The DREAM Program, Birchwood, Quarter 2, 2014-2015

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The Village Mentoring Organization

Birchwood DREAM Quarterly Report September-November 2014 Greetings from DREAM! Fall brought beautiful foliage and great weather, which DREAMers took full advantage of this quarter. Though the semester is drawing to a close, mentees are excited for the coming holiday season, especially the time off and promise of snow. Here is a summary of Birchwood DREAM happenings from Quarter 2: Highlights from the Quarter Include:  Five new mentors joined the Birchwood DREAM program this year and are off to a great start!  Birchwood DREAM is very excited to welcome Julia Dillavou as a Program Partner! Julia was a Summer Intern at Birchwood and Elm St. last year and plans to support Champlain mentors using her experience in programming at Birchwood.  Exciting things are happening at Birchwood DREAM – new mentors are feeling right at home, and are looking to recruit more mentees next semester!  Birchwood DREAM will have new leadership next semester, as Sarah Steward takes over the Chairperson role from Nikki Duran, while she spends a semester studying in Dublin, Ireland.

Weekly Activities with Youth:  Mentors traveled to Birchwood for games in the community, including Giants, Wizards, and Elves, Freeze Tag, and soccer.  During another Friday, Birchwood mentees went to campus for field games and food in the school cafeteria.  Mentors and mentees also built a scarecrow for their community garden, which has a pumpkin head and, of course, sports a yellow and blue DREAM shirt!  Mentors went to the community one Friday to paint pumpkins with their mentees – we may have some future artists in the bunch.  On Halloween, everyone met at the Birchwood Community Center for snacks, doughnuts-on-a-string, and some spooky games.  DREAM mentors hosted their mentees in the Birchwood Community Center, with games (apples to apples, pudding, etc.) and snacks.  Birchwood youth also joined their mentors at Champlain College for floor hockey and tag in the gym, followed by Seven Up in the student lounge.  Birchwood DREAM spent another Friday at Pizza Putt, where, as the name suggests, they ate pizza and played mini golf.

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

Special Events for Children and Mentors:  DREAM staff were excited to host teens for our annual Teen Futures Retreat! Teens from all over the state got together to talk about their future plans regarding educational goals and career choices. Teens participated in a small service project at a local farm.  The Chittenden County Mentoring Network hosted mentors from several different Chittenden County mentoring organizations to honor their hard work and dedication. DREAM mentors were invited to attend the function which was held in Burlington.

Mentor Training and Workshops:  For our annual mentor conference, DREAM Stock, we got together at Bolton Valley with mentors from all of our Vermont programs. This year we were excited to have two Philadelphia mentors attend. Mentors attended informational sessions, collaborated with mentors from different programs, and made exciting plans for enhancing their local programs!

Camp:  This year Camp DREAM turned 10 years old! To celebrate the milestone DREAM held a birthday bash at Camp in Fletcher, VT. Staff, DREAM alumni, mentors and youth, and friends of DREAM enjoyed fresh baked flatbread pizza, games, and an informational discussion on the history of Camp DREAM and what the years to come will look like!

Alumni Involvement:  We are very excited to announce that alumnus Matt Karkut has taken the position of Camp Programming and Operations Manager. Matt was a Champlain College mentor and spent a summer with DREAM as an Adventure Programming Coordinator. While we were sad to say good bye to Rosetta Morse, who moved on to join Burton's Chill Program, we are thrilled to have someone with such energy and passion for getting youth outdoors!

Capacity Building and Fundraising:  DREAM received a grant from the Green Mountain Fund to help in sustaining and expanding programming at Johnson State College. DREAM also received a grant from Hills and Hollow to aid in the continued support of our programming at Green Mountain College. DREAM was honored to receive a generous grant from the Donley Foundation to aid in delivery of general programming to all of our Vermont programs.

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Our development team met in Philadelphia for a biannual retreat. The team was able to discuss what the coming years will look like for DREAM and got to see the Philadelphia programs in action.

DREAM's annual appeal has kicked off. Staff have been working hard to get letters out to donors. Mentor's also contributed by calling alumni and thanking them for all the work they have done for DREAM and the support they continue to give!

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, Adam Hurwitz Program Empowerment Director VYT AmeriCorps VISTA adam@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979