Bring your mentor or friend to Babb's Coffee House 604 Main Ave., Fargo on Thursday, January 21 for a special day of thanks and treats for "Thank Your Mentor Day."

Mentors and their friends can stop by Babb's Coffee House to share “thanks” about a special mentoring relationship and learn about local mentoring programs.

Representatives from Big Brother Big Sister, Amachi Mentoring Coalition of North Dakota, CHARISM, Boys and Girls Clubs of the Red River Valley, and FirstLink will be available to talk about their youth mentoring programs.

Purchase a 16 oz. white chocolate mocha latte, a monster cookie, or a double walnut chocolate chip cookie and part of the proceeds will go to benefit mentoring programs in the area.

Babb's is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. See you there!

January is National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month
Local Youth Agencies Need Support to Help
More Kids Beat the Odds

In recognition of National Mentoring Month, local youth-serving agencies call on the community to provide support for numerous children who need mentors.

If I could snap my finger and do one thing, I would make sure that every young American boy or girl, but especially African-American [children], have a responsible, caring adult in their lives, says ret. General Colin Powell, head of America's Promise in an interview with CNN reporter, Don Lemmon for Essence Magazine. Hopefully it's their parents, even if it's a single parent. But without that kind of family support, then we need Boys and Girls Clubs. We need Big Brothers and Big Sisters. We need mentors."

Locally, several agencies provide mentoring services to our community's youth. Through RSVP+, the Amachi Mentoring Coalition of North Dakota aims to positively impact children who have incarcerated family, are involved in juvenile corrections, or come from an area with high rates of incarceration. Big Brothers Big Sisters of The Village Family Service Center provides long-term mentoring to youth in the Fargo-Moorhead community as well as a school-based program at Madison Elementary School. The Boys and Girls Club of the Red River Valley and CHARISM also provide mentoring services to youth who attend their centers.

Metro Youth Partnership is coordinating local mentor month activities and provides training on mentoring. They also link potential mentors to the appropriate youth serving agency. For more information on how to get involved, contact the Metro Youth Partnership at 218/299-5437.

National Mentoring Month is spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health, MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, and the Corporation for National and Community Service.

See you at Babb's Coffee House on January 21--Bring a friend and some good memories!