Connections

Reach out and touch someone! This committee keeps us alumni connected to kids, mentors, the central office, and other alumni. Just because you've graduated doesn't mean you have to stop DREAMing. Ever. Want to help build the DREAM network? Get involved with this committee by emailing your alumni officers at .

How can I start?

There's two easy, yet critical, ways to keep building the relatiosnships you started in college:

1. Keep in touch with your former partner(s)! Maintain an e-mail or phone relationship (contact your partner at , we'll forward your message along). For those of you who have lost track of your former partner, it's never too late to say "hi" (they'll love it). You'll be an especially valuable resource as your partner approaches college-age.
2. Keep up to date with your local program! Each month, office staff compile monthly program reports that showcase the incredible work each of our mentoring programs are doing. Check out what your Alma Mater has been up to!

How can I be the most help? (college!)

Help your former partner(s) take the next step... COLLEGE! There are two big ways to support your partner's entrance to college as he/she grows older and approaches high school graduation:

1. Stress college! Communicate regularly with your formaer partner and make it an expectation that he/she should look into college when the time comes. Offer yourself as a resource – as someone who can help look over college essays and generally be a guide through the process. When your partner become a sophomore in High School, start talking with your partner's family about what they are doing to help. You can also drill the point home by sending college articles in the mail or email. In general, just drop a lot of hints!
2. Open a college savings account. Once you've planted the seeds of the idea, help make them grow into reality. It's really easy, anyone can do it, and it makes ALL the difference! One of the scariest obstacles to college for our partners is money. Help ensure that money is not the determining factor by signing up to manage a VSAC college savings account for your partner: http://www.vsac-vheip.org/enroll_download.html. Some alumni give to their account once a year, while others have a monthly automatic deduction. It only requires $25 to open the account, and the contributions grow tax free and are used un-taxed by your partner for college tuition, books, and room and board. It's important to clear it with your partner's family first (you will also need their SS#). Let us alumni officers know ( ) when you sign up, so we can encourage other mentors who had your partner to give to your account!

Other creative ways to stay involved:

• Keep in touch with your formaer partner's current mentors.
• Invite your partner to visit you for the weekend. The Alumni Org is working on finding some funding sources to help you make it happen.
• Get in touch with your local program chairs when you are back visiting your school and hang out on Friday.
• Offer to be a tour guide, or help find one, when a local program does a culminating experience or High Adventure trip near you (Boston, New York, Montreal, Portsmouth, the Cape, West Coast, Colorado, etc).
• Offer your car/house/horse/swimming pool/tree fort when the next DREAM trip swings through your neck of the woods.
• Come spend a summer at our camp, as a counselor, an instructor, a lifeguard, or whatever!
• Get DREAM enrolled in your company's gift matching program, or it's corporate philanthropy program.
• Make a fun and unique donation. To the Central Office. To the camp. To your local program. Maybe they need a van? Maybe they need a bus? Maybe they need camping gear? eBay is great for finding us stuff, and we can also receive proceeds from auctions (see eBay for details, provided via MissionFish).
• Get involved with the Alumni Organization. Volunteer for a committee. Decide how Alumni Fund grants will go towards your local program.
• Read the newsletter and the website and generally stay up to date on what’s going on with DREAM!

Sound good? Then send an e-mail to your alumni officers at !