10 Years of Friendship Portraits from the Gap!

This week marks two milestones in Friends for Youth history as well as my own history with Friends for Youth. Last Saturday, we held our tenth annual Gap Portrait Day for Friendships. Darren Ferriera, a senior photographer with Gap, Inc., once again volunteered his services and the studio provided the space and equipment to create incredible portraits of our Senior and Junior Friends.

These images are not only important records for each Friendship but they also help us tell our story about the importance of mentoring relationships and how easy it is to be a mentor - can't you just see how much fun they're having together?

Monday marked my own tenth anniversary working at Friends for Youth. In 2001, I was hired as a Program Coordinator and spent the next four years working directly with our Senior and Junior Friends, their families, and referral agents. Six years ago, I became Program Director for our Mentoring Institute, where I share what we've learned and combine it with the latest research and Best Practices, delivering webinars, resources, trainings, an annual mentoring conference, and coalition support to programs nationally and internationally.

I hope the photographs express the care, concern, hope, and connection each of our mentors and mentees share with each other. It's been my driving motivation for improving mentoring relationships in all programs for the past 10 years!

Peninsula Golf Challenge

Our 24th Annual Peninsula Golf Challenge will be held at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club on October 3rd.  It's a first class event, a beautiful club, and a fabulous course.  Our biggest fundraiser of the year, the day includes 18 holes, lunch, dinner, and live and silent auctions.  Please visit our golf page to learn more, if you'd like to be a sponsor (Tee Sponsors are $200, Title Sponsorship is $25,000 and there are more in between.), or if you'd like to donate something for the auctions--hotel and restaurant gift certificates are always popular.  You can also register online.  We're looking forward to it and hope you can join us!

2011 Beach Extravaganza!

THE BEACH EXTRAVAGANZA WAS SO FUN!

Saturday, at Half Moon Bay State Beach, Friends for Youth gathered with many of its Friendships for a celebration of the beginning of summer.

There were delicious tamales, succulent watermelons, sweet cupcakes, devourable s'more cookies, addicting chips, a lovely homemade mango salsa, and three kinds of potato salad. The sixteen friendships that came ate. A lot.

To accompany all the food there were games, all sorts. Many Junior and Senior friends tried their luck with kites. The wind was strong and favorable, so the kites flew long and high. There were also board games like Jenga and Chinese Checkers, as well as soccer balls, kick balls and frisbees. The highlight of the Extravaganza, however, was a scavenger hunt.

The Beach Extravaganza Scavenger Hunt, devised by Maribel Zarate and Jonathan Cowgill, consisted of four major stages. First, Junior Friends paired up with their Senior Friends for a three legged race. Next, the Junior Friends competed in a sack race. After they completed the sack race, the Senior Friend had to answer a math question. A correct answer bought the pair a plastic egg with scavenger hunting instructions inside.

To the victors the spoils. Friendships got their pick of prize depending on how they placed in the scavenger hunt. Every Junior Friend received a prize!

Although the day started out cold and blustery, the sun came out for a while during the early afternoon, prompting a few Junior Friends to try their hand at fishing for kelp.

Summer 2011 Mentoring Challenge Announced

The Summer 2011 Mentoring Challenge

Friends for Youth is announcing its Summer 2011 Mentoring Challenge, a campaign launching May 2 to recruit a substantial number of new mentors for at-risk youth in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

The Mentoring Challenge comes at a critical time. Friends for Youth has experienced a surge in the number of youth referred for mentoring services, and thus has nearly 80 young people waiting to be matched with a mentor who will spend time with them. These boys and girls are struggling at home, in the community, and at school. They demonstrate an intense need for a positive adult in their lives.

Who Looks Up to You?

The Mentoring Challenge will feature the campaign slogan “Who Looks Up To You? Be a Mentor.” The campaign asks all adults to consider the immense impact they could have on a young person in need, simply by sharing what they know. The campaign will be disseminated through print, online, social and traditional advertising media.

Friends for Youth has been creating quality matches between at-risk youth and adults who care since 1979. The organization serves youth ages 8 – 17 on the Peninsula and South Bay who demonstrate the need for a positive adult role model in their lives.

Mentoring is Fun.

Friendships have fun together weekly, playing board games, attending sporting events, eating out, and doing anything else they can think up. Mentoring is about having a good time with a good friend. To find out more visit www.friendsforyouth.org.

How to Help

We will be updating ways to help every few weeks. This week: Follow us on Twitter, and retweet Friends for Youth's tweets