Match of the Month for September: Linda O'Brien and Nina

For the month of September, we are so pleased to honor Linda O’Brien and her mentee, Nina, for match of the month. Although their friendship started much earlier, they will celebrate their one year match anniversary with Spectrum on September 28th.

Congratulations!!!

Linda never considered any kind of volunteer work with young people, but then one day the girl who lived next door “plunked herself down on my couch, we’ve been friends ever since.” Nina clearly chose Linda as her surrogate grandmother—being neighbors made it very easy to hang out with each other often. Since then, Nina has moved down the road but not out of Linda’s life—they have continued their friendship and enhanced it by joining Spectrum’s Mentoring Program.
Joining a mentoring program has allowed this pair to participate in several organized mentoring activities like the National Mentoring Month celebration at Memorial Auditorium last January and our program’s annual beach party in July. Other activities the two enjoy include shopping, movies, eating out, and spending time together on the golf course. Most of all though, Linda and Nina take great pleasure in talking to each other and having time where they can each listen and be listened to.

CONGRATULATIONS again on being matched for one year!

Hats Off to Summer

Here we are in August and it feels so much as though summer just got started. I guess that's the way it goes in Vermont. I hope you've enjoyed nice weather outings with your matches, tried a few new things, and simply had fun with a young person.
I wanted to take this chance to fill you in on some of the goings on with Spectrum Mentoring. This Thursday the 7th is Deborah Lewis' last day here with us at Spectrum. She has accepted a position teaching middle school students in Honduras and leaves the 8th on that adventure. If you haven't had a chance to wish her well, feel free to be in touch with her this week.
I (Deanna) will be on vacation from Aug. 11-Aug 27. If you have any pressing needs while I'm gone, you can contact my supervisor, Joan White at extension 330 or jwhite@spectrumvt.org. She will, however, be out of the office Aug. 25th and 26th so for those two days, Mark Redmond is your best contact at extension 209 or mredmond@spectrumvt.org. Hopefully there won't be too many pressing issues while I'm gone!
On September 9th, I will have a social work student intern starting with me for the coming academic year. Her name is Nydia Guity and she hails from The Bronx. She will be learning all aspects of the volunteer/mentor program here at Spectrum so you'll all have a chance to interact with her. Alas, she will be the only other person working here with me as I did not receive an A*VISTA for the coming year.
Program News: We have 38 matches currently. I should be able to make a couple more matches very soon after my vacation. I also expect to train about 5 new mentors in September as well.
I would love to hear what you all have been up to. I'm wondering if our program again had representation in the annual Dragonboat Races as it has for the last couple of years. What a great thing to blog about--hint, hint!
Enjoy the rest of your August!