I
moved to Burlington over the summer of 2002 after living for thirteen years
on the West Coast. I am glad to be back and close to my family again.
My daughter and I are settling happily into our new community, and we are
busy discovering all the wonderful things this area has to offer.
I am pleased to have recently joined the staff at Parent to Parent as the
Billing and Records Specialist for the Family Infant & Toddler Project.
I am excited to be part of this organization. Over the years I have
enjoyed developing my administrative skills in a variety of businesses,
but none where I felt I was part of something so worthwhile.
©
Claudia Sofield, Family
Resource Coordinator
When I moved to Newfane, VT
in 1986, I did not know that my parking lot on Route 30 was the bus stop
for the “handicapped bus,” which took preschoolers with disabilities to
The Winston Prouty Center (WPC) for Child Development in Brattleboro.
Imagine my surprise 13 months later when my youngest child was diagnosed
with Cerebral Palsy and I had to put her on that bus and take her off that
bus every single school day, because she needed all the intensive early
intervention services that WPC offered.
Over the years I’ve been part of Parent to Parent, initially as a parent who needed support (and got it), then as a trained Supporting Parent. In January 2000 I was hired by the WPC’s Executive Director, Marisa Edwards, as the Family Outreach Coordinator. Marisa knew that the parents who had children at WPC or children in the Family Infant & Toddler Project were getting the support and services they needed. It was when the children left WPC and went on to kindergarten and public school that the need for support, services, and resources was tremendous for families with children with special needs.
The fact that Marisa created a job at WPC that blended perfectly with the goals of Parent to Parent was very exciting for me. I saw how Supporting Parents can really help one another with resources, new information, local community services, and just “plain old friendliness and kindness.” I was in a hurry to start support groups, as well as Sibshops in Brattleboro and the West River Valley. Since my job is mainly funded by grants I realized I would never be working for more than 15 hours a week, no matter how much work there was to do!
Parent to Parent asked me to
join their staff as a Family Resource Coordinator for Southern Vermont
in June 2003 as part of the Nexus Program. At that point, I realized
I was doing the work I was put on earth for and all thoughts of returning
to teaching, either full or part-time were banished. I’m amazed every
day as parents share their touching stories about their child with special
needs, their family, and the amount of hassles and grief caused by the
“system.” I’m also encouraged by so many supportive co-workers at
Parent to Parent and the Winston Prouty Center.
©
Office Volunteer
Needed
Would
you like to spend a few hours a week at Parent to Parent in Williston greeting
visitors and answering the phones?
If so,
we would love to hear from you! We are looking for a volunteer(s)
to assist us 3-8 hours a week.
Please
contact Fran Campbell, 764-5290, ext. 21 or Fran.Campbell@partoparvt.org
I
moved to Vermont 15 years ago from Indiana to be with family and live in
a new area. I fell in love with mountain living and embraced the
outdoor activities. I enjoy biking and hiking in the summer and snow
shoeing in the winter. I completed my college education here, received
a degree in accounting and business management and went to work for a vacation/lodging
rental company where I stayed for 12 years. This past year I began
to realize it was time to fulfill my dream of becoming a physical therapist
and have begun that journey by taking classes toward a master's degree.
I also left the business world and came to Parent to Parent.
Parent to Parent has changed my outlook and confirmed my dedication toward a new career that deals with helping others to be successful in life. The compassion I have experienced from the staff at Parent to Parent was non-existent in the business world for me. I am thrilled to be helping in my way to keep the financial end running smoothly so that staff are free to continue to provide families with the support they need. ©
Mary Beth Doyle, Board
of Directors
Mary Beth is an Associate
Professor of Education at St. Michael's College. Mary Beth's areas
of interest include building sustainable school communities where all children
and adults are welcomed. To this end, she teaches, writes and presents
on the topics of: inclusive education, curriculum modification, paraprofessional
development, and collaborative team work. At St. Michael's, Mary
Beth's primary teaching responsibilities involve preparing graduate and
undergraduate students who wish to become secondary education general education
teachers. Mary Beth believes that by going in through the "general
education door" she has an important way to influence middle schools and
high schools.
Prior to St. Michael's
Mary Beth worked for the Department of Education where she coordinated
the development of the "Higher Education Collaborative." This is
a joint venture among faculty and administrators from the Vermont State
Colleges, the University of Vermont and the Department of Education.
The Collaborative provides special education teacher training to general
education teachers who live in rural Vermont. All of the coursework for
the teachers is delivered in their home communities.
Mary Beth continues
to contribute articles, books and book chapters on the topics of inclusive
education and paraprofessional development. She is also an associate
editor for two journals in her field. She explains that the aspect
of her work that she enjoys the most is, "going into classrooms to help
students and teachers figure out this wonderful thing called community."
©
Cheryl Mitchell, Board
of Directors
Cheryl was born in upstate
New York, raised in New Jersey, schooled in Pennsylvania, and introduced
to cities in Boston (where she worked at the Dorchester Settlement House),
San Francisco (where she was a hippy) and Los Angeles (where she volunteered
for Ecology Action). Since moving to Vermont in 1973, she and Don
have been raising sheep and children. Ethan and Anais are now grown;
the sheep keep grazing. She had the wonderful opportunity of working
for the Mary Johnson Children’s Center and creating one of the first mainstream
childcare programs. A next step was the creation of the Addison County
Parent/Child Center (P/CC). Cheryl first learned about Parent to
Parent from one of the families in the P/CC’s Rural Infant/Family Education
project, a pre-cursor of Vermont’s Family, Infant, and Toddler Project.
For the past ten years she served as Deputy Secretary of Vermont’s Agency
of Human Services. Most recently she has gone back to working in her local
community, trying to start a dental clinic, and teaching and doing research
at the University of Vermont. She thinks the families, staff, and Board
of Parent to Parent are the best.
©
