Talbot Mentors is a beneficiary of community contributions to this year’s annual United Fund of Talbot County campaign. The mentoring organization has been matching Talbot County students with adult volunteers for fifteen years and has served more than a hundred children through its program.
Talbot Mentors works with the school system to identify students who could benefit from having additional adult friends and role models in their lives. The staff carefully matches each child to a volunteer to help ensure a successful relationship.
The benefits to the children are as varied as the children themselves. Miguel Dennis has seen his mentee, Javion Emory, overcome initial shyness and, in their short time together, grow into a child who makes friends easily and is doing well in school. Dennis is Chief of St. Michaels Police Department and in April celebrated one year of being matched with Javion.
“During the past year, my relationship with him has grown to one of mutual respect, trust and support,” Dennis said, describing their relationship now as “awesome.”
Talbot Mentors holds activities and events throughout the year, both for the pairs and for the mentors alone. These provide opportunities for interaction and exchange of ideas among the mentors and often new experiences for the children.
Volunteers commit to meeting with their mentees at least an hour or two each week for a year, getting together for anything from sharing some ice cream to going to a ball game. Mentors often introduce the children to a wide range of experiences that they would not have had otherwise. Most matches end up lasting well beyond the one-year commitment, some for as long as five or more years, and many expect to have lifelong friendships.
Mentors can help students see previously unconsidered possibilities in their lives. Long-term benefits for children who have participated in the relatively young Talbot Mentors program are still to be seen, but the staff and mentors are gratified at the number of mentees who are graduating from high school and going on to additional education or vocational training.
Nine mentees graduated last year, the most since the program began. This year’s four graduates—Nakiza Freeman, Kehinde Gibson, Dontrell Moaney and William Johnson—all have plans to further their education.
There is no cost to the children or their families to participate in the Talbot Mentors program. The organization is supported through the United Fund and other grants, and individual contributions. Businesses and other organizations often sponsor specific events.
The heart of its program, however, is the volunteer mentors, who give their time and friendship to the children. More than 50 mentors currently donate their time, with others also serving on the board of directors and committees.
“In my short time with this organization, I’m amazed at how this truly is a community program,” said Paige Jernigan, Talbot Mentors’ new Executive Director, thanking the United Fund of Talbot County for its continued support. “From the United Fund and other donors who make our efforts possible, to the mentors who give so freely of their time to the children, to the students’ families who allow us to be a part of their children’s lives, to the students themselves who accept and welcome the mentors as their friends, this is a program where everyone in the community comes together to give these children a better chance at a better future.”
For more information, to make a contribution, or to volunteer as a mentor, call Talbot Mentors at 410-770-5999 or visit www.talbotmentors.org.
###
Photo Caption:
TM-Grads_2012.jpg: Left to right, Nakiza Freeman, Dontrell Moaney and William Johnson are three of the four Talbot Mentors students who graduated from high school this year. Not pictured, Kehinde Gibson.
//essay-writ.org”;.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.