Presidents’ Note – The Circle, November 2017

Thanks to all who were able to join us in October for our 2nd Annual Circles of Support Fundraiser. It was wonderful to gather together, to celebrate our honorees, and to talk about all of our recent activities. We are especially grateful to Mont Pleasant 8th grader Marangely Rodriguez for her bravery in sharing her Girls’ Circle experiences with us.

Our connections with the community continue to grow. We are currently working with The Schenectady Foundation and Big Brothers & Big Sisters on a project called ‘Mentor Link’. This is bringing together many nonprofit organizations that use mentors in efforts to support youth in Schenectady. One of its goals is to help locate, organize, and distribute our most valuable resource: people! We hope that this collaborative effort will help streamline our process and incorporate best practices for recruiting new volunteers.

Another exciting collaboration we are very happy about is with the 21st Century Program, an after school program funded by federal grants and run with the Boys & Girls Club at selected SCSD schools. Their activities range from homework help and tutoring to hands-on activities like cooking, and now Girls’ Circles will be offered, as well! This will allow the muses in our circles to have more time to make those important connections with the girls.

We are continuing to partner with the Schenectady Public Libraries and Schenectady City School District to promote reading with a visit from author Kwame Alexander, who will be visiting schools on November 9.

We are very pleased to share the good news that we have recently received a grant for $20,000 from the William Gundry Broughton Charitable Private Foundation. Our heartfelt thanks to the foundation for their support.

Of course, our biggest project is planning for our 9th Annual Girls’ Day Out on November 15. Would you like to help? Contact Laura LaFontaine to volunteer. This year we are raising money on Facebook to send each participant home with a warm sweatshirt. You can help by donating, or even just sharing the fund raiser on your time line.

As Thanksgiving approaches, we continue to be thankful for our volunteers, community partners, and generous donors who help us provide support and encouragement to the young women we serve. 

-Gwynne DeLong & Dianne Crozier,
Co-Presidents