Kevin Durant is a Mentor!

Two weeks ago, NBA superstar of the Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant announced his partnership with My Brother's Keeper, Obama's mentoring initiative. In a letter that he posted to the White House website, Durant outlines the initiative's goal to provide mentors to at least 250,000 at-risk youth in the next two years. 

Durant understands the dire situation these youth live in, as he himself grew up in poverty in a single-parent household, raised mainly by his grandmother. His mother, as a hard-working woman with four children, had little time to spend with Durant. However, she made every effort possible to keep him off of the streets by putting him in after-school programs. It was in one of these programs that young Durant met his childhood coach and self-proclaimed mentor, to whom he attributes much of his professional success.

Watch Durant's White House PSA about how mentoring changes lives.

There are 16 million youth living in America that are growing up without a mentor. That is 1 out of 3 young people who don't have a trusted adult outside of immediate family who they can turn to for guidance and support. With just a little bit of your time, you can change the life of these youth. Learn more about how you can help make a difference on our website so you can join Obama and Kevin Durant in becoming a #MentorIRL.

Source: http://www.goldenstateofmind.com/2016/10/27/13439826/nba-2016-golden-state-warriors-kevin-durant-my-brothers-keeper-mentor-success-president-barack-obama
https://www.serve.gov/mentor

29th Annual Golf Tournament Was A Success!

What an amazing turnout at our golf tournament and dinner this year! It was a fun game of golf and a beautiful dinner and presentation, chock-full of cool prizes, auction items, contests, and more!

On behalf of everyone at Friends for Youth, including the ConnectSHS students that this event supports, we'd like to give a huge thank you to every tournament player and dinner attendee that came to generously support our organization! This is our biggest fundraising event of the year, and is what allows us to create new programs like ConnectSHS to help even more at-risk youth in our area.

Didn't make it this year? Take a look at some pictures from the event on our Facebook page and make it a plan for next year!

It's Less Than 2 Weeks Away!

Time flies! 

Our 29th Annual Peninsula Golf Challenge is now officially less than 2 weeks from today, and we are so excited to see this year's teams play! 

Have you reserved a spot for your fivesome team yet? We still have openings!

Check out our event page to buy tickets for yourself or your team. 

Don't golf but still want to support Friends for Youth? Come out to our immaculate 5-star dinner and join in on the fun with our live and silent auctions!

Time is running out! Visit eventbrite.com for more on the event and buy tickets before it's too late.

We hope to see you there!

It's Back to School Time!

As the summer season comes to a close and the leaves begin to fall, it can only mean one thing for students and parents alike; school's starting!

For some, this might seem like a prison sentence. But success in school is easy to achieve with just a little hard work and determination.

One factor, however, that parents and adult mentors may overlook when considering the success of their children, is the impact that home life and emotional support has on a student. 

Here's a few tips that both mentors and parents can reference when trying to optimize their child's success:

•  Encourage healthy habits by exercising with your child in fun ways and cooking nutritious meals. Children can't focus in class if their health is suffering.
• Create a routine and designated work space for studying and homework. Clear instruction and a desk area help keep kids focused.
• Read with your child every day. Reading both fiction and educational books motivate children to learn and become better readers.
• Show interest in his/her school. Regularly meet with teachers, review curriculum, and do homework with your child.
• Talk to your student often and ask about how they feel about school. Show interest in what they are learning and their friends. The best way to make children interested in school is for them to have a positive school experience.

A healthy home life is the first step to educational success.

Friends for Youth's new group mentoring program, ConnectSHS, provides in-class mentoring services to at-risk 9th graders at Sequoia High School. Connect is designed to give extra educational and emotional support to students who may not have the optimal home situation. 

Learn more about ConnectSHS and how mentors can create successful students on our website.

Good luck in the 2016-2017 school year!


Source: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/school/Pages/Ten-Tips-for-Your-Childs-Success-in-School.aspx

San Francisco Zoo Habitat Reconstruction Activity!

Our friendships had a blast at the San Francisco Zoo last weekend! Friends for Youth had the opportunity to volunteer in partnership with HandsOn Bay Area at the zoo restoring animal habitats. It was fun for all ages, and the friendships were rewarded with free admission to the zoo after all of their hard work. Great job, team!

We hope to continue providing friendships with exciting volunteer opportunities and ways to give back to the community. 

Stay involved in upcoming events by checking out our Facebook page. 

See you at the next event!

Youth Who Volunteer Become Better Adults

It's obvious that community service has a huge impact on those that it serves, but what is often overlooked is the influence it has on the volunteers themselves. Working with others on a humanitarian project creates an environment that can facilitate the growth of leadership and social skills, self-esteem, and even better general physical health. Points of Light, an international non-profit that focuses on volunteer service, as well as the University of Nevada-Reno, both published research articles on the effect of volunteering on youth, and the results are encouraging:

Over the last 10 years, youth volunteering has risen dramatically. 30% of youth participate in volunteer activities at least once a month. This is a huge increase, considering youth now spend 2.4 billion hours a year volunteering, which equates to a $34.3 billion increase to the U.S. economy.

Youth who volunteer do better in school, get better grades, and are 50% less likely to use drugs, alcohol, or engage in risky behaviors. Those who donate their time also experience greater health benefits than those who don't, including greater mental health like the reduction of depression and anxiety.

The effects go even deeper, as youth who volunteer are 3 times more likely to volunteer as adults, and 81% of those who volunteer continue to donate as they get older.

It's now proven that youth who volunteer grow up to be stable, compassionate adults who also volunteer.

Friends for Youth promotes the benefits of volunteering to our mentor/mentee friendships, and always encourages our youth to join in volunteering opportunities.

An upcoming friendship volunteering event at the San Francisco Zoo is coming up, and we are so excited to impact the lives of our youth and the community!

Stay tuned for updates!

Sources: https://www.unce.unr.edu/publications/files/cd/2003/fs0323.pdf
http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/site-content/files/social_impact_of_volunteerism_pdf.pdf

Get Involved: Our New Social Media Campaign!

Calling all Friends for Youth supporters! Want an easy and fun way to support your favorite non-profit mentoring organization? Join our social media campaign!

We just launched a new campaign to raise awareness for Friends for Youth. Our board member, Linda Chen, has generously agreed to donate $25 for each selfie that's posted online in front of our ConnectSHS banner on Sequoia High School's fence, located on El Camino Real in between Broadway and James Ave in Redwood City, CA. Post your picture on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook with the hash tag #ConnectSHS and tag @friendsforyouth, and your efforts will provide FFY with a $25 donation! What an amazing opportunity! 

Check out our Facebook for more information. We will be periodically featuring our supporters on our Instagram and Twitter, so keep a look out for your selfie, we might just feature you!

Exciting News!

Friends for Youth is happy to announce our recent upgrade to Platinum Status on GuideStar! 

GuideStar is a database for non-profit organizations that gives accurate and up-to-date information for donors, allowing them to make educated decisions about where they want to donate. Platinum is the highest status that GuideStar currently awards, and we are proud to share that we've achieved this level of recognition. We pride ourselves on the transparency that we have within our organization, and hope that everyone can benefit from the information that we provide. 

Take a look at our GuideStar profile and see for yourself the commitment that we have for sharing what we do!