Westover’s Dorcas Fair Raises $7,321 for 13 Organizations

Middlebury, Connecticut – Westover School’s Class of 2015 has allocated $7,321 to 13 organizations – ranging from area community support programs to an all-girls middle school in Rwanda, Africa – from the proceeds of the annual Dorcas Fair held at the School on January 12th.

The Dorcas Fair is a fundraising event planned and organized each year by the members of the junior class. The philanthropic program dates back to the founding of Westover in 1909. In recent years, the allocation of donations has been coordinated in conjunction with the Connecticut Community Foundation, based in Waterbury.

Three members of the junior class elected by the student body plan and coordinate the fair each year. This year’s Dorcas Heads were Isabella Yu of Cheshire, Kaylie Daniels of Sandy Hook, and Grace Uhl of Southborough, Massachusetts. This year’s faculty advisor was Crystal Pemberton, who also serves as Westover’s Director of Diversity. The Dorcas Fair, which featured a Disney theme this year, raised funds through games, carnival activities, silent auction prizes, and refreshments. Members of Westover faculty and parents volunteered to assist members of the Class of 2015 in staffing the event.

Pemberton praised this year’s Dorcas heads for showing “strong leadership skills and for being amazing motivators for their classmates. They were exemplary in the way that they took on the task of preparing for the fair and they maintained an optimistic attitude throughout the process.”

The Dorcas heads allocated donations to six organizations for the first time this year, based on recommendations from their classmates, in addition to seven organizations that have received Dorcas funds in the past. Allocations to individual organizations ranged from $200 to $2,000.

The thirteen organizations receiving Dorcas funds this year are:

• Act 4 Ministries, which supports the needs of low income families and individuals in the greater Waterbury area through the collection and distribution of re-usable clothing and furniture

• The Maranyundo School for Girls, a middle school for girls in Nyamata, Rwanda, that has been a sister school of Westover since it opened in 2008

• LISA, Inc. (Living In Safe Alternatives, Inc.), an agency based in Wolcott dedicated to providing transitional housing and daily living skills to foster care youth

•  FINCA, an international organization based in Washington, DC, which provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs to create jobs, build assets, and improve their standard of living

• Doctors without Borders, an international organization that provides emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care

• The Petit Family Foundation, which focuses on the education of young people, help to those affected by chronic illness, and aid and protect those affected by violence

• Girls’ Inc. of Southwestern Connecticut, which offers programs for girls that focus on careers and college planning, economic literacy, health and fitness, leadership and  community action, self esteem, self reliance and life skills, sports adventure, and substance abuse prevention

• Rubia, Inc., a New Hampshire-based organization that seeks to develop economic opportunities through craft heritage, to support education, and to promote health and well being for Afghan women and their families

• Operation Smile, an international medical organization that offers reconstructive surgery and related medical care for children born with facial deformities such as cleft lip and cleft palate

• The U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the United Nations-based organization that supports childhood development programs worldwide, including the promotion of girls’ education, nutrition programs, and and immunization programs against common childhood diseases

• The Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research at the Rockefeller University, headquartered in New York City, seeks to identify the cause, care, and cure of Alzheimer’s disease

• The Children’s Cancer Research Fund’s Zach Zobiech Oesteosarcoma Fund, which supports research to identify better treatments to prevent and cure oestesacroma, a rare bone cancer

• The Waterbury YMCA’s Meghan Beebe Camp Scholarship Fund, established in memory of a member of Westover’s Class of 2010 to offer camperships to children at the YMCA’s Camp Mataucha in Watertown

Westover is a selective boarding and day school in Middlebury, Connecticut, with 205 students in grades 9-12 from 17 states and 20 countries. The School offers its students more than 20 Advanced Placement courses as well as signature programs in science, engineering, art history, and music.