dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram
The Village Mentoring Organization
Windsor/Union Square –DREAM Quarterly Report December – February 2015 Greetings from DREAM! The Windsor/Union Square DREAM program has finished up another wonderful winter of activities. Here is a summary of all the Windsor/Union Square DREAM happenings from the last quarter.
Highlights from the quarter include:
Mentor, Julien Blanchet, brought a group of mentees to campus on a Saturday to participate in winter activities like sledding and skating on the pond! Julien baked cookies with the mentees and bonded with the mentees! Mentees and mentors have been working hard together to make High Adventure a reality. Mentees have decided that they would like to go to Philadelphia. Mentees and mentors have been working hard to raise enough money to make this dream a reality. Dartmouth mentors were trained on DREAM’s Theory of Change by Vermont Regional Director, Mike Loner. Mentors hosted a Community Dinner! Mentees and their families were invited to join the mentors to make dinner and dessert. Many of the mentors and mentees played games together, worked on homework, and got to know each other a little better! Program Empowerment Director, Kylie Edwards, started doing weekly programming on Wednesday evenings in the community room at Union Square. Mentors have been working hard to recruit more mentees at Union Square.
Fridays:
Mentors and mentees did one-on-one activities and worked in small groups with their mentees. New mentors worked hard to get to know all the mentees in their program. th On February 14 , mentors and mentees were invited to an event on campus to make Valentines and eat some delicious sweets!
Capacity Building and Fundraising:
This quarter we completed our annual fundraising drive to raise money to support programming for DREAM participants. With the support of our many wonderful partners, we were able to raise around $170,000 this year, breaking our record from last year by over $50,000! DREAM’s ‘Growing DREAMs Campaign,’ our Capital Campaign to raise funds for revolutionizing Camp DREAM, continues this quarter. This campaign includes plans for building a bath house (currently in progress!), a lodge, an infirmary, and more. At this point we have raised around $76,000, and we expect to raise more in the coming months!
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:
Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404 │ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org
This winter we held our annual Winter Adventure Camps (WAC) with great success! This year we held two WACs: o Day WAC: a day at camp DREAM with mentors and mentees from northern and central Vermont DREAM Programs. Around 50 people from age 8 to adult descended upon Camp DREAM for cross country skiing, sledding, broomball, hot chocolate, fun and bonding! o Southern WAC: For our mentors and mentees from Southern Vermont programs, we held WAC at Emerald Lake State Park. Around 40 people ages 8 through adult attended Southern WAC this year, the highest attendance at this event ever! The group spent the day snowshoeing, cross country skiing, sledding, and of course, drinking hot chocolate. Additionally, since we were forced to cancel our teen WAC this year due to weather concerns, we invited teens to Southern WAC to act as ‘CITs’ or Counselors in Training. We had around 10 teens from across Vermont attend and help run a truly successful WAC!
Alumni Involvement:
This quarter Julia Dillavou, a Community Intern Alum from last summer, began work as a Program Partner volunteer with the Birchwood/Champlain College program. In this capacity she attends meetings and DREAM Fridays with them, and is supporting their efforts to grow their mentee base and address transportation challenges. Additionally, Julia is volunteering several hours per week on a project reconnecting DREAM with mentees who have graduated from the program. We are hoping to use this reconnection as a means for strengthening our level of support to mentees as they graduate from DREAM.
Office:
This quarter DREAM celebrated our CEO, Mike Loner’s ten year anniversary working for DREAM. The DREAM staff, VISTA’s, and board members kidnapped Mike Loner from a board meeting and smuggled him to a beach party themed celebration in the back of a U-haul truck, complete with sand, lei’s, and beach balls! DREAM recognized Mike Loner with the honor of having our new bath house at Camp DREAM named for him. Henceforth it will bear a plaque reading “Loner’s Loo!” We were excited to welcome a new staff member, Sarah Attridge, to the Vermont DREAM team in the role of Development Associate. In this role Sarah will be working closely with our National Development Director to cultivate Vermont development and fundraising. In addition to bringing skills from former development position, Sarah also brings experience as a former mentor at Elm Street DREAM!
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, Kylie Edwards Program Empowerment Director VYT AmeriCorps VISTA kylie@dreamprogram.org 802.338.8836