Mentor Story Project: Board Member Rob

This is the first installment of a series called the Mentor Story Project. Each week a new Friends for Youth champion will be featured with his or her mentoring story. Some stories are about mentoring with Friends for Youth, others are about informal mentoring experiences.

Who Did I Mentor?

My name: Rob.

Years with Friends for Youth: First matched in December 1989.

Name of Junior Friend: Marvin.

Years we have been friends: We stayed together for about 6-7 and lost touch after that.  We reconnected a few years ago.

Where we met: Our first meeting was with Program Coordinator Mia Keating who matched us at a Denny's in Daly City. Our first outing was to Alcatraz.

Age difference 13 years.

What we liked to do together:  It has been a while since we were first matched, but we went to the movies, swimming (taught him how to dive into a pool), made dinner at my place.  I brought him to an Oracle-sponsored food sort and even had him come to meet with Oracle employees when we had on campus recruiting events for potential Senior Friends.

Something I won't forget: Marvin mentioned at an Oracle recruiting event that my spending time with him saved his life, but I wouldn't say that; all we did was just spend time together doing things we both enjoyed.

Most important thing I learned: My original thought was that we could focus on his studies and be able to get him moving in a good  direction toward turning his school work around so he would go to high school and then, hopefully college. It turns out that wasn't as important as just being together on a regular basis.  Eventually he was incorporated into my family and although I spoke limited Spanish at that time, felt much closer to his mother as well.  I definitely got much more out of being a Senior Friend than I ever thought possible.

"Friends for Youth does an amazing job of matching people from different worlds and creating an environment where both parties are destined to succeed."

Pumpkin carving was so fun!

Last night 10 Junior Friends and 5 Oracle volunteers demonstrated their creativity and Halloween spirit by carving pumpkins together. Some of the volunteers had never carved pumpkins, and so Junior Friends helped show them how!

There were a variety of designs employed by the artists. There were scary ghosts, surprised jack-o-lantern faces, and a good number of San Francisco Giants-inspired designs. Especially popular was an outline of injured Giants closer Brian Wilson's hat and beard.

Thank you to Oracle for carving, providing dinner, and especially for learning with us! Thank you to the Police Activities League for providing the space, and thank you to Grocery Outlet for donating the beautiful pumpkins!

GO GIANTS

Friends for Youth loves baseball and is so excited for the Giants to be in the World Series!

With two highly successful Bay Area teams surging into the playoffs this year, Friends for Youth was been lucky enough to send more than 20 Friendships to games on both sides of the bay over the course of the season.

Friends for Youth deeply appreciates the opportunity that both the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants gave to the youth in its program to experience live baseball. This season baseball has been the go-to pastime for Friendships, and we’re so lucky to have that pastime continue for another week!

Welcome, Josh, new intern for the Mentoring Institute

Hello friends! My name is Josh and I'm the new Communications Intern at the Friends For Youth Mentoring Institute. I have just recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and am currently aspiring to break into the field of public relations and communications. I’m proud to be a part of Friends For Youth and everything that they stand for because I believe mentorship can have a long lasting positive impact on a person’s life.

Some of my hobbies include listening to music, playing basketball, running, baking, and cooking. I’m a bit of a nut when it comes to health and nutrition. If I’m not at my desk performing social media-related tasks, I’m probably out exercising with my headphones on.

[We're happy to have you here, Josh, and look forward to working with you! - Sarah Kremer, Program Director]

Thank You Nordstrom Rack!

Friends for Youth wants to say "Thank You" to Nordstrom and especially to the Nordstrom Racks in East Palo Alto and Colma.  Both stores opened their doors and their hearts to Friends for Youth in the last month. With the United Way of the Bay Area, Friends for Youth presented to the staff at these Nordstrom stores regarding our mentoring program.

Additionally, in September Nordstrom Rack of Colma brought 10 volunteers to participate in UWBA's Week of Caring with Friends for Youth.

Nordstrom has been a fabulous partner and Friends for Youth looks forward to many more joint efforts to support our community!

Group Activity: Glass Blowing at Public Glass!

On Saturday morning a group of Friendships gathered at the San Francisco warehouse where Public Glass operates. It was a chilly, grey morning outside, but inside the heat of the furnaces made everything nice and toasty.

In the front of the studio various glass artists had tables displaying their art. There were all kinds of works, from large, intricately colored vases to tiny beadwork. There were festive holiday baubles and beautiful flat plates. Everything was colorful and everything was glass!


After seeing the artwork in front, we moved on to see where all those wonderful pieces were made. Glass artist and facilities manager Evan gave us a very thorough tour, telling us how glass may have first been discovered, showing us the various tools that are needed to shape and expand the glass, and finally sitting us down for a demonstration where an artist made a pumpkin at our request! (See picture).

Mentor Tip of the Week

Go to the park and have a picnic.  Make sandwiches ahead of time or pick up burritos on your way.   Depending on the spot you pick, you might play frisbee or fly a kite or go for a hike before or after.  If you bring an extra bag, you can pick up trash other than yours to help leave the park cleaner than you found it.  Have fun!

Meet Andrew, Our New Intern!

Hello, my name is Andrew and I am the new intern at Friends For Youth. I am a recent graduate from the University of California at Berkeley. At this moment, I am attempting to situate myself financially in hopes that I will find myself in grad school within the next two years. I am excited to be a part of the Friends For Youth organization because I am a firm believer that the youth possess the power to direct our world towards peace. Furthermore, it is our responsibility as adults to exercise patience and love in order to nurture the youth for the better.

As for hobbies, my list is lengthy and still growing! I enjoy outdoor activities such as biking, jogging, hiking, geocaching (never heard of it? I HIGHLY recommend Google-ing it!), swimming, and just being immersed in nature. In contrast, I can also spend hours on end inside with a long novel and a piping hot cup of tea. I am also a HUGE San Francisco sports fan. Here’s to another shot at the World Series!

Intern Perspective: The 25th Annual Peninsula Golf Challenge

By Neha Bhargava

This year Mother Nature was determined to compensate us for all the rain at last year’s event. Monday was an amazing sunny day, but it was unfortunately just a tad bit too hot. To enjoy the great day we had around 100 golfers at Sharon Heights Golf and Country Club. One golfer did a handstand in a bucket of ice water to keep cool on the course.

The fun out on the course was followed by a Silent and Live Auction which included items like tickets to the Grammys, Southwest Airlines tickets, vacation trips, and sports memorabilia. 5 friendships showed up to volunteer. They helped us sell prize "crackers" which we used instead of the prize balloons from the past due to the current, global helium shortage. 

One of the most memorable events of the night was our guest speaker Jeff Day who is a former junior friend himself. The night ended with a call for Friendship Pledges from all of our guests and a thank you to the volunteers, staff, and guests who made this event the success it has continued to be for 25 years.

Spotlight Friendship: Christian and Selim

Selim and Christian’s Friendship hit one year this September and man have they been busy! They really took advantage of Friends for Youth group activities and attended some great workshops too. One of the activities they attended include our Annual Holiday Party at Nothing But Hoops. They also participated in a Save the Bay Community Service event and Know Your Legal Rights, a workshop about peaceful interactions with the law. They learned about managing stress at a Life Skills Workshop and all the while found time to fit in rounds of mini golf, visits to the library and  even the arcade! They plan to continue meeting and having fun together!