• Check out the Weekend Edtion of the Bur. Free Press. It’s not to late to bust out that suit and slip on your dancin’ shoes for Project Prom #

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• Read this article:
  http://bit.ly/RMlK5 #
• Everyone is talking. Are you coming?
  prom this Sat nite @ HigherGround 8pm – 1am. free shuttle from btv to so. btv runnin’ all nite #

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• Are you going to prom? Free shuttle service to Prom. Get a ride, the shuttle will leave this Sat night from the corner of MainSt/ChurchSt #

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• Did you hear Katey Gordon and Mark Redmond, promoting the Spectrum prom this morning on Lana & Nolan (Star 92.9) radio show? #

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The owners of Healthy Living in S. Burlington have been bringing meals into our drop-in center for the past two months, it has been a great experience.  They had an ending event for us at their store two Friday nights ago, raised $300 for us, and here is a nice note I received from Nina Lesser-Goldsmith afterwards:

Hi Mark,

You are so welcome and thank YOU for coming to the event!  I agree, the weather was our eneny on Friday, but we did raise over $300 so I consider that a success.  After all the silent auction items are picked up I will bring you all the money from the event to go towards your food program.  Please do stop in and see us any time.  And please keep me in the loop with what is going on with your food program at Spectrum, as I said the other day, I would love to continue working with you guys to purchase smarter and strech your food budget further, while still feeding kids healthy meals. 

Thanks for the amazing work you and your staff do around the clock…Spetrum is an amazing organization and we are honored to have worked with you for the last two months!

Best,

• 140 views on Youtube– Have you seen this …
  http://bit.ly/R1wba #

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Here is an article from National Catholic Reporter written by Jerry Fileau.

WASHINGTON — The current recession has brought a sharp rise in homelessness among young people and families, said Catholic and interfaith shelter providers interviewed recently by NCR. “In the last few months we have seen a sharp uptick” in the number of youths …READ FULL ARTICLE“

Yesterday I had a conference call with two of our young women who reside in our transitional living program, the SRO, and one young woman who lives in our shelter.  The call was with a CBS News producer who is thinking about doing a story on the recession and how it has effected children and teenagers in this country.

I don’t know if the producer will follow up with us or not, but it was sad and fascinating to listen to these women, all around age 18 or 19, talk about how much worse things have become in the last few months.  They talked about the increasing number of teenagers who are homeless, how it is difficult to find an open shelter bed, and then our own backlog at Spectrum at the SRO.  (Today it is 100% full, I have never seen that in the six years I have been here.)  They talked about the stress that unemployment puts on families, and how that translates into teens hitting the streets.  They talked about their own frustration finding employment.  (“The UVM graduates are taking the jobs we used to get because they can’t find the jobs they used to get after graduating.”) 

The National Catholic Reporter has an article in its present issue, ”Sluggish Economy Brings Rise in Homeless Youth.”  It is mostly about Covenant House (where I started in this work 28 years ago) and their shelters across the country, but it could just as easily be about Spectrum and Vermont.   The situation is the same.   It supports my long-held belief that poverty is what drives youth homelessness. 

Ken Randall is a contractor we use for most of our renovation projects, and when the Co-Op was washed out by a defective sprinkler head a few weeks ago, we called him in to do the repairs.  The boys were out of the house for two weeks, and when Ken was done and they returned, he pulled a $100 bill out of his wallet and said to one of our staff, “These boys have been through a lot, please take them out for a nice meal.”  We are lucky to have an association with people like Ken, who helps us in so many ways.

• Did you see us in the Seven Days? You couldn’t miss the 2pg spread about how we help kids and how you can get involved. Check it out! #

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