Merrick Grutchfield, Program Director(802) 426-3213 ext. 255
Located in the main office at Twinfield Union School.
Office hours are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 8:45 AM to 2:45 PM.
Who We Are
Twinfield Together is a mentoring program serving youth in the fourth through ninth grades who are residents of Marshfield and Plainfield. We create and support mentoring relationships for kids so that all interested children can experience the power of a safe, respectful friendship with an adult role model. Mentors build on the "Doors of Opportunity" that parents work hard to provide, by offering kids their own unique life experiences, wisdom and time. Mentors meet two to three times a month for one calendar year, engaging in local and regional activities that they both enjoy.
Why Mentoring Matters
"I was successful because you believed in me."
-- Ulysses S. Grant, in a letter to Abraham Lincoln
Adults are well aware of the benefits mentoring can make in a person's life. Maybe a mentor made a difference in their life, or perhaps they witnessed the impact a mentor made in the life of someone they knew. Mentoring has been widely acknowledged in business, government, education, the arts and the military as being a key instrument in creating leadership and success. Research shows that mentoring can benefit participating youth by lowering alcohol and drug use, improving their relationships with their family and peers, and increasing the likelihood that they will continue their education beyond the high school years. (Mentoring: A Promising Strategy for Youth Development, S. Jekielek, et al., Child Trends). When kids look to adults as sources of opportunity rather than through adults as if they weren't there, families and communities grow stronger and we all benefit.
What We Do
Our targeted youth outcomes are based on feedback generated by a community wide survey circulated in the summer of 2008. Twinfield Together is working hard to offer participant youth:
A broader world view obtained by greater access to new experiences
More healthy activity choices in the afterschool hours
Consisitent contact with a positive role model who can demonstrate positive communication and conflict management skills
Screened, adult mentors from the community are carefully matched with children from Marshfield or Plainfield, to get together two to three times a month for one calendar year. All interested fourth through ninth grade children can participate, they do not need to be a student of the Twinfield Union School.
We support mentoring friendships in five ways:
Conducting a comprehensive, seven-point screening process on every applicant;
Carefully matching mentors to mentees based on their common interests;
Organizing mentor and mentee trainings to increase the benefits to both participants;
Offering fun program sponsored activities and a monthly calendar of local events;
Providing on-going support, feedback and recognition to the adult volunteers, participant kids, and their parents.
Want to Find out More?
Contact Merrick Grutchfield
(802) 426-3213 ext. 255
Or try these links:
Vermont Mentoring Partnerships
Our Funding
Twinfield Together became a program of the school at a School Board meeting in the spring of 2009, in order to provide better, more cost efficient services to the community. Although subject to the oversight of the school board, and the supervision of the TUS administration, no property tax dollars are provided to the mentoring program through the school budget. The school has helped our program immeasurably by providing program exposure to the kids, and by in-kind donations including office space, insurance coverage, phone and Internet access and book-keepeing expertise. Without the school's involvement, our costs beginning the program would have been prohibitively high.
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
– Theodore Roosevelt
Our program harnesses the strength of our community — our service minded neighbors — in partnership with private foundations, area banks and corporations, community organizations, and generous individual donors to meet essential needs of our youth.
A heartfelt thanks to all our supporters!
Betsy Brigham
Jane Bradley
Nancy Everhart
Will Roberts
Jack Hoffman
Donny Osman
David Larcombe
TUS School Board
Nancy Thomas
WNESU
Paula Francis & the Permanent Fund
Lori Augustiniak of the Cabot Coalition
Kathleen Hoyne of Cabot Connects
Wendy Farber of Girls/Boyz First
Amy Cunningham of Everybody Wins
Alison Lamana of Barre City Mentoring
Eddie Gale & the AD Henderson Foundation
Hilda Green and the Children's Trust Fund
Craig Whipple & the Vermont Department of Forest Parks and Recreation
The Town of Plainfield
The Town of Marshfield
Rick Levy & Rhea Wilson
Sarah & Greg Hooker
Cynthia Martin & George Longenecker
Betty and Will Larsen
Terri & BobWeinstein & Family
Andy Pitt
Jimmy Kennedy & Emma Kopecky
John & Jenny Warshow
Deanna Martin
Emel Cambel
Rita Harvey
Gaye Christiansen
Lee, Lindsey & Nathan Grutchfield
Crystal, Justin, Natasha & Breannah Patten
Elijah Alexander & Hillary Emick
Angie & Sarah Emerson, James Weston
Regina & Cameron Heth
Becky & Logan Lapointe
Jon, Sarah & Tristan Matthew
WGDR
Goddard College
Madelyn & George Hamilton
Brenda Lindemann
Maria Foreman
MaryAnn Allen
Liz Perrault
Bob Minsenberger & Weatherwatch
John Harrison
Christina Kimball
Lyn Turcotte
Alice Day
Jan Danziger
Paul Angell
Richard T Baker & Christine Bookmyer-Baker
Allen & Lorilla Banbury
Charlie Barasch
Joan Barsalou
Michael Birnbaum
Susannah & Tom Blachly
Betsy Blackshaw
Charles & Barbara Bohn
Owen & Jane Bradley
Brett Engstrom
Elinor Abrams Chapin
Betsy & Daniel Chodorkoff
Leona & Raymond Chouinard
Ellen Cooke
Matt Couture
Scott Crocker
Judy Cyprian
Bernie Noe & Maureen Davis
Claire Dumas
Elizabeth Earle
Lucille Fitch
Vivien & Mike Fritz
Basil N. Goslant
Doreen Hamilton
Scottie & John Harrison
Cornelius & Jeannette Hogan
William & Leslie Howe
Emily Johansen & John Johnson
Dick & Diane Lashoones
Jean Lathrop
Joseph Lee
Bob & Lee Light
Cynthia Martin & George Longenecker
Christopher & Ellen Lovell
Tony & Pat Mayhew
Alice Merrill & David Montgomery
Maggie Novack
Mary Niebling & David Spence
Sarah O'Brien
Andy and Marianne Perchlik
Dean & Doris Perry
Donna Petterssen
Kathryn & Rich Phillips
Leatrice Potter
Jules & Helen Rabin
Andy Robinson
Richard Rubin
Alexis Smith
Kate Smith
Beth Stern
Diane Tetrault
Adelaide Murphy Tyrol & Brian Tyrol
John & Jenny Warshow
Peter Young
Michael & Ginny Zahner
Cathy Clements
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