I just wrote an article for The Huffington Post about the relationship between at-risk youth and authority. Many parents, teachers, and counselors have a hard time setting limits, though I believe that is one of the most important things you can do for a teenager.

Read the article here: http://huff.to/gGuiOm.

Lake Champlain International is a local nonprofit whose mission is, “the conservation, restoration and revitalization of Lake Champlain and the Lake Champlain watershed.”

LCI has just awarded Spectrum $2,500, which we’re excited to use to purchase fishing equipment and licenses which our staff and volunteers can use with our youth. This grant will also help to hire a charter boat for youth and staff who are interested in that opportunity.

We’re excited to encourage our youth to take full advantage of the Lake and all that our state offers with outdoor activities.

Thank you LCI for your generosity!

Colleen Nilsen is a VIPP supervisor, has done a wonderful job for years, this email from a Dept of Corrections official just confirms that:

On December 8th and 9th Spectrum staff were here conducting a program survey on domestic violence. The Spectrum staff and especially  Spectrum supervisor Colleen Nilsen needs to be recognize for the effects in managing this task with very little impact on the facility.  Colleen took it upon herself to keep the process moving and was crucial to accomplishing this project.  I appreciated everyone’s  time and contribution to the program and facility.

We have nine youth living in our transitional living residence on Maple St, also known as the SRO.  All are working and/or going to school, and I just found out one of them, who attends Burlington H.S., pulled down 3 A’s, a B+ and a B- in the last marking period.  VERY proud of the work she is doing and what she is accomplishing!

Imagine how it would feel to not only be homeless this winter, but regardless of your religion, to not have one present to open during the holidays. 

Now a present is, of course, just a material item.  But it represents a lot more than the gift wrapped inside…it represents a supportive home, loving friends and family who care enough to buy and wrap something special for you.  We work with thousands of youth every year, and have three residences where up to 30 homeless teenagers can live.  That fact is brought close to home at this time of the year, as our staff, Board members and volunteers have families and homes to go home to, but our residents do not.   So we wanted to make the holidays special for each and every youth living in our homes.

As with past years, our goal was to have at least one present for every resident here at Spectrum to wake up to Christmas morning.  And so we kicked off a social media campaign with a $1500 goal, enough to buy one present for each resident youth.

I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical of this kind of online appeal, but we tried it….and over $2,000 came in through our Facebook and Twitter appeals!  There are so many generous individual donors out there who came through and helped make this happen.  Thank you.

I also want to send a HUGE thank you to two organizations: the Redducs Foundation and Boloco.  Redducs saw our appeal on Facebook and contacted us about making a significant gift, and Boloco offered us an incredible raffle prize to offer to donors who gave $50 or more….one free burrito a week, for a year!! That’s 52 free burritos!

The gifts came in, the presents were bought and wrapped by the case managers who know each resident well and could personalize each gift, and Christmas morning was a success in each of our homes. 

Thank you all so much.

A huge congratulations to Bob Hallowell and his mentee, David, who just celebrated their 7th mentoring anniversary!

I just wanted to let you know I dropped off my box of assorted sweatshirts, boots, and a few treats to the the Drop-in Center last Friday the 24th.  There were about 5 teenagers  in there decorating and a very nice young lady in charge assisted me with the items along with one of the teenage boys.   I’m sorry I did not get her name. 

Visiting the center was the highlight of my Christmas.   It’s wonderful that there is this warm, caring place for these kids to go to. They continue to stay in my thoughts.   Although my donation was small, I hope it can help a few teens.

 All the best to you and Spectrum in 2011

Martha Aitken