Another great column about education, best line in here is: “The idea that there is any shortcut to real success – in school, in business, in government, in life, anywhere at all – is silly, a figment of the imaginations of those who have never stopped sitting on the sidelines… read full article. 

Mary Lynne Isham works in St. Alban’s in our Violence Intervention and Prevention Program, and I sent her an email commending her on her recent annual evaluation.  The Dept. of Corrections officials commended her for her excellent work there, and I noted this in my message.  Here is her response back:

Hi Mark,

Thank you very much for your words of appreciation and for taking the extra time to send me the note.  It means a lot to me.  I love the work I do, I love being a part of offering people an opportunity for positive change, and I truly enjoy being present for their struggle.

Warmly,

Mary Lynne

We received this phone message from a parent whose teenage son is in one of our residences, really nice to hear this:

 “I can’t thank you enough. He’s on the right track; I hope it stays that way. I just think it’s a wonderful program. If I ever had a lot of money I would give it all to Spectrum. If there’s anything I could ever do, I don’t know what I can do, but you can call me at (phone number). I can’t thank your staff enough for helping with college and supporting him and talking to him…And please don’t tell him I called, they get embarrassed at that age.”  

• “…it was a blast thank you so much for putting it on.” Go to http://www.glennmoodyphotography.com/prom/index.html #

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Annie,

Working with the Counseling and Residential Departments at Spectrum has been (and continues to be) an integral part of my daily duties as one of the Youth PO’s here in the office. The counseling services provided to my young band of wayward cherubs has been “second to none.”  

 Without the tight bond and professional working partnership that we established a number of years, I certainly believe that a significant number of youth would have fallen through the cracks and ended up in more trouble and probably in jail.

Thank you for all the help and support that you provide to Burlington Probation and Parole and especially to Liz and I and the young folks that we service.

 Dave

Youth PO

The mentor, Rocky Ober, was volunteering with Camp Agape (for kids with incarcerated parents) in the summer of 07.  He connected with a boy there who was pretty hard to reach but by the end of the week, Rocky really felt as though he’d made a connection with him.  From there, he sought out a way to continue to be a part of this boy’s life.  He worked with the camp and VT Children’s Aid to figure out a way to get back in touch with this boy and be a part of his life.  Eventually he was pointed in the direction of mentoring and since the boy lived in Burlington and was 12 years old, Spectrum was where he was directed.  I went through the screening process with Rocky knowing he was looking for this one particular boy.  With the help of all of these agencies, Burlington schools plus a couple of good Samaritans who personally knew the family, we were finally able to get in touch with the boy and get his mom’s permission to be a part of the mentoring program.  We no sooner re-united this pair as a mentoring match, when the boy was adjudicated for some things he’d done, put into foster care and then quickly moved to Bennington school.  That was in Feb. 08.  Since that time, Rocky (who lives in Charlotte) has been traveling down there 2x/month to meet with his mentee, which is a drive of well over 2 hours.  Rocky also sees his mentee when he’s home for visits every couple of months.   

People like Rocky are doing heroic work.

Check out the photos from last weekend’s Project Prom. There are portraits courtesy of Glenn Moody Photography and candid dance floor shots by Brent Harrewyn Photography.

Click here to get started: http://www.glennmoodyphotography.com/prom/index.html

• @NonprofitSRQ please advise, what is the most effective way a nonprofit social service agency can tweet? What will make the most impact? in reply to NonprofitSRQ #
• Prom photos are online: http://www.glennmoodyphotography.com/prom/index.html #

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• We just recieved $35,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation and the VT Council to help fund our Drop-In Center where we serve 500+ youth a year. #

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• Thanks to many of you, prom was a success! #

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