Monday, April 21, 2008

Spring doings at EV

Dear Friends,

While awaiting spring eagerly, we are keeping busy trying to get the most out of a short semester. Nancy, our Educational Coordinator is finishing up her second round of schools visits, some 100 teachers to be visited individually in many different schools. She is doing great work building up relationships which make of them supporters and partners in our work with their students. What they share with her is invaluable to help our tutors customize their tutoring sessions to the needs of their particular tutee.

Lauren, our Program Director, for her part, keeps in contact with the families every week and keeps the kids coming to tutoring. That is no small task until children and parents alike discover on their own that coming regularly is the first key element towards progress. Both of them have also been very busy preparing for out Community Event.

It was really nice to see the hall where tutoring takes place transformed into a festive space beautifully decorated by tutors. The small card tables used by each pair at tutoring, with colorful tablecloths and a small vase with beautiful flowers (gift of Hallie's Garden flower shop) were used by tutees’ families sitting down for a potluck dinner with their child’s tutor. That was a great opportunity for tutors and families to get to know each other or reconnect. The performance by the kids afterwards, the result of hours of Saturday mornings’ rehearsals the month before, entertained the families and made parents proud of their children.

We will now focus on recruiting youngsters and counselors for camp and start preparing actively for it. For some of the adolescents in the program, camp becomes a turning point, a breakthrough in their journey towards self-confidence, trust in their abilities and talents, a new positive attitude and hope in the future that is a main step towards success.

A month ago we had a small fun fundraising event organized by one of our alumni Board members that was a great success. Two other Board Members are actively organizing a bigger event planned for May 1st, a Chocolate Buffet at the Langham Hotel Boston. We hope most of you will participate in it, if not by coming, if you are miles away, at least by bidding in our silent auction which is about to go online and that you can already view at http://earthenvessels.cMarket.com.

Our need is great. The new energy coming from our board feels me with hope. We are greatly thankful for your being with us through thick and thin, being part of this great chain of support which sustains our work, We count on you to make of this year a new beginning towards more stability, sustainability at a time when expenses are going up and funding becomes uncertain. May our common endeavor open doors for our young inner-city friends who face so many obstacles in their growing-up.

Marie-Claude Thompson, Executive Director

Thursday, April 17, 2008

New Board member Carlos Cedeño

Carlos Cedeño recently joined our Board of Directors. Here is his story, as published in our latest Earthen Vessels News :

Earthen Vessels gave me hope. I was a kid with no hope, no role models and no aspirations. Earthen Vessels took me in and helped me develop the characteristics that have brought me much success in life.

Through the Earthen Vessels Tutoring Program, I was able to solidify my weak academic skills into a strong academic foundation that led to my being accepted by A Better Chance, a program that places minority students in schools with a solid academic curriculum to better prepare them for college. In addition to the formal academic development, the Tutoring Program gave me confidence and the belief in myself which helped me overcome my initial academic deficiencies. I graduated from Longmeadow High School and enrolled at Tufts University where I received my B.A. in International Relations.

At Earthen Vessels Camp I also learned the importance of teamwork, through the cooking, table setting, and dish teams. The roles that I played on these teams (although not always fun at the time) taught me that by working together we can accomplish many things.

Mountain hikes, too, taught me that I can accomplish anything that I set my mind on. I had earlier suffered from asthma and was afraid of having an episode during the hikes. The counselors organized a group that walked at my pace and talked me through the hikes. Once I succeeded in reaching my very first mountain peak, I felt proud. On many levels those hikes proved to me that one can overcome fear and feel a sense of accomplishment. They taught me that if I kept working hard in life, there would be a beautiful view at the top.

I also learned conflict resolution, via workshops and role-playing scenarios. I learned to be open-minded about different music, different activities (volleyball—not a cool sport growing up in the ‘hood), archery (I had no idea what that was until I attended EV camp), and spiritual growth (via the reading of Bible passages and the conversations we had about them every evening).

In short, the success that I have today owes a great deal to Earthen Vessels. I started out as a 14 year-old kid without any positive role models, with little belief in myself, full of anger, unable to see past the neighborhood that I grew up in. I have since graduated from one of the top high schools in Massachusetts, and from one of the most competitive universities in the field of International Relations. My beautiful wife Ruth and I have two wonderful children, Mariaisabel and Juan Carlos. I still have goals and am teaching my children the values of hard work, prayer and belief in self. I thank Earthen Vessels for instilling in me the values that have brought me much success and happiness in life.