dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram
The Village Mentoring Organization
Pine Meadow DREAM Quarterly Report March – May 2015-2016 Greetings from DREAM! The Spring months have been full of exciting DREAMiness, including special events, new mentor and mentee recruitment, trainings, and so much more!
Highlights from the quarter include: • This quarter the DREAMers enjoyed an exciting end of year culminating event that included bowling and a barbecue and games with Community Friends, another mentoring program through Middlebury College. • At the end of the year Pine Meadow/Peter Coe DREAMers celebrated graduating mentors, Virginia and Stuart. They received their “Alumni” T shirts and graduation tassels with tiny DREAM charms. • At the end of the school year 6 DREAM mentors were nominated for awards at the annual Middlebury College Public Service Leadership Awards! • Two new youth were welcomed into the program in May! • Camp DREAM took place at Camp Abnaki in North Hero Vermont June 14 through June 18. Several Pine Meadow/Peter Coe DREAMers were in attendance and enjoyed their time swimming, doing arts and crafts, playing sports, and getting to know DREAMers from across the state! • Summer Community AmeriCorps members Annie Schneider and Tony Albanese began programming in Middlebury at the end of June. They kicked things off with ice cream and games in the communities. • A group of dedicated DREAM teens spent a week at Camp DREAM in Fletcher, Vermont participating in DREAM’s first ever Teen Trail Crew this June! The group did various projects around camp including trail maintenance and clearing brush in the old apple orchard.
Participants Mentees Total: 14
Mentors Total: 12
Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org
Fridays:
• As the Spring weather improved mentors and mentees really enjoyed their outdoor time! Several Fridays were spent playing outdoor games such as wiffle ball, tag, four square, and more. • One Friday was spent with a Middlebury College chemistry professor, who did interactive chemistry demonstrations with the group. It was a huge hit with mentees and mentors alike! • One Friday mentors brought mentees to campus to participate in a Dance Marathon fundraiser, raising money for the local hospital. • One Friday the group enjoyed some tie dye and baking activities together. • On one warm March Friday mentors and mentees played outdoor games at Pine Meadow. Games included wiffle ball, tag, and preparing for the mystical animal apocalypse. • The group traveled to Champlain Lanes in Shelburne for pizza and bowling. • One Saturday as part of a celebratory culminating event for the year DREAM mentors and mentees joined forces with the mentors and mentees from Middlebury College Community Friends mentoring program. The group enjoyed a barbecue on campus with plenty of games. • The final Friday of the semester was spent with a pizza party in the community, where mentees, mentors, and parents came together to celebrate a successful and fun year of DREAM! Special Events for Children and Mentors: • On Saturday, April 2nd, 25 teens between the ages of 13 to 14 from all over Vermont came together for a day of service, rock-climbing, and fun! 13 mentors as well as the DREAM staff and AmeriCorps members joined the teens for the day. The teens were so excited to connect with old friends and to make new ones! The day started at Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock, Vermont where teens, mentors, staff and AmeriCorps members participated in service projects. After that, they journeyed to Green Mountain Rock Climbing Center in Quechee, Vermont, where many teens pushed themselves to try rock-climbing for the first time. Others had done it before, and continued to practice their skills. • DREAM is excited that one of our teens received a full scholarship to and will be attending the MedQuest Program this summer. The Medquest Health Careers
Exploration Program is a rigorously structured program designed for students who would like to learn more about career opportunities available in the health care field. It is a co-ed, residential, four-day program held on the University of Vermont (UVM) campus. Students will participate in interactive presentations and hands-on workshops. They will travel to hospitals and community health centers, take part in job shadowing experiences, explore and strengthen skills and resources for health career development, increase their comfort in health care and college environments, interact with health care professionals and students, and much more. UVM Health Professions students help staff the program. More info about Medquest: http://www.cvahec.org/programs/high-school-student/medquest/
Capacity Building and Fundraising: • This Spring we raised an additional $125K for Camp construction from two major foundations. Construction on our bathhouse continues, and construction on a large lodge will begin this summer. • DREAM also launched our summer fundraising drive with a goal of $100,000 to support out summer programs, such as Camp DREAM, community activities and field trips, multi-day sailing trips in Maine, a college road trip, and more!
Camp: • This summer we are welcoming an NCCC crew to help with construction at Camp DREAM. NCCC, or National Civilian Community Corps, is a branch of AmeriCorps. The NCCC crews travel around the country working on projects for a few months at a time. Our crew will arrive in June and will work with us through August.
Alumni Involvement: • Pine Meadow/Peter Coe DREAMers celebrated graduating mentors, Virginia and Stuart. They received their “Alumni” T shirts and graduation tassels with tiny DREAM charms.
Office: • This quarter, DREAM hired 15 Summer AmeriCorps volunteers through Vermont Youth Development Core to run programming in our Vermont Communities.
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/mentoring/vermont/local-program-reports.
DREAM big, Sarah Caliendo Program Director scaliendo@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8979