Click here to read an interview with Leslie Halperin of The Clothes Exchange and why they selected Spectrum as their recipient this year

Bob is a member of LCI and came by last week with nine fishing rods to donate to our kids at Spectrum.  We will put them to good use!  I have often felt that at Spectrum we are blocks away from one of the greatest fishing and recreation lakes in the country, Lake Champlain, but we rarely have our kids take advantage of it.  That will change this summer due to LCI; Bob’s donation is just the start.  He already wants to get other anglers from LCI out there with our youth, maybe even have a fishing derby!  I love his creativity, energy and generosity.  Thank you Bob and thanks LCI!

Spectrum VIPP coordinator Autumn Barnett (pictured in center) was visited recently by Serap Cagatay and Remziye Tural of Turkey.  Both women were invited to the United States under the auspices of the Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program.  This Program is designed to build mutual understanding between the U.S. and other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect the participants’ professional interests and support U.S. foreign policy goals. Participants are established or potential foreign opinion makers in government, public policy, media, education, labor, the arts, and other key fields. Selected by American embassies abroad, International Visitors come to the United States to meet and confer with their professional counterparts and to gain an appreciation of the ethnic, cultural, political, and socio-economic diversity of the U.S.

They met with Autumn because this particular visit was intended to introduce participants to efforts in the U.S. to strengthen women’s rights and lives through combating domestic violence and discrimination and creating equal access to education, employment, and government representation.

It is a tribute to Spectrum but Autumn in particular that these women from Turkey came to learn more out about the important work being done in VIPP.