{"id":1317168,"date":"2019-12-08T14:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T21:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/?p=991610"},"modified":"2019-12-09T10:36:06","modified_gmt":"2019-12-09T17:36:06","slug":"buddy-program-builds-bonds-with-gingerbread-in-carbondale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/buddy-program-builds-bonds-with-gingerbread-in-carbondale\/","title":{"rendered":"Buddy Program builds bonds with gingerbread in Carbondale"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Santa” assists gingerbread house construction at the Buddy Program’s event at the Third Street Center in Carbondale Dec. 7.<\/strong>
Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Who better to help build your dream gingerbread house than Santa?<\/p>\n

More than 50 children, and dozens of mentors and high school-age volunteers, filled the auditorium at the Third Street Center Saturday to build gingerbread houses, and, hopefully, relationships to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

The event was part of the Buddy Program\u2019s weekend of gingerbread house events in Aspen and Carbondale.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
An excited pair rush into The Third Street Center to decorate gingerbread houses as part of the Buddy Program\u2019s annual event in Carbondale Dec. 7.<\/strong>
Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The gingerbread event \u201cstarted in Aspen with Helen Fifield as the hostess to decorate the houses. Jim Fifield, her husband, helped us with the fundraising,\u201d said Lyndsay Lofaro, executive director of the Buddy Program.<\/p>\n

Seven years after those humble beginnings, the Buddy Program\u2019s gingerbread events have flourished.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, we raised over $100,000 in sponsorship for the whole weekend,\u201d Fifield said.<\/p>\n

The goal of the event is \u201cto be together, have fun, and have no barriers to that fun,\u201d Lofaro said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Gingerbread-GPI-120919-3<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This is the second year the event has come to Carbondale\u2019s Third Street Center, for the \u201cbuddy\u201d pairs down-valley.<\/p>\n

 \u201cOur goal is to help them improve their self-esteem, make sure they\u2019re making healthy choices in their lives, (that) they\u2019re connected to school, and staying in school, and also connected to adults in the community who care about them,\u201d Lofaro said.<\/p>\n

The Buddy Program began in Aspen in 1973, and gradually has spread its mentoring programs to surrounding communities.<\/p>\n

The Buddy Program helps more than 400 kids per year, according to Lofaro.<\/p>\n

The gingerbread decoration events are part of the youth mentoring programs within the Buddy Program. Some young people are paired with adults to meet monthly, and others, weekly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny activities we can provide to our big and little buddies to do, at no charge, is really helpful,\u201d Lofaro said.<\/p>\n

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Dozens of volunteers assisted to help students and mentors find sugary materials for gingerbread houses, and wrap the finished creations for transport.<\/strong>
Gingerbread-GPI-120919-4<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Decorating gingerbread houses also gives the students a chance to build relationships with others within mentoring pairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt connects them to each other. It connects them to the bigger community of buddies,\u201d Lofaro said.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Students and mentors joined to decorate gingerbread houses as part of the Buddy Program\u2019s second annual Carbondale event Dec. 7. The Buddy Program has hosted Aspen gingerbread decorating events for 7 years.<\/strong>
Gingerbread-GPI-120919-5<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

It also allows the students to stretch creative muscles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it gives the kids an opportunity to think about art in a different way,\u201d Lofaro said.<\/p>\n

tphippen@postindependent.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Santa” assists gingerbread house construction at the Buddy Program’s event at the Third Street Center in Carbondale Dec. 7.Thomas Phippen \/ Post Independent Who better to help build your dream gingerbread house than Santa? More than 50 children, and dozens of mentors and high school-age volunteers, filled the auditorium at the Third Street Center Saturday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-06 10:10:46","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317180,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317168\/revisions\/1317180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}