By Jessica Lawson | Co-Founder
Dear friends,
We're excited to update you on the status of the "Snack Shack" at The Mariposa Center for Girls. This past spring a group of student volunteers from Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts spent a week at our center building a roadside stand for the girls to set up their business. Additionally we had a dedicated volunteer who spent six weeks training the girls on business skills and safe food preparation to prepare for a soft opening.
We ran a pilot over the summer selling smoothies, sandwiches and snacks to visitors, volunteers and people passing by. We are still working on raising more captial to keep the business open year round and generate enough income so that the girls working can earn a decent salary. We hope to have a volunteer and additional funding come in the new year to keep the project up and running!
One Mariposa in particular has taken a very special interest in working at the shack. Vivianna is 14 years old and has discovered her passion for the restaurant business. "I learned how to garden and grow food here at the Center last year. I can now grow the food, make recipes and create the menu and I want to own a restaurant when I graduate - or run the cooking school right here at Mariposa!" Once the resources are in place, our plan is to help Vivianna grow into a leadership position at this business and follow her passion.
This exciting project at the Center provides a great opportunity for our girls to gain real world work experience in a safe, learning environment. Volunteers will continue to work side by side with the girls, helping them to develop business skills including inventory managment, basic accounting, customer service, teamwork and leadership.
As we grow, our goal is to become more self-sustaining. The Snack Shack will bring more visitors to the Center, allow our girls the opportunity to earn their own income and provide them with great resume building experience. Because of your generosity we working to create an interactive learning environment and our girls are not just thriving, they are excelling. Amazing things are happening at The Mariposa Center for Girls and we look forward to sending you more updates soon!
With gratitude,
The girls, families, volunteers and staff at The Mariposa DR Foundation
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