Thursday, March 28, 2024

Thrive Chelan Valley partners with ChelanMan to change lives

Posted

Chelan - Mentoring changes lives, and transforms whole communities -yet one in three young people grow up without this critical asset. Family poverty, ethnic minority status, and individual trauma experiences are highly associated with academic and social risk, and adolescents at risk benefit from healthy, supportive relationships  with adults.

Thrive Chelan Valley's newly expanded Thrive Mentoring program provides one-on-onementoring relationships to Chelan Valley youth, and has partnered with ChelanMan to give 25mentor/mentee pairs $100 to invest in their relationship. Our mentors have been able to doactivities together, including drawing, snowshoeing, learning how to ride a bike, coffee dates, attending plays and games, meeting up for a day at Disneyland, paint parties, and a trip to tour the Seattle Police Department and FBI.

Our mentors focus on getting to know and building trust with their student, which provides asense of belonging and has the capacity to offset the effects of poverty, i.e. shame, security/safety, and exposure to trauma, addiction, etc. Current research shows that mentoring is the solution to trauma, and that students with mentors are more likely to have better success inschool and in life.

“ChelanMan seeks to support local youth in the Chelan valley,” said Tara Elsner, ChelanMan board member, “and partnering with Thrive Mentoring is the perfect way to help support youth through caring relationships.”

“We are thrilled to partner with ChelanMan in giving students in our valley this opportunity,” said Cindy Knight, Thrive Chelan Valley Board President. “Not only has ChelanMan supported Thrive Mentoring through funds for mentors/mentees to invest together, but several people on their board are mentors in our program and are investing personally in the lives of children in our valley.

Mentoring is everyone’s job, and we are currently recruiting mentors for students in 8th and 9thgrade in Chelan and Manson. For more information about how you can become a mentor, contact Tori Carpenter, Thrive Mentoring Program Coordinator: tori@thrivechelanvalley.com or509.901.6155.
 

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here