"I look at this as the scientific method. Let's be comfortable feeling like we can step out on a limb and try something and fail, and we know that it's
okay."
-Brian Squire, Elementary Program Manager

Our 2014 School Supplies Drive is underway!
For more than a decade, we have partnered with generous neighbors to purchase school supplies for children who might not otherwise have them.
This month adult and youth volunteers will support the drive by signing up students, collecting donations, packing items, and distributing bags of school supplies for more than 120 youth in our area.
Please help us ensure our students are ready for school by making a donation or dropping off new school supplies to the LCEC.
Donations can be made in one of three ways:
1. Donate online - under "comments" type "school supply drive"
2. Send in a donation to the LCEC - Please include "school supply drive" in the memo line
3. Drop off new supplies at the LCEC between 9:00am and 5:00pm through August 8th
Questions? Contact Cristina at cristina@LCECmadison.org or 608-833-4979 x224.

Celebrating Our Story - 35 Years of Neighbors Helping Neighbors
Thursday October 16th, 2014
6pm - 8pm
Lussier Community Education Center
55 S. Gammon Rd, Madison, WI
35 years ago, residents in Wexford Ridge came together to care for each other and their community. Their legacies form the roots that anchor the Lussier Community
Education Center's work today.
Join us as we celebrate their stories and the hundreds of people from all walks of life who continue to grow our Center into a vibrant and innovative force for learning and
community.
Interested in sponsoring this event? Discover your options by downloading our sponsor packet or contact Nina at nina@lcecmadison.org
or (608) 833-
4979 ext. 207.

To RSVP, email harvest@lcecmadison.org
or call Remy at 608-833-4979 ext.
208.
Each morning at 9:00 the Wexford Commons bustles with excitement as youth gather for LCEC summer camp. Whether it's elementary schoolers lining up to walk over to Memorial High School for swimming lessons, middle schoolers heading off to learn about robotics with UW Badger Bots, or high schoolers excited about visiting historically black colleges in Atlanta, the

LCEC summer camp is building lasting memories, day by activity-filled day.
Thank you to the Rotary Club of Madison West for their continued support of
Free LCEC Summer Camps and to all our friends, volunteers and supporters whose generosity makes it possible year after year! We truly couldn't do it without you - a full 50% of funding for our Summer Camps comes from
individuals like you. Together, let's continue making a difference for children in our community by giving them opportunities and experiences they'll remember for a lifetime.
It is not too late to give a child a summer to remember. Stop by the front
desk to donate today!
s Brian Squire joined our team as the Elementary Program Manager this June and hit

the ground running with Summer Camp! We sat down with Brian on a busy afternoon to learn more about his past, present, and future in youth work, and what
drew him to the LCEC.
How did you start working with kids?
In my sophomore year at UW Madison, I volunteered at WI Youth Company for a class. I asked to be paired with a student who had ADHD, because I have ADHD and I thought it would be a good pair for me - I could pass on some of the things I've learned about how to deal with it.
I was paired with a 4th grade boy who was having a really hard time making friends. As soon as he started losing a game like Candyland, he would knock it off onto the floor and ruin it for everyone. So we started a cooking club together - he was my sous chef, and he would help me plan the meals, and he would be in charge of giving out jobs each week. It helped because the kids got to see him in a successful role, versus always being frustrated, or always being angry.
Did he still have blow-ups? Yes, but there were less of them, and the kids started to play with him more. I joined the staff there at Thoreau Elementary in 1996, and I've been working with kids ever since.
What's new about Lussier for you?
I like that here at LCEC, it's about the community, and not just the program.
I'm used to being in afterschool programs where the school makes up the world.The world here is not just these kids, it's senior lunches, and yoga, and all of
the other things that are happening. For me now, it's about trying to learn how we can give to those programs, and what they can give to us. For example, how can we relate more with the senior lunches when they're here? What can that partnership look like?
Looking beyond that, one of the big things that I want to do is develop more partnerships in our neighborhood and our community. The Madison
Christian Community garden [where LCEC elementary Summer Camp kids learn to garden] is amazing - it's a great opportunity for the kids that's already built in. I'd like to see more opportunities like that during the summer, for

kids to choose things that they're interested in.
What is your approach to youth work?
My goal is to provide children with a safe place to make mistakes and learn from them. I look at this as the scientific method. Let's be comfortable feeling like we can step out on a limb and try something and fail, and we know that it's okay. The mistakes here are pretty safe. They're within our walls and within our sight. They can learn about peer pressure now, so that ten years from now if they're asked to get in a car with someone who has been drinking, they think "I know the right choice. I remember what I've learned, and this isn't the safe thing for me to do."
 LCEC on Television: Take a look at this two-minute video about our
Center that aired on CW-57 Madison!
 Free Legal Clinic: Sign up for a 30-minute consultation with an attorney
- every other Wednesday, 12:15pm-1:30pm. Please call (608) 833-4979 ext.
224 by 5pm the day before to sign up.
 Sponsor the 2014 LCEC Harvest Celebration: Learn more at the front desk