Great video that tells the story of YPOI…

PHOTO BY DAVID YAMAMOTO

Below is a letter from Lamar Mitchell regarding year two of our lunch buddy program…

Greetings,

We want to thank all of you who responded to our most recent email. It is great to see that so many of you are interested in returning as Lunch Buddy mentors this year, which was music to the principals’ ears.

Our planning team had great meetings with our three school principals, and they are very excited to get this program going again in their schools. We were pleasantly surprised to hear in those meetings about some great benefits to the students and the schools from the Lunch Buddy program that we hadn’t anticipated. That is only part of what YOU have helped make possible by making a caring connection with a student.

As a result of our principal meetings, we can now announce the dates and times of our Information & Orientation sessions, which are as follows:

• Tuesday, September 11 at River Bend from 6:30-8:00
• Thursday, September 13 at Newton-Conover Middle from 6:30-8:00
• Monday, September 17 at Grandview from 6:30-8:00

Meals will be provided at these sessions, so you will need to RSVP to the number below in order for us to know how much food to prepare. You will also be provided with copies of the mentor manual, application and criminal background check, so the RSVP count will help us know how many copies of those to have on hand as well.

As a reminder, these Information & Orientation sessions are REQUIRED for all new mentors, although attending an I&O session does NOT commit you to being a Lunch Buddy mentor (you’ll make that decision after you’ve heard our information). Also, you do not need to attend the session at the school you intend to mentor in. We encourage you to choose the session that best fits your schedule. Returning mentors are strongly encouraged to attend these sessions as well so that you can share your experiences with our new mentors.

The principals have given us the ambitious goal this year of recruiting 100 mentors, with a goal to begin the lunch meetings by the week of October 1. It’s a tall order, but based on your response last year, we’re confident we can do this. We thank you in advance for forwarding this email to anyone who you think might be interested in joining us. We’ve also attached a pdf of this year’s flyer that you can post in your workplace or church.

We appreciate your interest and commitment in connecting with the lives of our students. Please don’t hesitate to email or call if you have any questions.

Many thanks,

Lamar Mitchell, Director 

Catawba Valley Champions of Education

2550 Hwy 70 SE, Hickory, NC 28602

(828) 327-7000 x.4709

We have the chance to take a group of our young people to Charlotte for the Democratic National Convention next week to learn first-hand about the American political process….but we need your help. The cost for the day for each kids to be a part of this program (bus, convention ticket ,meals) will be in the neighborhood of $50 per young person. We are hoping to take about 25 young people…and we can’t do it without you. Regardless of your political affiliation please consider helping us teach our kids about how a Democracy works and give them a chance of a lifetime. If you would like to help, please send a check to PO Box 11481, Hickory, NC 28603. Your donation will be tax deductible…YPOI is now an official 501c3 organization!

THANK YOU!

Young People of Integrity Lunch Buddy program is designed to help reach students who are at risk and meet the criteria of a potential dropout.  Mentoring programs like this have been statistically known to improve self-esteem, promote success in the classroom, build accountability, and improve decision-making, while decreasing the dropout rate, absenteeism, office referrals, and suspensions.

 Mentoring programs have been vital to dropout and gang prevention programs all over the United States. Statistics show that the main reason most youth dropout of school is that they thought no one cared, and we intend to address just that with this program. Mentoring is intended to build positive, secure relationships with youth who may not have a positive role model in their lives.

 Young People of Integrity is an innovative mentoring program designed to create healthy attitudes and behavior in young men and women, as well as provide skills, resources, and positive experiences that will help them become successful, productive citizens.  We have built partnerships with Catawba County Social Services, Champions of Education, Hickory Public Schools, Newton-Conover Schools, and Catawba County Schools to pilot our 2011-2012 Lunch Buddy Program this up-coming school year. Our program has been proven to be a success at Grandview Middle for the last three years as part of the Rising Stars Program, but, as we expand the program this year, more mentors are needed.

 We are asking for volunteers for 30 minutes of their time per week to go into the schools and eat lunch with the student as they build a relationship with the youth. Mentor training will be provided so that our mentors will be equipped to instill in the youth the core values of respect, accountability, character, self-esteem, and integrity.

 We hope you will help us recruit the volunteers needed to change the cycle of violence and failure in our schools through the Lunch Buddy Mentoring Program.

Check out this page and audio cast on our mentoring program brought to you by the MESH