Archive for the 'SPECTRUM SUPPORTERS' Category

On the Sunday before Christmas, my wife (who is a volunteer mentor at Spectrum) took her mentee, a 15-year-old Somali Bantu girl who has been here with her family for five years, to T.J. Maxx to spend a gift card she had given her. Accompanying them were her mentee’s two younger sisters, who also have mentors through Spectrum and also had T.J. Maxx gift cards to spend. They were in the store for almost an hour, made their purchases, and then walked in the close-to-zero-degrees night to the car. The oldest girl wasn’t dressed warmly enough, with only a thick sweatshirt on, and as they walked across the parking lot a woman came up to my wife and said, “I noticed you in the store with your daughters, and I just bought myself a new coat in there, would your oldest daughter like to have my other coat, it’s really in good condition, I don’t need two, and it is a nice warm coat for the winter.” My wife looked at her mentee, who smiled broadly and gladly accepted the coat from this kind and generous stranger.

And then two days before Christmas, I was with my family on Long Island when my cell phone rang. It was one of the owners of the Healthy Living market, Eli Lesser-Goldsmith. “A friend of mine just sent me a package of Omaha Steaks as a holiday present,” he said, “and I already have plenty of food, can you think of a family I could give these to who could really use them? I will even drive the steaks to their house myself if you give me the address.” I told him I’d get right back to him, and I dialed the cell phone of Amanda Churchill, who runs our youth development program and works with one family I know which has several youth connected to Spectrum. Amanda took it from there and connected with the family and with Eli, and that family had Omaha steaks in their refrigerator that night. Eli and his sister and mother have been so generous to Spectrum for so long, and this gift epitomized what is truly the spirit of compassion for others during the holidays.

So thank you Eli and thank you to that woman in the T.J. Maxx parking lot for helping out others in need.

Happy New Year,

Mark

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

 This weekend Spectrum held our first annual Project Prom at Higher Ground. This was great evening.  (Photo credits: Brent Harrewyn Photography)

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,

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.

Here are a few photos from the Burlingon Free Press: B-Scene (Ben Sarle, photo credit) To see the all 18 photos, click here. Comcast Cares Day was a complete sucess. A big thank you to all the Comcast employees that volunteered to help fix up our buildings, clean and shampoo the carpets, replace the fence at our Youth Co-op on Murray Street.

Some people enjoy Suduko, and others love getting lost in a jigsaw puzzle. Burlington resident Beach Conger has created a puzzle that challenges himself and helps Spectrum Youth and Family Services. Conger, 67, has developed a database that Spectrum can use to evaluate all of their programs. Over the past two years he has logged countless hours and earned the nickname “Data King” … (Read full article)

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200904200415/NEWS02/904200320

The House issued a resolution, #72, honoring Spectrum, it reads in part:

“Whereas, in recognition of the organization’s special commitment to at-risk youth and the commendable record of success it has achieved, Spectrum Youth and Family Services has been named winner of the 2009 National Network for Youth Agency of the Year Award….

“Now therefore be it resolved that the General Assembly congratulates Spectrum on winning this Award.”

Rep. Ann Pugh from South Burlington took the lead on this, I am grateful to her, and to the 10 other representatives  who signed on.