Ray Charles, Quincy Jones Headline National Mentoring Month 2004

As the centerpiece of NMM 2004, the Harvard Mentoring Project has developed a new initiative, Thank Your Mentor Day, which will be celebrated on January 15, 2004. On that day millions of Americans are expected to reach out to thank or honor those individuals who encouragd and guided them, and who had a lasting impact on their lives. This initiative is a nationwide effort to recruit volunteer mentors for your people who are at risk of not achieving their full potential.

(PRWEB) January 11, 2004 --The theme for National Mentoring Month 2004 is Who mentored you? Thank them...and pass it on!" The idea behind Who mentored you?" is to help people connect to the importance of mentoring by encouraging them to think about individuals in their lives during their formative years-family members, teachers, coaches, neighbors, employers, friends-who encouraged them, showed them the ropes, and helped them become who they are today. The campaigns message is that, today, too many young people do not get enough of that kind of support; mentoring programs can help fill the gap but need more volunteers.

In more than 40 states and cities, partnerships of mentoring programs, brought together under the umbrella of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, provide a local telephone number for prospective mentors to call during National Mentoring Month, and handle the referral of volunteers to local mentoring programs.

As the local lead agency for the National Mentoring Partnership, The United Way of Essex and West Hudson will handle the referral of volunteers to local mentoring programs. United Way leads a collaboration of agencies that includes the Boys and Girls Club, Integrity House and Isaiah House. Other non-profits that provide mentoring services are welcome to join the group. Local information for individuals interested in volunteering as a mentor or for agencies interested in joining the collaboration can be found at the United Way web site, www.uwewh.org/volunteer.

   Celebrities appearing in public service announcements for NMM 2004 include Catherine Bell (JAG, CBS), Ray Charles, Antwone Fisher, Kelsey Grammer, NFL great Darrell Green, (Frasier, NBC), Mary Hart (Entertainment Tonight, Paramount syndication), Quincy Jones, baseball great Cal Ripken, Jr., and Hattie Winston (Becker, CBS).

Thank Your Mentor Day will promote Three Ways to Honor your Mentor":
•   contact your mentor to express your appreciation;
•   Pass it on" by becoming a mentor to a young person in your community;
•   write a tribute to your mentor for posting on the campaigns web site.

   To support the effort, the Harvard Mentoring Projects web site, www.WhoMentoredYou.org , will present video clips and written essays contributed by prominent individuals from various fields sharing recollections about important mentors from their childhood and young adult years. In addition, the web site will promote the theme of Pass it on!" and provide links to www.mentoring.org, the web site of MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, for information on mentoring programs in communities across the country that currently need volunteers.

National Mentoring Month has been endorsed by President George W. Bush, both houses of Congress, numerous governors and mayors across the country, the nations largest media companies, and prominent nonprofit organizations. Top Hollywood stars, political leaders, athletes, and journalists are participating. The campaigns national media partners include ABC (Disney), CBS (Viacom), Fox (News Corp.), NBC (GE), Comcast, Time Warner, and Yahoo!.
   
For more information on Thank Your Mentor Day and National Mentoring Month, visit www.WhoMentoredYou.org.

Who Mentored You? , Thank Your Mentor Day , and Share What You Know are trademarked initiatives of the Harvard Mentoring Project of the Harvard School of Public Health.