FARMINGTON – The United Way of the Tri-Valley Area is excited to announce the return of our Summer Experience. This experience is provided in partnership with GEAR UP and the University of Maine at Farmington. This summer experience focuses on teaching students the important skills of leadership and helping them develop and grow through service. This experience is for students going into eighth and ninth grade in the Greater Franklin County Area. There will be two opportunities to attend: the first session will take place July 22 – July 26 and the second session will take place July 29- August 2. Sessions run Monday – Friday from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. and will be held at the United Way office at 218 Fairbanks Road. There are no costs to attending, lunch and snacks are provided daily, and there is travel reimbursement available if needed. Space is limited to 12 students in each session, so be sure to sign up now.
Activities during the week include a mini Caravan of Caring where the students will have the opportunity to visit some of United Way’s Community Partners; working together to address a community need; a Day of Caring, a tour of UMF and more. Students are divided into several small groups where they are tasked to identify a community (school, their town, neighborhood, etc.), then identify a need in that community. Once they decide on the need, they are asked to come up with a way to address the need. After that has been decided, the groups reconvene and present to a panel of community members. Only one group’s idea would advance after presenting to the panel, who will make the final decision. One past group decided that an emergent need in the community was children not getting enough to eat and only eating while they were at school. To combat this, they decided to create the Pack-a-Snack program. The Pack-a-Snack program bundled together a few snacks and drinks and were distributed through the United Way’s Tools for Teachers initiative. United Way is proud that this project was independently continued by one student who attended that cohort – she worked hard to raise money, get donations and implement ‘Snack Attack’ in her school to address this very issue.
If you have a student entering eighth or ninth grade and want to get more information or enroll in either of the session, just call 778-5048 FMI or to receive an application. Applications are available on our website as well. Space is limited to 12 students in each session.
For more information about the United Way, and for upcoming events and initiatives, call (207) 778-5048, visit www.uwtva.org, like and follow United Way on Facebook (www.facebook.com/uwtva) and Instagram, or come visit at 218 Fairbanks Road in Farmington.
