Welcome

The Because Project asks Vermonters to share their stories about people and experiences that have shaped their lives, especially during their formative years — stories that may inspire others to get involved. Because together, we can all make a difference.

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success. VCTF believes that "Community creates good kids." Engaged parents, outstanding teachers and involved community members create opportunities for children to learn, to be inspired and to thrive.

VTCF is partnering with Kids VT, Vermont's only parenting magazine. Kids VT will publish one story each month in its magazine and on its website.

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Because Project: Former Governor James Douglas

"I developed an interest in doing charity work because of the Boston Red Sox."

BY JAMES DOUGLAS

The exciting turnaround season of the World Champion 2013 Boston Red Sox brings back my childhood memories of New England's team. I recall attending games at Fenway Park with my dad even before I could understand what baseball was all about. I also remember being intrigued by the team's official charity, the Jimmy Fund, an effort dedicated to helping children with cancer.

While still in elementary school, I decided to organize a fundraiser for the Jimmy Fund in our yard. I charged my family and neighbors modest fees to take their chances at games of skill, such as throwing a bean bag at a target. I raised less than $10, but I received a very nice letter from the Fund thanking me for my efforts and explaining that every amount, no matter how small, helped the cause.

That experience cemented my affinity for the Red Sox. Years later, as governor of Vermont, I had the opportunity to meet Mike Andrews, the all-star second baseman who has served as chairman of the Jimmy Fund for nearly three decades. I even got to throw the first pitch at Fenway — yes, I was nervous, but it crossed the inside corner of the plate at the knees.

More importantly, though, my first Red Sox-inspired fundraiser contributed to my interest in charitable endeavors later in life. I've helped with a host of fund-raising campaigns since then, often as a board member for nonprofit organizations. Before getting into government full time, I served as the executive director of the United Way of Addison County. I'm currently helping to raise money for the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation and am honorary cochair of the capital campaign for Lund, a nonprofit serving Vermont's pregnant or parenting teens and women, adoptive families, and children.

I've learned that charitable efforts reward the donor as much as the recipient — there's a real sense of accomplishment when a goal is achieved or someone's life is improved.

Over the years, baseball and helping those in need have become two of my favorite pastimes. I can't think of a better combination. Go Sox!

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Because Project: Katharine Montstream

"I became an artist because of my elementary school art teacher."

BY KATHARINE MONTSTREAM

Elementary school in the '60s was hard for me. I was painfully shy, lacked confidence and dressed like a ragtag tomboy. My mom even made me wear a top with "My name is Katharine" hand-embroidered across the front so teachers wouldn't call me "Kathy" — she hated that nickname. To make matters worse, I was terrible at kickball and was among the last ones picked for every team.

As a kid, I mostly wanted to be running through backyards, catching frogs at Beaver Brook and making mud pies with my neighborhood friends. The only thing I loved more than playing outside was painting and drawing. And that was because of Ms. Pescatello, my elementary school art instructor and hero.

Ms. Pescatello was the coolest. She was young and had flipped-up blonde hair with long bangs. She wore the latest platform shoes and drove the most amazing Volkswagen Beetle. She was a free-spirited, bell-bottom-wearing hippie artist, and I would listen and hang on her every word.

While I found algebra, chemistry and classes with long book assignments difficult, I loved my art classes. They were a place of solace and calm. In a world where kids could be mean and exclusive, everyone was respected in Ms. Pescatello's art room. She would assign a project, and I would start in with gusto. When other students struggled, they would get up and slowly walk by to see what I was working on. It was the only time I felt cool in school.

Ms. Pescatello worked hard. In the summertime, she offered art classes from her home. I was lucky; my parents saw that I had some natural ability for painting, and signed me up for every one of them.

In one class, we focused on contour drawing. With a random cereal box in front of us, we would take a marker and draw it. The rule was, you couldn't look down, and there had to be a small dot of marker every inch or so, proving you didn't just run the marker without studying the cereal box in a slow, methodical way. There was no guessing the way Tony the Tiger's whiskers were shaped. You had to look hard and draw.

I sometimes think art saved me. Ms. Pescatello's lessons gave me hope and purpose, in and outside of school. I kept taking art classes and, soon after college, I was showing and selling paintings. I never thought I would become an artist and make a living, but it happened. For this, I am so grateful to my parents for their support and, of course, to my favorite art teacher.

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.The Because Project asks Vermonters to share their stories about people and experiences that have shaped their lives, especially during their formative years — stories that may inspire others to get involved. Because together we can all make a difference.

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Tags: Because Project, arts and crafts, education

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Friday, October 4, 2013

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The Because Project: Governor Peter Shumlin

"I learned how to read because of a teacher named Claire Ogelsby."

BY PETER SHUMLIN

On January 7, 2011, as I was sworn in as Vermont's 81st governor, I recalled my mom saying that, in my grade-school years, it seemed more likely that I would struggle to find a job than that I would run for office.

I was a kid who learned differently. In the second grade, I was called to the principal's office with my parents, where they were told what I already knew — that despite all their good efforts, my teachers could not teach me how to read. The prospects of my being a successful student and going to college were dim, they were told. That was not a great day.

Fortunately, I had one teacher who believed in me: Claire Ogelsby. She later became Vermont's teacher of the year. After a long day at school, Claire loaded me into her Willys Jeep and took me to her log cabin deep in the woods on Windmill Hill Road in Westminster West. In warm weather, we sat on her lawn; in cold weather, we huddled around the woodstove. There, slowly and creatively, she taught me how to read.

What I remember best about Claire was that no matter how difficult the challenge, no matter how innovative she had to be or how hard she had to work, she never gave up on me. Therefore, neither did I.

Though Claire passed away shortly before I became governor, I feel that she is always with me. Thanks to her belief in me, I learned to view my learning differences as strengths. Now, when I speak with others with learning difficulties, I let them know that with creativity and hard work, we can all overcome our challenges.

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

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Tags: Because Project, mentoring, education

Monday, July 8, 2013

The Because Project: Don Wright

"I lead a creative life because of my mother."

BY DON WRIGHT

Don Wright is the founder of youth-theater company Very Merry Theatre.

Moms obviously play a critical role in all of our lives, but my mother, Nancy Means Wright, has probably been the most influential person in mine.

My mother is a writer; she's published 18 books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. When my three siblings and I were growing up in the '50s and '60s, both she and my father were teachers at Proctor Academy, a prep school in Andover, N.H. There was a very old-school headmaster there who didn't think women should teach English, so my mother taught French and served as the drama director.

We lived at the school during the academic year but spent summers and holidays at our ramshackle house in Cornwall, Vt. My mother used to leave books at the ends of our beds — great, age-appropriate stories that were absolutely seminal — from The Hobbit to Johnny Tremain to The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. She'd check to see if we were done, and when we were, we would find another book at the end of the bed.

She directed three plays a year at the school. Whenever a scene called for kids, she would toss us onstage. She did the same with our pets. At Very Merry Theatre, the Vermont theater company I founded, we often gather the kids together and tell them stories. One of my favorite stories to tell is about the time our family cat peed in an actress' lap in the middle of a show, and how she handled it and the show went on. Of course, the kids just love that.

Mom would use our furniture, too. I always knew one of her plays was getting close when I came home from school and the couch was gone.

Growing up this way kindled my passion for storytelling, which is what fuels the work I do now.

My mother is also a really strong feminist. She went down to Washington to march against the Vietnam War and was very engaged in the civil rights movement. I grew up in an environment where it wasn't OK to accept the status quo. I had to think critically about the world. That mindset is very helpful when it comes to making art.

My mother didn't have an easy childhood herself. She was 10 years younger than her next youngest sibling. Her father died when she was 10, and her mom started working as a "house mom" at boarding schools and summer camps. They moved around the East Coast living a bit of a gypsy life until my mom was 19 and went to Vassar. I think that made her self-sufficient and adaptable.

My mom has an unflagging passion for writing. She's 84 now and has a new book coming out. She still gets up every morning and writes. She taught me that you can choose to lead a creative life and sustain yourself. She's inspiring.

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Because Project: Nancy Stearns Bercaw

"I found my voice because my father lost his."

BY NANCY STEARNS BERCAW

COURTESY OF NANCY STEARNS BERCAW

Bercaws and Alzheimer's disease are part of the same double helix. When my father was in medical school in the early 1960s, his father began forgetting. Watching my grandfather slowly and steadily lose his faculties solidified my dad's desire to become a neurologist. After Grandfather Bercaw's death in 1971, Beauregard Bercaw, M.D., asked the coroner for his dad's atrophied brain, and then placed it in a jar at the center of his office desk.

With Grandpa's gray matter as compass and crystal ball, my dad raised me to live fearlessly, to fight suffering and to face death.

Beau taught me to swim, at age 5, in an Alabama river strewn with cottonmouth moccasins. He took me, at age 9, to see the "freak show" in Florida — a lesson meant to convey that the people on display weren't the ones trapped by stereotypes. He showed me, at age 10, how to canoe through a lake full of alligators by hitting their snouts with the paddle. He instructed me, at age 12, on how to call for Bigfoot as we hiked through the Puerto Rican rain forest. He paid me, at age 15, to read books all summer long.

In turn, I rewarded Beau's efforts to strengthen my body and my mind.

When he was 45, I pleased him by getting a swimming scholarship to college. When he was 50, I took him on a hair-raising trip through rural Kenya in an old purple Jeep. Throughout his 60s, I wrote him long, detailed letters during my trips to Korea, Thailand, China, Nepal and India. When he was 71 and 72, I visited him in a memory-care facility in Florida. When he was 73, I thanked him for the lessons of a lifetime as he lay dying from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease.

I don't have my father's brain in a jar on my desk. But I do have a memoir about him, called Brain in a Jar, that rests on my coffee table. Because of it, the whole world can see how much he meant to me. And because our jarred-brain journey continues, my son can decide how to be in the event that my voice is lost, too.

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Friday, May 3, 2013

The Because Project: Janet Dupont

"I am an obstetric nurse and nurse educator because of the encouragement I received from my grandmother."

BY JANET DUPONT

In elementary school, I was a struggling student with poor self-esteem; I had trouble reading and barely passed first grade. Fortunately, I had a loving grandmother who valued education.

I grew up just outside of Philadelphia; my grandmother, Ellen Ward, lived in Ocean City, N.J., two hours away. I spent my summers with her — at the beach, the pool, the boardwalk.

My grandmother didn't get very far in school; she left after eighth grade to work and help support her family. Later, during the Great Depression, she raised four children while working day and night from home smocking dresses — that's a difficult and time-consuming embroidery technique that you don't often see these days. But she approached each day with a wonderful, positive attitude.

The summer I was 7, she encouraged me to read every day. That daily practice helped build my self-confidence and led me to love books. Slowly, as my reading skills improved, so did my grades. My grandmother's can-do attitude overpowered my fear of failure — and learning became a way of life for me.

My family moved to Vermont when I was 15. My confidence had grown, fueled by academic successes and my grandmother's unconditional love and encouragement. I graduated valedictorian of my high school class and went on to complete two bachelor's degrees, two master's degrees and, just recently, a PhD in nursing education.

My grandmother didn't live to see me graduate from nursing school. She was diagnosed with cancer and moved to Vermont while I attended the University of Vermont school of nursing; she died during my junior year. I helped take care of her in those last few years of her life. Even through her illness, she continued to encourage me to do my very best and to be my own person.

I've tried to follow her advice.

As a nurse, I was drawn to obstetrics; I've enjoyed a 26-year career working as an RN in the Birthing Center at Fletcher Allen Health Care. I feel fortunate to be able to help families during such a life-changing time and am thankful to have a job that I love.

I've also been teaching nursing at Vermont Technical College for 13 years. Just as my grandmother taught me to love learning, I hope to instill in my students a love for women's health and newborn care.

I married the man of my dreams, Butch DuPont, 23 years ago. We have two sons — Matthew, whose name means "God's gift," and John, named after my grandfather, John Ward. As they leave the nest, I look forward to filling it back up with grandchildren. I hope I can love and support them the way my grandmother loved and supported me.

The Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _________ because of __________." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Monday, April 22, 2013

The BeCause Project: Rusty DeWees, aka "The Logger"

I'm a performer because of Robert R. Ringer.

BY RUSTY DEWEES

The Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Because when I was 24, Robert Ringer cast me in my first nonmusical as Tilden in the Vermont Repertory Theater's production of Sam Shepard's A Buried Child. The part, play, his direction and I fit together perfectly. I fell hard.

Because he revived the rehearsal/performance space in Fort Ethan Allen that we called the Chapel, providing plaster and paint, duct tape, cleanser, a mop, brooms, hammers, and a cat's paw — and elbow grease, curiosity and passion.

Because he rented a dinged-up, loud, smelly, unreliable plug-in Salamander heater for the Chapel. A quarter century later, I can still smell it.

Because his rehearsals started ahead of schedule and ran late.

Because he looked like a play director (think Foster Brooks not in character).

Because he had a pet monkey.

Because he taught at Stowe Prep School back in the day when it wasn't cool to teach at a prep school.

Because he most always wore running sneaks, cords, a heavy black turtleneck and glasses that, when not set near the end of his nose, hung from a dime-store chain just below his neck.

Because he didn't direct when he directed.

Because during rehearsals, he'd often not watch the action. Instead, he'd sidestep gingerly, a few feet left, a few right, over and over, eyes closed, listening.

Because he allowed questions to answer themselves.

Because you welcomed his notes.

Because for him, the most important thing wasn't having fun.

Because for him, theater wasn't magic.

Because for him, theater was work.

Because his theater paid.

Because as you played, you'd hear his polite, mostly unsuccessful attempts to quell laughter.

Because during bows, you'd see — way back left in the balcony — his unmistakable silhouette clapping and raising a hand to his face to wipe tears.

Because post-show, his appreciation for the work completed was sincere and tender, but only subtly on display.

Because one day he told me about David Budbill's Judevine, which inspired "The Logger." "There's this play," he said. "It's like a Vermonter's Our Town. You'd be good in it."

Because, not too old, he died in a care home, a few months after my dad. Same care home as my dad. Six rooms separated them.

Because his wife and daughter and I are still close.

Because he'd often say, "I worked a lot with this great director who would always..." And I knew, in the future, I'd reference him that way.

Because more than two decades ago, working in Robert Ringer-directed plays spoiled me so that I've worked in just two plays since, and have scant desire and zero plans to work in another.

I would not bet against Bob Ringer's influence on me being the ultimate reason I make my living as a performer.

Because he said I could.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Welcome

Saturday, January 4, 2014

The Because Project: Former Governor James Douglas

"I developed an interest in doing charity work because of the Boston Red Sox."

Friday, November 1, 2013

The Because Project: Katharine Montstream

"I became an artist because of my elementary school art teacher."

COMMENTS (0)

Friday, October 4, 2013

The Because Project: Governor Peter Shumlin

"I learned how to read because of a teacher named Claire Ogelsby."

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Monday, July 8, 2013

The Because Project: Don Wright

"I lead a creative life because of my mother."

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _______ because of ______." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Because Project: Nancy Stearns Bercaw

"I found my voice because my father lost his."

The Vermont Children's Trust Foundation supports statewide prevention programs for children and families to help give all kids a fair chance at success.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _______ because of ______." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Friday, May 3, 2013

The Because Project: Janet Dupont

"I am an obstetric nurse and nurse educator because of the encouragement I received from my grandmother."

Monday, April 22, 2013

The BeCause Project: Rusty DeWees, aka "The Logger"

I'm a performer because of Robert R. Ringer.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _______ because of ______." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.

Submit your stories for the Because Project! Email them to fagan@vtchildrenstrust.org. Submissions should be 300 to 600 words long and respond to the prompt "I am/decided to/learned to _ because of ." Kids VT will feature one of these stories in each issue.