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Carver's 2021 Annual Meeting. See the stories and the outcomes!

We gathered yesterday evening for Carver’s Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors. It was also a time for the Carver community to gather with us to hear and participate in this important review of where Carver has been and where we are going.

SEE THE ANUAL MEETING REPORT HERE.

Our staff, program partners, school administrators, donors, elected officials, students, volunteers (including our Volunteer of the Year!), and many others joined us for this virtual meeting.

The annual meeting is the time for the Board of Directors to evaluate the organization's progress towards its mission and reaffirm the goals we’ve set for this fiscal year.

The treasurer provided a financial report for the board to review and the budget for the current year and the chairs of the other board committees presented their reports as well.

We are humbled by the outpouring of support and renewed dedication to doing our best for our youth. Our collective impact over this extraordinarily challenging year was tremendous. Our mission has never been more relevant or essential, and we have proven that we all possess the resilience and strength for the journey ahead.

Receive your government benefits for your children!

The IRS is paying families up to $300 per child per month — support that is specifically designed to help low-income households. Any family with children can benefit and the IRS is making it easy to enroll.

However, there are still as many as 6,000 households in Fairfield County at risk of missing out on this benefit.

Now, we’re in a race against time to enroll as many families as possible ahead of the November 15 registration deadline.

Fairfield County’s Community Foundation has joined forces with the IRS-certified nonprofit SimplifyCT/GetCTC to help families get into this new program.

Signing up for the benefit is easy. Go to getctc.org/FCCF to sign up for this crucial benefit (in either English or Spanish).

There is also this toolkit to help you spread the word to others. It provides you with flyers, email messages, and social media posts that you can share in your network. Messages are available in both English and Spanish.

If you’d like more information to help spread the word, please email Patrick Gentile at patg@simplifyct.org.

Carver families go apple picking at Lyman Orchards

Recently, 58 Carver families from our elementary school programs at Brookside, Kendall, Naramake, and Tracey and our middle school programs at Nathan Hale, Roton, and West Rocks enjoyed a brisk fall day of apple picking at Lyman Orchards in Middlefield, CT.

Walking through row after row of trees on the orchard’s 1,100-acre property, each family happily filled their bags with delicious apples. Lyman Orchards was the natural choice for Carver’s first family engagement activity of the school year; it’s been ranked as the best location for apple picking in Connecticut and included on the Connecticut Office of Tourism’s “Six Things to Add to Your Fall Bucket List.” We wanted to ensure that our hardworking families had quality time together and the opportunity to experience this fun autumn tradition.

Community outings are offered to our families throughout the school year to strengthen Carver’s relationships with our student's parents and guardians. Parent/family involvement in their child’s education is the best predictor of student success*, which is why Carver includes parents and guardians in our programming. 

Carver communicates regularly with parents/guardians not only to provide updates on their children, but to involve them in program development and implementation as well. In addition to our community outings, we offer resources and programs for parents, such as financial literacy workshops. This holistic approach promotes student achievement by supporting and engaging families to help them create a positive learning environment for their children.

We encourage parents/guardians to consider the following strategies of involvement: 

  • Proactive and preventative communication with teachers and Carver employees

  • Supporting their children’s independence, such as encouraging them to take responsibility for their schoolwork

  • Providing structure at home

  • Linking education to future success

The First Congregational Church of Darien presents a Holiday Gift Fair to benefit local charities

Pop-up shops by local retailers and artisans will let you get a jump on your holiday shopping. November 17th from 5:30-8:30 and November 18th from 9 AM-4 PM, at 14 Brookside Road, Darien, CT. Admission is free and open to all. Vendors include Everything is Rosey, Monograms Off Madison, Peach Athletic Apparel, and many more. A portion of all proceeds will go to charity.