dreamprogram.org The DREAM Program @DREAMprogram
The Village Mentoring Organization
Pine Meadow/John Graham Court DREAM Quarterly Report December 2014 – February 2015 Greetings from DREAM! This winter may have been cold and long, but DREAMers could not be held back from fun, adventuring, and growing!
Highlights from the quarter include:
Mentors celebrated another successful semester with mentees by attending Middlebury’s annual holiday festival. Five mentees attended Winter Adventure Camp, a full day of winter activities at Camp DREAM, including sledding, cross country skiing, and broomball (and of course hot chocolate). Everyone had a blast! Mentors are currently reaching out to other youth in Pine Meadow/John Graham Court in an effort to add more mentees to their program. Mentors are planning an overnight culminating event for the end of the school year!
Fridays:
Mentors and mentees spent one Friday at Whirlie’s World, where they played arcade games, played in the bounce house, and played laser tag. Mentees came out on top in laser tag competitions, although everyone had a great time! For another Friday, mentors brought mentees to a rec room on campus to play lots of games and eat snacks. On one particularly cold Friday, mentors and mentees used a dance studio to play group games and work on arts and crafts. During another Friday, mentors and mentees went outside to play in the snow! Several members of the Middlebury Men’s Rugby team led a workshop for the kids, teaching them some skills related to the game (non-contact skills, of course).
Special Events for Children and Mentors:
Mentors and mentees celebrated the end of the semester by attending Middlebury’s holiday celebration “A Very Merry Middlebury.” They went to the town library to make gingerbread houses and then went to the movie theater for lunch in the café and a viewing of Penguins of Madagascar. Everyone had a great time, although they were sad to leave mentors until January.
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!
Office: 30 Community Drive, South Burlington, VT | Mail: P.O. Box 361, Winooski, VT 05404│ (802) 338-8979 | info@dreamprogram.org