Letter from the Executive Director
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Dear Friends,
Welcome to our first issue of the Wily Newsletter which we plan to send three times a year. Hopefully, you will find it an informative and an easy way to stay connected to our Scholars and programs.
In this issue, we have news and updates on the Charity Warriors Challenge, our first group of Scholar graduates, summer internships, and suggestions of how you can get involved with the Wily Network.
We also welcome
Katie Bramley
as co-chair of the board of directors with
Leann Walsh
.
In the past year, we have doubled the number of Scholars we serve and increased the number of higher education institutions with which we partner. We currently have 28 Scholars at seven New England schools, and expect to grow to 40 scholars in the fall of 2018.
We would not be able to do this important work without your support. Thank you for being part of our pack. We look forward to sharing our news with you!
Founder and Executive Director
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During the months of February and March, the Wily Network competed in the Power Launch's
Charity Warriors Challenge
, an annual fundraising competition and accelerator for women who are passionate ambassadors of nonprofits. Leaders of 14 nonprofit organizations were put to the test through a series of 10 weekly challenges. Each challenge was focused on a different area of fund development, including social media, public speaking, branding, media engagement and donor solicitation.
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In week one, our fearless leader,
Judi King
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won over the crowd at the First Impression Challenge, securing $1,000 for Wily. Judi competed tirelessly in all 10 challenges, which were scored and judged by a panel of experts—with a winner declared each week. Judi was among the five women who earned a spot in the Final Challenge Event, which was held on Wednesday, April 11.
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Thanks to you
we exceeded our Charity Warriors Challenge goals! We asked you to vote for us on Thunderclap (goal of 100+ votes); we asked you to donate to our CrowdRise and help us raise
over $40,000 towards Fund-A-Scholar
($50,000 for four years); and then we asked you to donate AGAIN in the finals. In a short period, we asked a lot of you and you can through for us!
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Having raised more than $250,000 (in donations and multi-year gifts) in ten weeks,
the Wily Network came in second place at the Final Challenge Event and was awarded a $5,000 grant for raising the most funds overall throughout the Challenge. We are thrilled with the results of the Challenge and excited to have expanded our network of supporters!
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Graduation 2018
Congratulations to our first Scholars to graduate this June!
Scholars, Arianna, Olivia
and Caroline
will be graduating from
Middlebury College, Northern University and Boston College
, respectively.
We are so proud of all of our Scholars for their hard work and accomplishments, especially these three exceptional students who, after graduation will be moving on to Seattle, Nicaragua, and Japan. We wish them the best of luck and hope they will stay in touch with Wily and give us updates on their experiences after college.
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Summer internships
Our Scholars have secured incredible summer internships and travel/study abroad positions. Internship examples include: Ropes and Gray, Goldman Sachs, Department of Agriculture in PA, Zen Desk in San Francisco.
Travel abroad experiences
These include
Iceland, Italy and Jordan. Wily coaches have been busy helping our Scholars make these opportunities a reality. Our Scholars need help securing housing, transportation and clothing for their summer positions.
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If you are interested in helping support one of our Scholars during the summer, please click the button to the right.
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Scholar Dinner
When schoolwork piles up, college students head out to restaurants around town to enjoy a meal and take a much-deserved break from campus life. To give our Scholars the same opportunity, the Wily Network is teaming up with one local restaurant each month for a special night out at no cost to the students.
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In April, we held our second annual Scholar dinner at Myers + Chang, where
Chef and Owner Joanne Chang and Executive Chef Karen Akunowicz
generously hosted a dinner for us and created a special “Wily Menu,” which catered to the varied diets of the students. Eight Wily Scholars from MIT, Northeastern and Boston University joined us for a fun, festive and relaxing dinner.
We hope to hold a dinner for 10 to 12 Scholars at a different restaurant every month. If you have a suggestion of a restaurant that may be interested in our
Dining Out with Wily program
, please contact
Ashley Linell
.
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Ellie Kai Designs Trunk Show
Please join us for a clothing trunk show hosted by
Mary Gibbs
to benefit the Wily Network
Tuesday, May 22, 4:00-8:00 p.m. and Wednesday, May 23, 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
222 Prince Street, West Newton
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Citizens Bank, Providence, RI, Care Package Event hosted by Katie Oakes
Our Scholars at BC, BU, MIT, and Middlebury were treated to beautiful care packages filled with home-baked goods, t-shirts, caps, gift cards and personal items from
Citizens Bank in Providence, RI.
Thank you to our volunteers at Citizens and
Katie Oakes
for hosting. This is Citizens’ third time donating care packages to our Scholars.
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Care Package Event in Wayland hosted by Kim Pappas
Our students at Northeastern, UMass Dartmouth and Bridgewater State received tote bags filled with blankets, Red Sox hats, gift cards and special home-baked study treats.
Thanks to
Kim Pappas
for chairing this event,
Maura Guiffre
for the delicious baked goods and our wonderful volunteers for making this possible!
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Final exams are a stressful part of the college experience. Luckily, our Scholars have Wily and an amazing group of volunteers to cheer them on!
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Wily Birthday and Holiday Gift Program
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Birthdays and holidays can be difficult for our Scholars. Our Birthday and Holiday Gift Program is an opportunity for volunteers to be paired with our Scholars to provide personalized gifts and gift cards twice a year.
Would you consider?
-providing Christmas presents for a student this year?
-also buying birthday presents for this same student?
-doing both (Christmas and birthday) each year until the Scholar graduates?
If you are interested in learning more about this program, please click on the button below.
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Thank you to our current birthday and holiday gift givers who have helped to make our Scholars feel special!
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We rely on the strength of our Wily Network pack. Please consider making a gift today.
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Help us grow our network - Please SHARE our story!
#theWilyNetwork
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The Wily Network has the singular goal of improving college outcomes for promising young students who, having persevered through such life challenges as aging out of foster care, homelessness, or a lack of family support, are navigating their post-secondary careers independently.
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