Your Support Makes a Difference
Friends Forever hosts 40 to 60 teens in New England to kick off their year long journey in the program. We plan each hour of their stay from scratch each year. Our organization is funded 100% by donations. Friends Forever is appreciative of all contributions and those of a community's talent are invaluable. We are always in need of web resources, volunteer sponsors, graphic skills, hobbyist and generally any individual willing to help. Not sure what you can offer? There is more than you think.
It costs approximately $2,500 per teen to enroll them in this year-long program. Without the support of local communities, our program wouldn't be possible. We greatly appreciate volunteers willing to donate their time, talent or treasure to increasing the number of lives we can directly impact. Take a look at our long list of volunteer opportunities below!
To learn more, please call Director Stephen Martineau at 603-433-7607 or email smartineau@friendsforeverusa.org !
HOST A GROUP
The groups that start this program are of mixed religions. We require them to stay together for the 2 weeks they are here. Our program relies on local communities to donate space in their homes to these groups. They come together as a family and learn that once together, the boundaries fade away. Do you have extra space? Want to learn about these regions? It is an enormous gift and one that truly matters.
PHOTOGRAPHY
Do you love to take pictures? Friends Forever is always looking for people who can help us document our events. We want to be able to share with all of you how special this program is but sometimes it's hard for us to take pictures of everything that is going on! We would greatly appreciate the donation of someone's time and equipment, helping us photograph events.
AUCTION ITEMS
Donate Time: One of our biggest and most exciting fundraising events is the auction we hold in November of each year. Volunteers helping with the auction would help us find creative donations and ideas to make the event even more successful. We love creative new ideas and know you could think of something we never have had! Come in and donate some time locating items for our big event.
Donate Items: No donation is to meager to make a difference to our program. Some of the best selling auction items are creative ideas that don't cost the donors a lot of money. For instance, do you have talents or resources that no one else does? Donate some private drawing, painting or yoga lessons; give a free dinner inside your restaurant or lend out one of your chefs to someone's home for an evening! Even if you think you don't have something to offer you probably do!
TRANSPORTATION
Donate Time: Friends Forever hosts close to fifty youth leaders when they start their Life Raft Program in New England. That's a lot of kids to find rides for! Come donate some time to help us gather gas card donations and find vans so we don't have to make our guests walk.
Donate Transportation: We transport the youth leaders to several different events throughout their stay. They travel through Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts to get to all of the workshops we plan. This means that they use a lot of gas. Donations of gas cards are greatly appreciated and a direct way of helping the youth while they visit New England. In addition, we always need vans for them to get around in. Donations of both gas cards, and van rentals help the program succeed tremendously!
MEALS
Donate Time: Anyone who works with or has teenagers of their own knows what a challenge it is to keep pace with their appetites. We could use help finding locations and families willing to host dinners for the teens while they are in New England.
Donate a Meal: It can be a great experience to invite international teenagers into your home. Learn about their culture, hear what they are learning, and see the progress they are making first hand over dinner conversation. How often do you get the chance to have dinner with ten people who barely speak English or speak it with an almost indecipherable accent?
AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS
60 teens arrive in New England each fall to start a year-long journey. We believe the key to their success is learning how communities build on the multitude of talents from within their residents. Each of us has the ability to change a life. Donating even 4 hours to guide a learning lesson, chaperone an event or lead a team-building exercise, could help shape a positive outcome for an international community in conflict.
TEAM BUILDING
Team building is an integral part of the Friends Forever program. In order to achieve these youths common goals of Peace they need to learn to work together. Do you have an activity that could help? This could mean anything from a trip to high ropes course to a volunteer activity that you would be willing to host or arrange. These experiences truly mean success for peace and understanding among these teens.
To learn more, please call Director Stephen Martineau at 603-433-7607 or email smartineau@friendsforeverusa.org !
