Melrose C.A.R.E.S. holds special Mentor Recognition Night

This guest post is courtesy of Sharon Loveridge from the Melrose C.A.R.E.S. Community Mentoring Program. Sharon is discussing how they celebrated National Mentoring Month

My name is Sharon Loveridge and I am the program coordinator for the Melrose C.A.R.E.S. Community Mentoring Program. Our program serves middle school youth from the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School. Our program has been around for seven years and has helped more than 60 students navigate the highs and lows of middle school.

Mentoring is important because with middle school being such a pivotal time in a child’s life, what child couldn’t use an extra set of eyes and ears to help him or her get through it? Additionally, not all children have the resources at home to expose them to new things. Our program offers these kids a supportive, accepting adult who can listen, acknowledge, accept, and guide them through anything that may come their way.

Sharon Loveridge, mentoring program coordinator for Melrose C.A.R.E.S., Rich Greif, director of marketing and partnerships at MMP, and Rebecca Mooney, MAAV's executive director.

For National Mentoring Month, our program chose to honor our mentors with an evening of recognition on Jan. 25. It was catered by Bobby C’s D’Amicis Bakery, both local, popular establishments. We invited mentors from current programs, as well as former programs that I have run over the past four years – about 40 in total. We also hosted board members, and State Rep. Paul Brodeur was on-hand to say a few words and give citations on behalf of the State. Chris Stevens, VP of Corporate Relations and Customer Development from Keurig Coffee in Reading was also on hand to talk about giving back and living your dreams. It was a very exciting evening for all!

We also participated in I am a Mentor Day, adding a blurb about the day to both our program’s Facebook page and our agency’s page.

Anyone interested in finding out more about our program can visit our web site, email the program coordinator at sloveridge@maav.org, or call the agency at 781.662.2010.

Sen. Katherine Clark: The importance of mentors

Senator Katherine Clark, who recently joined with us in supporting the Mentoring Matching Grants line item in the state budget, penned an op-ed this week about the importance of mentoring as children head back to school. She also highlighted several of our member programs in her district, including the Melrose Alliance Against Violence’s Community CARES Mentoring program, the Wakefield Adult Mentors program and the YWCA Malden Group Mentoring program. Please read her article below and learn how you can get involved by searching for mentoring opportunities near you on our website.

Sen. Katherine Clark: The importance of mentors – Melrose, Massachusetts – Melrose Free Press.