Day of action launches national mentor drive

For the past few years the United Way network has promoted June 21 – the longest day of the year - as a national day of action. Across the country, tens of thousands of volunteers will take action in their local communities to advance the common good on issues of education, income and health.

This year, the day will also mark the official launch of a three-year call to action to engage one million more volunteers as readers, tutors or mentors to help improve the academic success of young people across America.  Locally, we’ll use the opportunity to advance the Mentoring Initiative of Madison County, a partnership of Anderson University and United Way.

I first wrote about this initiative in January, with an open invitation to contact Daniel Wohlberg, mentor coordinator, at mentor@unitedwaymadisonco.org to find out how to become involved. We’ve had some volunteers sign up and have held one training and orientation session at Highland Junior High School, the pilot site for much of the mentor activity. Daniel has also been meeting with numerous community organizations to find out how to support and enhance the mentor opportunities at their organizations.

As the school year comes to a close, the framework to connect mentees to volunteers and to provide ongoing support and development is almost complete. The summer weeks will provide an opportunity for volunteer recruitment and mentor matching so that we can begin the 2011-2012 school year at full force.

On June 21, you’ll see promotions in the real and virtual worlds, beginning with a yard full of “kids” on the lawn of the city building.  The plan is to have cutout representations of youth in need of mentors on the lawn until they are matched with an adult.  Let’s not leave the kids on the lawn for long!

As I said in January, mentoring involves time, but not a lot and not much else.  Given the wide array of programs and formats, interested adults and older teens who want to become involved should be able find a fit to share their experience, skills, and most of all, their desire to make a difference in the life of a young person.  June 21 is a good opportunity to make a decision to act. That’s often the most difficult part. Once engaged, I know mentors will wonder why they ever hesitated. 

The need for personal connection is one of the key themes we are hearing across the community as we continue to engage in small group conversations to identify people’s aspirations for life in Madison County.  Perhaps our greatest community challenge is that in a world with more communication channels that ever, we find ourselves struggling to connect.  The positive impact on our community when people come together around a cause is palpable.  Taking that first step is as easy as logging on to volunteermadisoncounty.org  or calling 765-643-7493.