TeamMates coordinators and staff are coming together this January to celebrate mentoring in Alliance.
January is National Mentoring Month. Nationwide, programs are honoring mentors for their service and the impact they’re making on youth. TeamMates is also celebrating 25 years of mentoring this year.
The Alliance Chapter currently has 45 matches in 6th through 12th grade, and is actively recruiting new board members, and new mentors to expand the program into lower grades and to impact even more students. If you are busy, successful, awesome adult, you qualify to impact a young person through mentoring.
“National Mentoring Month is a great time to raise awareness for the need for mentors in the lives of young people,” TeamMates Executive Director Suzanne Hince said. “Nearly one in three youth cannot identify a mentor in their life to whom they can look to for support and guidance. We also want to take the opportunity to thank the nearly 8,000 TeamMates Mentors who have answered the call to mentor and are giving back to the young people in their community. Their weekly gift of time is an investment in our future.”
The mission of the TeamMates Mentoring Program is to impact the world by inspiring youth to reach their full potential. TeamMates serves close to 8,000 youth in more than 140 communities across Nebraska, Wyoming, Kansas, and Iowa. Mentors meet with their mentees one-on-one in school, once a week, during the academic year.
Mentees can be nominated one of three ways. They can be nominated by a parent, a school staff member, or by self-nomination. Mentors are not tutors, counselors, nor are they there to “fix” anything – they’re there to be friends. Mentors are matched with mentees based on interests and life experiences.
For more information contact Alliance program coordinator Beth Trennepohl at 308-629-7007 or Alliance Chapter board president Dave Ocken at 308-760-6412