Watch our tribute to Frank!

Watch our tribute to Very Merry Theatre!

Watch our tribute to Jenna!

Watch our tribute to Dealer.com!

Watch our tribute to Hunter! (slightly edited for consideration to social media policy of youth)

 

The 4th annual High Five Appreciation Awards Celebration on November 13 honored our volunteers, our staff, our donors, our youth, and our community partners. Without these 5 critical constituent groups, King Street Center would not be the vibrant community it is today.

Thank you Farmhouse Group, Dedalus Wine Shop, Jeh Kulu, VT Audio Visual, and Julie Richards, our photographer, for helping to make this evening even more special. Check out the photos here!

Community Partner, Very Merry Theatre is a performing arts organization now headquartered at 20 Allen St. at the Old North End Community Center with vibrant summer programs in Burlington & Charlotte.  Very Merry works throughout the school year in our local schools to give kids an opportunity to shine. Don, Ashley and their team have welcomed King Street Center kids with open arms into their shows – from Pinocchio to Frozen. Each week, you’ll find our Education Director, Deena Murphy, driving children to their play rehearsals – most recently for Winnie the Pooh! This experience is truly priceless

Staff member, Frank Zavadil has been such an important part of the King Street Center staff family for nearly 20 years. He’s had just about every job in the building, and shows an unquenchable thirst for learning and growing as a professional. While he was one of our strongest classroom teachers, he always had a knack and curiosity for helping to keep our former building in one piece. A little duct tape here, clean up from a flood there… Now in this gorgeous new facility, Frank is officially our Facilities Director. A caregiver to all of us, he takes great pride in keeping our building safe, compliant, and in a condition that shows respect to our kids, families, volunteers, and staff. Thank you, Frank, for doing all of this with so much heart.

Wayne Pastore and Kate Vetter represented Dealer.com, this year’s honoree for important donor. Wayne recently joined our Board of Directors and has already started to roll up his sleeves to help grapple with our strategic plan, workforce development, and program quality. As Vice President and General Manager of Dealer.com, Wayne values the importance of local investment in the community and the support of Dealer.com has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Kate Vetter has been a partner to King Street Center from our early years in the first Woody Classic in 2013 through our 6th Annual Backyard Classic just this past July. Kate mobilizes volunteers to work with our kids one-on-one and as groups to bring an extra boost of energy to our events and for special occasions for our kids. Kate gets things done!

Hunter Townsend has been a volunteer with King Street Center since 2013. As a retired educator, he brings great insight models it for all of us in your relationships with kids. We value his work as a mentor and as a tutor. We appreciate his leadership on our Mentoring Advisory Committee and we especially love how he tries to teach kids about the value of service in the community.

Jenna Rogienski-Michalski is the youth High Five honoree this year. Jenna is a junior at Burlington High School. She is a very active participant in our Teen Program. She came to mind immediately when staff was selecting this year’s High Five winner. We love how she is kind, friendly and inclusive to all, including staff and youth in different programs, and models appropriate behavior/social skills for younger teens. We love to see her shine in our special DJ Camp & Skateboarding with Friends for A-Dog. She is an active participant in “Chicks on Sticks” with volunteers from UVM, and she an important voice in our Girls Group. She is always willing to try new things with a positive attitude.