Making a difference

Mark Eldridge, CEO of The Start Group, guest wrote this blog piece on advice and lessons learned for businesses that want to make a difference.

An important part of any business has to be profitability. But once profitability is obtained, there should also be a focus on giving back. This doesn’t just have to be money either; there are a lot of ways to get involved in helping your community. When we first decided that we wanted to find a way to give back as a company, we made a lot of mistakes. Since that time, we have learned a few things and have the following bits of advice to offer any businesses thinking about increasing their charitable efforts.

• Be selective. Decide on causes that are meaningful to the company. At first, in our desire to give back, we contributed to anything. Our donations and efforts were too small to make a lasting impact. After brainstorming, we identified two causes that we believed in and wanted to support.
  
• Choose a partner carefully. Once you decide upon a cause or two, look for a partner that can help you. For instance, if you decide to support cancer research, there are a number of organizations that run events and activities in which you can participate rather than going it alone. By building a relationship with these types of organizations, you take a lot of the guesswork out of the process to ensure your efforts are making a difference from the very beginning.
• Get others involved. Make involvement a company-wide initiative. Add incentives like extra vacation time or a gift certificate for participation. We found that once our people had a slight motivation to get involved, the thrill of contributing to a worthy cause pushed them along from there.
• Get creative. While charities always appreciate checks, they need more than that. We were able to volunteer our time and even donate some old office furniture. The partners with whom we have formed the strongest relationships understand our inability to always provide a monetary contribution, but appreciated our unique approaches. This makes both sides feel like it is a partnership and not just a one-time donation.
• Tell everyone about it. Make people aware of your efforts. Taking time, effort and resources from other endeavors and dedicating them to a charity is a noble cause. Your partner may be able to help you publicize, but even if they can’t, brag about it. This may seem self-serving, but you’re accomplishing two goals: 1) promoting awareness (a big concern of any charitable cause) and 2) perhaps you inspire someone else to get involved. Social media gives us a free, loud voice. What better way to use it?

We found that the benefits of charity were double-sided. Although the goal was to help others, we also ended up helping ourselves. Our employee morale and pride have increased  and the activities in which we engaged created an even stronger sense of camaraderie. We sought to give back and received even more.

The Start Group fielded a 20-member team for Mass Mentoring in the 2012 Rodman Ride for Kids, raising close to $30,000, and also partnered with Family Service, Inc. on their holiday party and bowling fundraiser.

Successful para-athlete and mentor participates in Rodman Ride for Kids

The following guest post was submitted by Partners for Youth with Disabilities, one of MMP’s Partner-level programs that participated in the Rodman Ride for Kids on Sept. 29.

Juan Martin Botero, Partners for Youth with Disabilities mentor and Cambridge resident, rode for the fourth consecutive year for Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) in the Rodman Ride for Kids on Sept. 29. Botero raced a 25-mile cycling course, and rode with William Connors, a PYD Board member, and Steve Taub, a first-time rider and supporter of PYD.

In 2010, Botero finished the 25-mile Rodman Ride course in 3:20, twice as fast as his personal goal. He was diagnosed with Ataxia more than a decade ago, and just over five years ago began using a wheelchair for greater mobility. The neurological dysfunction brought on by Ataxia affects gross motor coordination, so Botero uses adaptive equipment such as his recumbent bike, the Greenspeed Tadpole, for cycling training and racing, as well as his daily commute. Such equipment enables him to continue following his passions for the outdoors and travel, which culminated in his climbs in recent years to Mt. Kilimanjaro’s summit and the bottom of the Grand Canyon.

Botero wants to encourage young people facing challenges: “For this reason I believe in Partners for Youth with Disabilities. I became a mentor because I hope I can share my strengths and my stories, and I can show them that we can all climb Kilimanjaro in our own terms.” He has served as a mentor through the Mentor Match program at PYD since 2009.

Team PYD can be found at www.rodmanrideforkids.org under “Juan Botero,” “William Connors,” or “Steve Taub” as participants. For more information on PYD, please go to www.pyd.org.

Extreme athlete and mentor rides again for Partners for Youth with Disabilities

The Rodman Ride for Kids is three weeks from tomorrow, and Mass Mentoring is one of the agencies to benefit from this annual fundraising event. We are lucky to have several mentoring programs riding with the MMP team, including mentor Juan Martin Botero from Partners for Youth with Disabilities. Juan’s story is incredibly inspiring.

Mentor Juan Botero from PYD

Originally from Colombia, Juan has been a Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD) mentor for more than three years.

Juan says he mentors because “I hope the kids have gotten from me as much as I have learned and am learning from them.”

He elaborates, “For example my mentee, Eric, recently introduced me to sled hockey. It is something completely new and amazing. Now I want to do it, seeing him, who has been practicing it for the past two years. It made me want to jump on the ice…But I would never have become interested in this if it was not for him. And that is what I hope I can give him eventually.”

Diagnosed with ataxia over a decade ago, Juan has continued to lead an active lifestyle in spite of the physical challenges brought on by this neurological dysfunction. Ataxia has affected Juan’s gross motor coordination, so he now uses adaptive equipment, including a wheelchair, to maximize his mobility. This enables him to continue following his passion for the outdoors.

Juan’s recent athletic accomplishments include a climb to Mt. Kilamanjaro’s summit and one to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, to name a few. An adaptive recumbent bike, the Greenspeed Tadpole, is his vehicle of choice for cycling training and racing, as well as his daily commute.

Juan recently made a presentation to PYD’s Making Healthy Connections group in Boston about his travel, participation in sports, and the importance of staying fit. He pointed out that because of his disability, it’s especially important for him to keep fit to stay healthy, as it is with others. He presented slides from all of his impressive athletic feats and shared his passion for sports and physical activity with the group. The youth were thrilled to see and hear about all of his accomplishments, and benefited from his positive attitude towards challenging oneself physically even—and especially—with a disability.

As part of Mass Mentoring’s team, Juan has competed twice in the Rodman Ride for Kids to benefit PYD. Last year, intense training paid off, and he finished the 25 mile race in 3:20, nearly twice as fast as his minimum goal. This year, Juan will ride 25 miles again to raise funds and awareness for the need for mentors for youth with disabilities. If you would like to make a donation to support Juan’s ride and his charity of choice, Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD), please donate here.

If you would like more information on PYD, please go to www.pyd.org. We hope to see Juan, other riders with and without disabilities, and all of our supporters at the Rodman Ride again on September 24 in Foxboro!

Why I’m Riding For Mass Mentoring in the Rodman Ride: Rich Greif

On September 24th, I’ll be riding 50 miles in the Rodman Ride for Kids to raise $1,500 for Mass Mentoring. I’ve actually never biked more than 25 or 30 miles at any time, so why I am going the extra mile(s)? Because I know firsthand the impact that mentoring has had on a child’s life – and my life too.

Starting back in 1991, I was a Big Brother through both Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mass Bay and the Old Colony YMCA. For 10 years, I was matched with Tony, who lived in challenging circumstances, moved frequently and had no other adult males in his life. Spending time with Tony not only opened my eyes to the world that some kids like him live in, but it taught me about the importance of consistency in a child’s life. Literally, half of being a successful mentor is just showing up every week. I learned the other half consisted of being the biggest believer in his potential to do something positive with his life and exposing him to people, places and things he would never otherwise experience. When I got married in 1999, Tony was one of the best men in my wedding. Although we haven’t been in contact recently, when I last saw him he was living on his own, getting technical training on HVAC systems and otherwise enjoying life.

In 1999, I became a Power Lunch mentor through Boston Partners in Education
where I read aloud each week over a three-year period to a young boy named Jamal. Even after he “graduated” from Power Lunch in 4th grade, Jamal and I stayed in touch over the years and my family and I were honored to attend his high school graduation party about a year ago. Jamal is about to enter his sophomore year at University of New Hampshire where he is thinking of majoring in social work. Those years reading to Jamal taught me just how important reading to children really is, especially when I had my own children. My oldest son Noah is an avid reader at 9 years old and even started his own Red Sox blog. I know my relationship with Jamal has made me a better parent.

Jamal and I at his high school graduation party, 2010

Both of these mentoring experience lead me to want to do more for the mentoring field. In 2005, I became a board member of Everybody Wins! Metro Boston, which operates the Power Lunch program locally and then the director of Everybody Wins! USA, the national office of Everybody Wins programs. This past January, I was thrilled to join Mass Mentoring to help expand youth mentoring throughout Massachusetts.

To paraphrase Celtics legend Bill Russell, mentoring is not about helping “other people’s children.” The children in mentoring programs live in the same communities where we live or work. What happens to those children impacts all of us. I’ve also learned that mentoring is not just about teaching children but being open to learning new things about yourself. And finally, mentoring is not about taking time out of your life, it’s really time added to your life. Whether you are reading to a child, making cookies, throwing a ball around or visiting a museum, I guarantee that those 1-2 hours a week are some of the most stress-free and meaningful hours of your week.

So I’m riding this year for Mass Mentoring so that we can help mentoring programs, and the children they serve, thrive and grow through high-quality mentoring experiences like this ones I’ve had. To donate to my ride, please visit my donation page. Want to ride as part of the Mass Mentoring team? Visit our team page.

Rich Greif, Mass Mentoring – Director of Marketing & Partnerships