Black Bear Child Mentoring Program Recruiting Student Volunteers
ORONO — The UMaine Black Bear Mentoring Program is recruiting volunteer college mentors to assist area children this academic year.
The Black Bear Mentoring program enriches the lives of area children from disadvantaged households whose circumstances may harm their self-images and lead to lower aspirations and reduced opportunities. The program is part of the Bodwell Center for Service and Volunteerism and is in its seventh year.
In the U.S., 17.6 million children between the ages of 8 and 10 are at risk of not reaching their full potential because of various social issues, including poverty, according to MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership. In Maine, the number of children living in poor households has increased since 2000, and had reached 16 percent in 2008, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. These conditions put the potential of Maine’s youth at risk.
Black Bear Mentor volunteers meet with children one-on-one for two hours one afternoon a week and engage in numerous activities from homework to cooking. The relationship provides area youth with a dedicated adult for activities, and someone to talk with about their struggles and successes.
“I love watching the mentors as they start to realize how much it means to their mentee to meet with them even two hours a week,” says Bodwell Center Director Lisa Morin. “They both get so much out this program, and their smiling faces warm my heart.”
Research groups, like Child Trends, find that children with mentors have higher educational aspirations, better attendance, better communication with parents, and more positive social attitudes than kids without mentors. One mentor remarked that the most satisfying part of mentoring was “seeing my mentee becoming ambitious and self-assertive (and) to go further in education.”
This year, the Black Bear Mentoring Program also will take part in public service activities, including writing letters to soldiers and preparing sandwiches for local food pantries.
For more information about the Black Bear Mentoring Program, or to schedule an interview, contact Erin Lennon at 207.581.1786 or email: erin.lennon@umit.maine.edu.