Buddies, Bridges and Brains, Inc.

*Shared curriculum and field trips-- This is the priority effort of the Buddies organization.  Interested urban/suburban/rural teachers and administrators meet during the summer to plan curriculum units that can overlap.  Classrooms connect using Skype or videophone technology, sometimes setting up secure web pages on which to share presentations and data related to their shared learning.  Culmination of the units includes a shared field trip, typically on a local college campus.

* Book and a Blanket Project - gives PreK to Grade 2 students a new fleece blanket and a new age-appropriate book.  In 2007, this project gave book and blanket sets to 2,500 children with the help of over 500 volunteers.  In 2010 we were able to deliver to over 3,000 children with the help of volunteers from dozens of community organizations and businesses!  As of March 2011 we are still receiving requests and delivering...funding has come from grants 

* One on one literacy program--links proficient readers with a young learner once a month for 30 minutes.  This is a collaboration with the Scott Spino Foundation (www.scottspinofoundation.org)

Day of Caring-- this is a local United Way day of service in the spring.  Typically it is scheduled for a time that is perfect for  planting, and kids LOVE to get dirty!!  We raise the money for plants, and the students work together to create an outdoor learning space.

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"The focus of our projects always needs to be first on relationships, and then on resources."

 Karen Guidarelli, Founder