We recently held a volunteer appreciation event--an evening at a local pub to thank and celebrate our volunteers--mentors, board members, golf committee members, and other volunteers who help us help youth reach their full potential. New mentors chatted with mentors who had been matched for a while, getting advice and encouragement. (Mentoring is an investment and the influence of a mentor is not usually immediately apparent.) Mentors talked with and thanked Darren, who volunteers to take the professional photographs of our Friendships. (It's such a fun experience for the mentors and mentees to be photographed in the GAP studio.) Many stories were told and mentees were quoted. They express the importance of mentors in their lives more powerfully than anyone. Here are a few:
“Thank you for being in my life and not judging me from the start. Thank you for being there when I needed someone to listen to me.”
“I have noticed changes in myself since meeting with Mentor. I’m making better choices for myself now. She is a big help, I give her a lot of credit.”
"I would want to be a mentor to a youth when I’m older because of what he has done for me. He has turned me around. I would want to help a kid one day get on the right road."
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