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Last updated on November 2, 2008

Mission Statement:

It is the mission of Ethel's Tree of Life, Inc. (ETL) to provide transitional training in life and work skills for youth of age 14 up to young adults of 25 who live with disabilities and/or special needs.

Description:
Ethel's Tree of Life, Inc. provides experiential learning opportunities for our students to participate in. Some of our activities have included: Urban Hikes in Boston, Portland, and other nearby cities; Life Skills Trips to Old Quebec, Philadelphia, and New York City; art projects; cooking; youth groups; camping; winter activities; and a summer program.
We also have a Mentor/Mentee program in which a Mentor commits for a minimum of one year to one particular student to help with career aspirations and goals, independent living skills, and to be a friend.
ETL is an Employment Network under the Social Security Administration program Ticket To Work, serving SSI or SSDI recipients, ages 18 to 25 who hold a Ticket To Work.

History:

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Ethel’s Tree of Life, Inc. (ETL) is a community based nonprofit that serves youth and young adults who live with disabilities and/or special needs. Our contributions have been so valuable that we have been recognized by Maine Governor Baldacchi. The governor proclaimed April 21st, 2007 as Ethel’s Tree of Life Day throughout the state. The governor listed the many achievements of ETL students and cited their ability to “try something new at least once” amongst their accomplishments.

The mission of ETL is to provide transitional education and training in critical life and work skills. Our mission is accomplished through helpful mentoring relationships and enjoyable recreational based activities and opportunities. ETL programs include:

· Branching Out Transitional Mentoring Program: ETL provides a personalized approach to mentoring. Our clients learn how to develop and maintain healthy strong relationships in our Adult to Youth, Peer to Peer, and Group Mentoring programs. The goal of these relationships is to provide skill-building experiences using appropriate role models.

This program has been so successful that two of our students, Lisa Johnson and Nathan Adams, received recognition from Dr. Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary of Disability Employment at the U.S. Department of Labor during the first National Mentoring Youth with Disabilities Conference in September of 2006 for their accomplishments as Mentees.

ETL is highly qualified to provide this program because as an Office of Disability Employment sub-grantee, ETL trained under the Maine Mentoring Partnership for two years. During the two years involved with the grant, ETL successfully served 18 youth with Adult to Youth Mentor/Mentee relationships, 21 youth with Peer-to-Peer relationships, and 27 youth in Group Mentoring activities.

· Branching Out Summer Program: ETL’s fully developed and tested summer program offers clients exciting and unusual adventures. Some of the outdoor adventures our students have experienced are:
o Panning for gold in Byron, Maine
o Mining for amethyst
o Travel to CareerCenters or NH Works to investigate resources
o Swimming
o Hiking
o Exploring businesses and area resources

The Branching Out Summer program demonstrates to students that they can accomplish much more than they may have thought. An illustration of this dynamic is shown in one determined young man who has Cerebral Palsy. At the beginning of summer he had access to a wheelchair and by the end of the program he was scrambling down a riverbank to cross the river using a tied rope guide. Another brave young man with developmental and cognitive disabilities traveled with an ETL group to NYC to meet an ETL supporter. He told the supporter about his experiences with ETL and the value of what he has learned through his participation in ETL programs. One hundred percent of ETL students who have participated in the Summer Program can describe at least three new things they have learned to do

The Summer Program places students in small groups to provide a confidence-enhancing environment. This environment along with ETL’s behavior policy helps students to develop self-control.

· Urban Hikes: This health-enhancing program broadens the horizons of our students in a very pragmatic manner. ETL recognizes the importance of incorporating physical exercise into as many activities as possible. Exploring a city on foot is ideal for meeting this goal. ETL students take walking tours of cities to learn about their colorful histories. Students learn to navigate cities by identifying landmarks and color-coding on maps. Students also learn to rely on one another utilizing the “Buddy System” and staying with a group.

Urban Hikes are a wonderful learning tool. They provide sensory stimulation, exercise, problem-solving and teach students what can be accomplished when they work cooperatively and draw on each individual’s strengths to help each other in life.

Sixty percent of students served since 2004 have participated in Life Skills Trips or Urban Hikes to cities such as Philadelphia, Boston, Portsmouth, Lowell, Portland, Old Quebec, and New York City. These participants enlarged their worlds by stepping outside of their ‘comfort zones’ as they embark on an exciting dynamic exploration of the world beyond their doorsteps.

· Nutrition Program: The goal of this fully developed and tested ten-week program is to expose students to healthy nutrition habits. The nutrition program curriculum is incorporated into all ETL activities. The goals of the Nutrition Program are:
o Increased awareness of the importance of healthy nutrition
o How to choose foods wisely
o Understanding food labels
o Healthy alternatives to “junk food”
o Necessity of daily

ETL incorporates nutrition awareness into all programming to increase students’ of health enhancing habits and behaviors. This knowledge helps students through the years in many ways. An example of this is that in order to keep a job and a sustainable income, one must be healthy enough to work. ETL is exceptionally qualified to provide this program because it was developed in collaboration with Sharon Hinkley, a nutritionist with the Maine Cooperative Extension Service.

· ETL Food Program: ETL is a partner agency with the Good Shepherd Food Bank. This program works in concert with the knowledge students gain in ETL’s Nutrition program. The ETL in-house food program is open to ETL member families and volunteers who meet the criteria of illness or disability, income requirements, or senior citizen status. Periodic shopping trips are made to the Food Bank in Auburn, Maine (usually once monthly). The resulting food and supplies are divided upon delivery to Eliot between participating families. There are enough staples and fresh food to last a family for a month. Eighty percent of ETL students are from low to moderate-income families. Participation in the Food Program enables families, often financially stressed due to additional expenses incurred in treatment or accommodation of disabilities, to stretch their food budgets, obtain healthy foods, and present more balanced meals.

· Life Skills Trips: Life Skills Trips often represent students’ first trips away from home. They provide a venue that enables students to practice independent living skills, problem solving, and dealing with and overcoming feelings of insecurity and homesickness. The Life Skills Trips increase awareness of other cultures, new foods, and new adventures thereby broadening the horizons of the participants. ETL has presented Life Skills Trips to many interesting destinations that include:

o Old Quebec (both in summer and twice for Winter Carnival)
o Hershey Park, PA; New York City
o Montreal
o Niagara Falls
o Toronto

ETL has collaborated with the FRIENDS Project of Portsmouth High School on two Life Skills Trips to Old Quebec. During one summer trip, students experienced touring the old city, camping, traveling on a ferry across the St. Lawrence River, and experimented with such foods as frog’s legs. Another trip was for Winter Carnival where students went dog sledding in the Canadian Wilderness, participated in Carnival activities, had a private audience with the Bon Homme, the host of Carnival, toured the Ice Hotel, and danced the night away at an outdoor ice castle. The most recent Life Skills Trip was during August of this year. A group of six students traveled to Cooperstown, NY to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and camped overnight nearby. They continued on to Niagara Falls where they bravely took a jet boat tour into the giant whirlpool at the base of the falls. They dared to explore dark caves beneath the falls, see the sights of the town, shopped for and prepared their suppers, worked as a team, and ended the trip by visiting the CN Tower in Toronto. Students realized they were experiencing two natural wonders of the world, built and enhanced peer bonds, and traveled around unfamiliar places quite proficiently. All of the participants are very proud of their accomplishments on this trip!

One hundred percent of participants on both trips learned about a different culture and practiced problem solving as a group. Everyone wants to return for another visit!
· Youth Group Activities: Once weekly, students collaborate to plan other activities, work on portfolios, participate in community events, visiting area businesses to learn about job skills, and go to public places where they observe appropriate social behaviors among the general public. These varied activities are all Group Mentoring based.
One goal for ETL in the upcoming year is to establish satellite groups in area towns such as Rochester, Milton, Dover, Greenland, and York, where students have a regular gathering place and go from there to participate in community activities.

· Arts Program: ETL students, in collaboration with VSAarts of Maine, have created a large intricate clay mural depicting life on the Seacoast with swirls and sea life patterns throughout the tiles. Artist Rob Rossel led the student group though the steps necessary to work raw clay into a beautiful work of art. The mural was displayed for one year at the Portland Children’s Museum. Recently, ETL students journeyed to NYC to present half of the two-paneled mural to supporter Oscar Plotkin.

Currently, ETL is collaborating with Betty’s Dream residents in the art program, “Wonders of Our World” (Betty’s Dream is a fully accessible multi residence complex designed to accommodate adults with physical disabilities). Residents painted images representing special things in their lives. The images were also painted onto quilt squares for a quilt to be auctioned at a Silent Auction during an October ETL fundraiser. The received funds help to sustain an art program combined with a Mentoring program at Betty’s Dream whose residents are training to become Mentors for ETL students. Fifteen quilt squares were created by 12 of 26 Betty’s Dream residents. ETL and residents at Betty’s Dream are involved in a water-color course and landscape painting. A number of residents are planning to participate in the Branching Out Transitional Mentoring Program and will be inspirational role models for ETL students.

Employment Network for Ticket to Work: ETL has been awarded a contract by Social Security to become an Employment Network for Ticket to Work holders. The age bracket served by this program through ETL is 18-25 years old.

Contact person: Linda Higgins, Executive Director, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (207)439-0058

Address:

518 Route 1, Landmark Hill Kittery, ME 03904 (See a map)

Web Site: http://www.hubpages.com/hub/ethelstreeoflife

Directions:

The office of Ethel's Tree of Life, Inc. is located at Landmark Hill in Kittery. Travel north on Route 1, past the Kittery Outlet Malls. Landmark Hill is on the right, before York. Entrance is in the back of the front building, first front door on the right.   Nearest Bus Stop: Unknown

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