“I eat and breathe YES in my spare time…” YESKid

We’d like to share with you some inspiring stories and touching testimonials from our charity YES of people who have benefited from their incredible programs.

“When I was YES Kid it changed my life so I want to be the one to change some other kid’s life too.” YES Alumni and Volunteer

Job Training - Rashid’s brother died in May 2007, a victim of the City’s youth violence.  YES reached out to his family and recruited Rashid for a summer job at YES.  He went through our job training program and began leading biking trips over the summer despite the fact that he had never learned to ride a bike.  Rashid set himself a goal to master biking on a mountain trail and no matter how many times he fell or was laughed at, he kept going.  When we asked him why, Rashid replied, “My brother always wanted to teach me and I kept putting it off.  Now I’m going to do it, no matter what.  My brother would have liked that.”  For Rashid, YES has created an opportunity to deal with a very difficult situation in a healthy way, one pedal at a time.  He continues to work at YES.

“I’m having so much fun out here I don’t even miss my x-Box.” YES Participant

Junior Volunteer - YESKid Sam is a Junior Volunteer who teaches skiing.  “I remember standing in front of all these kids – some of them taller than I was.  And I remember it was amazing to me that I could really teach them.  It’s just cool to be able to give something back like that.”

“When the bus pulls up, I notice the look of amazement on their faces.  Many of these kids are seeing mountains for the first time.  Then that amazed look transcends to fear, and the kids nervously ask if they’re expected to go down that.  And when they do, it broadens their horizons.” YES Volunteer

Girls Outdoor Adventure Leadership (GOAL) - Wachanda was 11 years old and obese.  She had major challenges with hiking.  She had come to believe that exercise would trigger her asthma.  The GOAL girls discussed how they could only be as fast as their slowest member and so to become faster, they needed to support everyone.  Wachanda committed to getting into shape and walked home many nights to increase her stamina.  Over the course of the 10 week program, she developed enough endurance to hike 1-1.5 miles without any problems.  During one of the last circle discussions, the girls talked about how much they appreciated each other and Wachanda received a great deal of verbal support from the group.

“I do believe that my experience at YES made me more confident because now I believe I could do anything I set my mind to.”  YES Participant

“YES has made a huge impact on my children’s lives - they volunteer, one is on staff, and all have learned about teamwork, responsibility and how to work with kids from around the city, not just our neighborhood. YES has allowed me to expose my family to mountain sports that would otherwise just not be possible financially. YES has made my children skiers and snowboarders for LIFE! Thank you!”  YES Parent

I want to start my blog entry with a few disclaimers. First I do not really know or understand what a blog is. Secondly I am not a great speller. I am working on this and I hope to see dramatic improvement in the next few years but for now I will be forced to have Evan “work” with me as my editor. My spelling is a point of constant torture and something I wish I was better at but has been with me like most children’s “blankys” since the second grade when I scored an outstanding 29% on the California Achievement Test for spelling. Thirdly I hope this inspires, makes people laugh, generates interest in Spero, or does all three.

When I was five years old I was absolutely adorable. I had red hair, dimples, was above average in sports, and could eat a ton and not get fat. It is absolutely terrible what 22 years can do to erase this remarkable head start I was given. When I was starting down the long path towards being a terrible speller and slowly losing that grip on being adorable I decided I wanted to be either an Army man or an electrician. At 27 years old I am not an Army man or an electrician and no longer get to wear camouflage on a daily basis as I did from the ages of 2-11. I was obsessed with camouflage and had it on everything from pillow cases, to clothing, to food, to shoes. I am extremely glad that my parents let me be who I wanted to be and never insisted that I wear anything different. I was able to be who I wanted to be and have the opportunities you could only dream about. I am sure many of you are already asking yourself “what the hell is he talking about” and I promise it will be come clear. I am no longer a child, I know this is up for debate, but I do however get the opportunity to help children with my efforts in Spero. I have been pulling for a year or so now to change the direction of Spero to only help future army men and electricians but as of now the other board members are unwilling to budge on this. However I do get to help future Astronauts, CEO’s, Middle level managers, bubble-gum-pop boy band members, and many other children.

This is the amazing thing about Spero. I get to have fun with my friends, have a beer or two, and raise thousands of dollars for children. When I was young my parents gave me everything that I ever needed but many kids do not have those same opportunities. I am glad that I have the ability to lend a hand towards kids that might need a little help and encouragement. For my blog entry’s I am going to try and shed a little light onto each one of the members of Spero and let you all get a different view than you might already have.

Signing off,

Scott Ian Liston

Middle Level Banker who is currently wearing a suit and its not a camo suit.

Thanks go out to all the altruisitic bracketologists that signed up for the 1st annual SPERO Bracket Challenge.

There are 83 brackets in play for this years Challenge.  Good luck to you all!

Thanks again for supporting us and YES,

SPERO

If you are looking for more ways to connect with us throughout the year, fear not, as Spero is all over the web nowadays.

If you are breathing these days that means that you probably have a Facebook account.  If you are a fan of our mission or just think we throw great events then you should join the Spero Group!  We frequently use Facebook to reach out to all of our wonderful supporters and give them updates on our upcoming events and any other news we might think you would like to hear about.

Is Facebook to amateurish for you?  How about going the more professional route with LinkedIn!  That’s right, we are there too.  Look us up.  We just created a new group that you can join, that is if you can get past our tough screening process!  Haha.  Look us up and spread the good word.

Is Facebook too old school for you?, do you think LinkedIn is for the birds?  Would you like to be able to follow all of our events in real time even if you can’t attend?  Well guess what?  I have just the solution…follow Spero on TWITTER!  That’s right, we have taken the plunge and will be “tweeting” during all of our events from now on.  Check us out at http://twitter.com/SPEROinc .

We think it will be a cool new way for our faithful followers to stay in touch and for us to keep you up to date on all things Spero.  We will be testing it out at our first 2009 event, Spero’s 2nd Annual March Madness Fundraiser at The Greatest Bar in Boston (near North Station) on March 27th.  We hope to see you there, or see you following the festivities on Twitter!

That’s all for now kids.  Don’t forget….

PARTY WITH PURPOSE!

Hello Friends,

With our biggest and best event of the year coming up quickly (September 13th) I wanted to remind everyone to BUY your TICKETS TODAY! You can do so by clicking the Buy Now button on the Home Page or on the Donate Page.

Also, I want to make sure that everyone has suitable accommodations for that Saturday night. Newport is a very popular tourist destination in the summer (even in September) so it’s very important that you make your reservations ASAP!

SPERO’s PICKS:

The Best Western Mainstay Inn

(we recommend booking online for this one so you can avoid the two night minimum stay!)

Fantastic Newport Bed & Breakfast’s

(so many unique options to choose from in this part of the country!)

Also, Spero has blocked off a limited number of rooms at the Best Western Mainstay Inn so if you are interested in taking one of these rooms please contact Dave Brown at davidlloydbrown21@hotmail.com to find out about prices and availability.

BUY YOUR TICKETS BEFORE THEY ARE ALL GONE! YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS OUT ON THIS ONE…

PARTY WITH PURPOSE

Sperare est curare. To hope is to care.

Spero begins in 2005 with Zak Putnam, the current president of the organization. Bringing together seven friends of his, most of whom he’d met at Wheaton College, with one person who was foisted upon him at an early age, they formed the Board of a burgeoning 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Taking its name from the Latin word for “I hope” Spero was created to raise funds for smaller sized childrens chaities and nonprofits in the New England region. And once the good lawyers at Verrill Dana in Portland, Maine had helped Spero become a legally recognized entity it set out to carry out its mission.Spero

Spero’s target market was young professionals, the recent college graduates who would hopefully jump at the chance to connect with old classmates or just like-minded individuals. The challenge for Spero was making their first event memorable enough for these people to want to continue to come. The organization was fortunate in that regard to have a beautiful venue, Beechwood Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, and a dynamic party design team from Perfect Surroundings, based in Newport as well.

The inaugural event was a formal cocktail party to benefit David’s House, a youth hospice in Hanover, New Hampshire. In addition to the open bar there was dancing and hors d’oeuvres The evening went seamlessly and exceeded the group’s expectations, selling out all 250 tickets and raising $6,000 for David’s House.

Encouraged (maybe even emboldened) by the success in Newport, the Board met early in 2007 to select a charity for the new year and also to discuss adding a few more informal, less expensive parties to supplement the Newport gala. Spero’s Wheaton connections came in handy when it was learned that the owner of The Place, a bar in downtown Boston, was a Wheaton alumnus. He readily agreed to let Spero host a bar night there in February, offering to let all attendees get their first drink for free. In July 2007 Spero returned to Beechwood, adding a silent auction to the night’s attractions and selling out once again. In October, with the help of Going.com, Spero was back in Boston to put on a costume party at Felt. When the year was over Spero presented a check to the Salem, Massachusetts nonprofit Help for Abused Women and Children (HAWC) for $14,000.

Which brings us to 2008. Spero’s charity this year is the Center for Grieving Children, located in Portland, Maine. Spero kicked off its year in March with an evening of NCAA tournament basketball at The Place and the raffle of a pair of Red Sox tickets. Currently, Spero is gearing up for another magical night in Newport, though at a different address. This year’s event will be held at Belcourt Castle rather than Beechwood and Spero is excited for all the possibilities the new locale brings to the table. More tickets will be available and Spero will be able to host a Saturday night party in Newport for the first time.

So please check out the rest of the site and buy a ticket for Newport on September 13. Everyone at Spero hopes to see you there to support this important charity.

Sperare est curare. To hope is to care.

At Belcourt Castle

7PM - Midnight

Cocktails-Dancing-Silent Auction

Please join SPERO in our support of The Center for Grieving Children (Portland, ME). This year’s event is shaping up to be our best and most exciting event to date, and we sincerely hope to see you there! Don’t miss out on another unforgettable event.

Sperare est curare. To hope is to care. Party with purpose…