The efforts of volunteer mentors throughout the nation are being honored in January during National Mentoring Month. The annual event celebrates the positive effects that mentoring has on young lives and provides opportunities to recognize the service of mentors, for mentees to thank the adults who enrich their lives, and to promote mentoring within local communities.
Talbot Mentors has been making a difference in the lives of Talbot County students since 1997. Each year during National Mentoring Month, the organization features one of its mentoring pairs who exemplify the joys and rewards the relationships bring to both adult and child. Its 2014 featured match is mentor Kathleen Franke and her mentee LaDaisia Lewis.
Franke first volunteered to be a mentor in 2005, when she was matched with Lewis, then eight years old. “In the beginning, I didn’t think much of it,” admitted Lewis, a not-unusual response for a child suddenly brought together with an unfamiliar adult, no matter how well intentioned.
However, Talbot Mentors offered and continues to provide opportunities to mentors for ways to share time with their mentees and build the relationships. Many activities Franke and Lewis enjoyed involved giving students the chance to help others, such as serving dinner to cancer survivors at the Relay For Life or singing carols and socializing with seniors at Dixon House.
Simply getting together and talking can be as important to both the mentor and child as organized activities. “As Daisia reached middle school,” said Franke, “we spent more time chatting over meals and discussing the ups and downs of the early teen years.”
“As time went on,” Lewis said, “I realized that not only do I have a mentor, I have a friend, a comforter, a diary, an advice giver, someone who supports me. She helps me through problems and is someone that is always there when I need to just get away and have a fun time.”
Lewis is now a senior at St. Michaels High School and hopes to attend college. With a busy school schedule, other activities like Women’s Choir and a part-time job, she still finds time to get together with Franke for concerts and exercising at the YMCA.
Talbot Mentors’ Partners In Art program has provided additional opportunities for new experiences together as they have met local artists who work with the students to share their skills and create pieces of art. “Having such talented people donate their time and talents has been a definite asset,” Franke enthused about the program.
Yet, regardless of the activities available in support of the relationships, their success still comes down to the one-on-one time that the volunteer mentors give to the children.
Lewis is thankful for the difference Franke has made in her life. “I wouldn’t trade her for the works,” said Lewis, “and if it wasn’t for Talbot Mentors, I would not have met such a wonderful person. Anyone who wants to make a difference in a child’s life or anyone who needs a true friend, I suggest they join Talbot Mentors, because they have changed my life for the better.”
Adds Franke, “Just like being a parent, mentoring is not always easy. However, to be a part of a young person’s life and watch them grow from a child to a young adult is priceless.”
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.
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