Norma K. Darragh, Executive Director of Shepherds, Inc., will address the Senior Men's Club of New Canaan in Morrill Hall at St. Mark's Church on Friday, June 8th at 10:00 AM. She will be accompanied by Shepherds' President, Timothy J. Stuart, and Wendy Morgan, one of Shepherds' inaugural students. They will explain how Shepherds' Sponsor/Mentor relationship helps at-risk people reach their highest academic and personal potential.
The Shepherds Program is a grassroots, nondenominational nonprofit organization, founded in Fairfield County, that provides inner city Connecticut youth who are “at-risk” -- financially, emotionally or environmentally -- with a quality college preparatory education in a non-public high school environment.
Founded in 1998 with five students at one pilot school in Bridgeport, the Program has changed the lives of more than 220 deserving young people from Bridgeport, Danbury, Middletown, New Haven and Stamford, whom Guidance Counselors fear would 'fall through the cracks' in an inner city public high school, ending their cycle of poverty and opening the doors to brighter futures.
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Shepherds' unique Sponsor/Mentor relationship has a proven track record. Individual benefactors, foundations and corporations support student tuition. Each student is paired with a Mentor who works, one-on-one, to fill a void in these young people's lives, providing direction, encouragement and support over the four-year journey, helping students reach their full academic and personal potential. To-date, 156 students -- most first-generation to dream of college -- have earned their high school diplomas in areas where dropout rates soar as high as 44.6%. More than 90% of Shepherds students have pursued higher education. The impact is far-reaching, affecting not only the students, but their families and their communities as well.
Timothy J. Stuart was a 22-year career veteran of the Louis Dreyfus Group where he founded, was President of Louis Dreyfus Energy Services, and later was COO of LDH Energy, a joint-venture between Louis Dreyfus and JPMorgan Chase. Stuart has a B.A. in Economics and Politics from Washington and Lee University and an M.A. in International Relations from Syracuse University. He was a member of the U.S. Peace Corps and has been President of Shepherds, Inc. since 2001.
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Wedney Morgan, a young man who grew up in “The Hollow” in Bridgeport, Connecticut, was one of the five inaugural Shepherds students to graduate from Kolbe Cathedral in 2002. Awarded the Maximilian Kolbe Award for leadership and service, Wedney earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont in 2006. He is currently employed at Kohler Ronan LLC with offices in Danbury and Manhattan, and has returned to his alma mater as a Shepherds Mentor.
To learn more about making a marked difference in the life of a disadvantaged young person, please call Shepherds at: 203.367.4273, email info@shepherdsinc.com, or visit their website: www.shepherdsinc.com.
The Senior Men's Club of New Canaan is open for new members. Applicants are especially welcome to attend this meeting. Visit www.smcnc.org for more information or call Membership Chairman Jerry Transue at 203-966-6050.
