culminating event, Riverside mentors and mentees had a catered fancy dinner party in the Davis Center of UVM. They played Apples to Apples, listened to music, and celebrated the end of the semester.
Capacity Building and Fundraising: •
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DREAM is thrilled to share the start-up of a new DREAM program at UVM, paired with the Salmon Run Apartments in Burlington. The new mentors and mentees held their first DREAM Friday this quarter. DREAM was honored to receive a $5,000 unrestricted grant from Merchant’s Bank to support the Vermont DREAM Programs.
Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org
Camp: • • •
This May three productive work days up in Fletcher, VT with the help of many volunteers from IBM helped prep Camp DREAM for summer! th th Between June 17 and June 30 , Camp held its boys’ ages 8-12 session. rd th Between June 23 and June 27 , Camp held its girls’ ages 8-12 session.
Alumni Involvement: • • • •
The DREAM Alumni Organization is currently electing new leadership. Nominations flooded in for the two positions to be filled: Alumni Council President and Constitution Keeper. A major focus with alumni will be raising money to build facilities at Camp DREAM, improving the experience for our youth. DREAM welcomed 100 mentors and mentees into the Alumni Organization this quarter! At the Alumni Welcome at Riverside, Development Director Sandy Mervak scooped ice for graduating seniors and shared exciting post-graduation opportunities.
Office: • • •
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The DREAM office was a very busy place this quarter as hiring began for summer interns, as well as full time AmeriCorps members! This quarter, DREAM staff said good bye to Development Director Sandy Mervak. Sandy has left DREAM to go back to graduate school. The DREAM staff and board members gathered at Camp DREAM in May for a successful third annual retreat. New staff members all the way from Philadelphia and Boston were able to attend, making the retreat a very special one. The Elm St. office in Winooski got some TLC from Burlington DREAM staff this May with a major cleaning and sprucing up to get organized for summer!
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, Mark Hengstler Program Empowerment Director VYT AmeriCorps VISTA mark@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979