Volunteer tutor Patrick Fleeharty helps a Box of Rain child learn how to read as part of the 100 Book Challenge literacy program.
Box of Rain General Program Director Meredith Krissoff teaches Box of Rain children the basics of sailing Rainbows.
UPSKILL
In 2016, Executive Director Karen Colburn launched an intensive, social emotional learning program called Charting Careers, starting with fifth graders and ending at graduation. Students work with guidance counselors, teachers, and mentors to determine what they want to achieve. “I noticed, “ There’s nothing three years ago when I first started, that if you more validating don’t have continuous and rewarding than engagement with the kids—and I mean having a kid come like every month— back to me and say, you lose them,” says ‘ You saved my life.’ ” Colburn. “I realized that we needed to be continuing relationships, and not just with the kids, but with the families, too." Apparently, the program has done so well that the board decided it will become its own separate entity. Looking ahead, Box of Rain will return to its maritime focus and develop additional maritime relationships. Statistics confirm the importance of long-term projects. Sixty-six percent of the 75 Box of Rain youth do not participate in anything like it, and 43 percent do not partake in other extracurricular activities. Harrington is humbled by what Box of Rain has accomplished. “I think 16 years is a wonderful achievement,” she says. “I’m proud of all the people I work with and of the kids who keep us going. There’s nothing more validating and rewarding than having a kid come back to me and say, ‘You saved my life’ or ‘My brother and I wouldn’t have gotten through without the support from Box of Rain.’ That is what makes all the hard effort worth it.” █ Box of Rain youths collaborate on Eastport Shell station mural with local artist Charles Lawrance and Future History Now's Jeff Huntington and Julia Gibb.
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