April 12, 2023 Breakfast Meeting Notes
Ton y Trivia: NH Islands edition
50/50 was won by Peggy
Card game: Denise won the opportunity to try for the ace of spades but instead drew the 7 of spades. The game continues.
Our speaker today was our own Beth Dever with an annual update on the Circle Program. She has now been there as director for 18 months.The program had gone through a rough period and one of her biggest tasks was to try to reconnect the organization to the community and donors. Circle Program was started 30 years ago and has 4 full time staff. The current camp was built in 2005. Beth brought along copies of the annual report; they had tried emailing the report out for a few years but have gone back to using US mail, as well as email and social media, to distribute information to members and friends.
The mission of the Circle program is to empower, enrich, and transform girls’ lives. The program serves disadvantaged rural girls from Concord up to the Lakes region. Girls are selected by referrals from 28 middle schools in the area. They start with girls at 9 years of age and the students are encouraged to come back year after year. They have 63 mentors who sign up for a 2 year commitment; many stay on long term. Mentors meet with their mentees twice a month and they are trying to keep mentors from having to drive more than 20 minutes to reach their student. They look for 25 new mentors each year. Training is provided, both in person and online. Many of the students are struggling with identity issues, LGBTQ issues or are gender-fluid.
The camp was without a regular maintenance person for the last 4 years, and things had deteriorated quite a bit. Holderness school freshmen came out to help clean, and Rotary comes for the spring cleanup each May. (Cleanup this year will be May 20 and 21.) They have done a lot of maintenance, including road work, repairs to the septic system roof work, and (thanks to a generous donor) built a new beach with 2 docks and cleared a path to the water, and moved the fire pit. Project Adventure came in and fixed the ropes course.
Each summer they hire 23 staff for 36 girls at each session. Sessions for 9-11 year old girls last for 3 weeks, while those for the 12-14 year olds and 15-18 year olds are two weeks each. Counselors aged 19-22 are hired from other countries, including the UK, Wales, Ireland and Turkey, as well as the US. Las year they had seven 18 year olds at the camp and 6 of those stayed on. They do a lot of team building activities to help the girls, some of whom struggle with mental health issues.
Camp activities include having a shopping night where they fill the lodge with donated clothing; each girl gets to pick 7 garments and they wear them for a talent show. They are also holding field trips (last year they went to the Whale’s Tale and Currier Museum). Campfires are also popular; they sing, do marshmallows, and teach outdoor cooking. They do nature walks. Mentors come for 1 night during each session for Mentor Night and new mentors are introduced. Heartfelt Quilters make 25 new quilts each year and each new girl gets her own quilt. The program for the oldest girls is called Teen Adventure Program (TAP). Before COVID, they used to do western trips for the TAP girls and this year they are going to go to Lake George for camping.
After summer camp ends, Circle does 2 to 3 programs a month to keep the connections going between the girls and their mentors. They have received 2 or 3 grants this past year for college preparedness and first job hunting, college visits, etc. They have done presentations at the Coffee fest and Pumpkin fest in Laconia and do programs in Concord as a way to reaching out to new mentors. They take the girls to go ice skating in Plymouth. They end their year with the Plymouth holiday parade and making cookies for the seniors at the Senior Center. They also decorate a tree at the Common Man Inn.
The Circle program is always looking for mentors and volunteers. They are having a drop-inn with light refreshments at their office in downtown Plymouth. All are welcome.
In other news: scholarship packets have come to Sharon and she is scanning them. Lora, Ken, Beth, Tony, and Nancy are on the committee. She will email them a Google Drive link and we will schedule a meeting next week to discuss the process.
On Thursday, May 4, our Common Man for Ukraine team will go to Ukraine again and visit the kids center at a resort in Poland that provides trauma counseling. Steve will also make a presentation at district conference at Jay Peak at the end of this month.
Save the date: June 1 the Fisher Cats game will benefit the Common Man for Ukraine fund.
Respectfully submitted,
Lora Miller, secretary