January is National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month, and the local Boundary County Mentoring Program is now taking applications for new mentors.

Mentors are people who are interested in working with children, one-on-one, to give a child an opportunity to develop into a caring, productive adult.

It is a simple formula: two people of different ages and backgrounds talking together and learning from each other. It is a quiet movement that is sweeping the country.

Mentors cannot only touch someone's life; they have the potential to touch and change the life of the nation.

In 1997, a national summit of our nation's leaders focused on mentoring with a goal of reaching 2 million mentors by 2000. Corporations, schools, churches and nonprofits have committed themselves to expand mentoring, and our local group was developed in part from that goal.

Today, if you want to learn more about this, the Web site mentoring.org will educate you about the many facets of mentoring. There, you can register to be notified by our local group. Use your zip code; that's how easy it is. Or call the program coordinator at 267-7786 for more information.

If you would be able to commit to one hour a week for the school year, and are looking for a way to connect to the community, mentoring may be for you.

One mentor said, "We listen to each other, learn from each other, work on a little homework and laugh a lot." (Jonathan Alter, Newsweek Senior Editor)

Joan Myers

Boundary County

Mentoring Program Coordinator

Bonners Ferry