In honor of National Mentoring Day (January 25), Boys’ Haven had a great evening of celebration at First Baptist Church of Middletown. We had about 100 guests join us as we celebrated this very important day! This was Boys' Haven's opportunity to recognize and show appreciation for our volunteer mentors and the youth they serve! The mentors have made our program a huge success! Since October 2004 we have served 61 youth and been able to match 51 youth with a caring and supportive adult! Kudos to our mentors!

The evening started with appetizers and a socializing time and music by Megan R., a youth harpist from the Ursaline School of Performing Arts. A delicious chicken dinner was prepared by our Food Service Manager, Craig Kenobbie, and served by our "friends" at FBM Church. We appreciate their support of our program!

The program consisted of words of encouragement and support from several speakers, a Mentor Caring Kit, an award ceremony and a special presentation from our mentees to show our mentors just how special they were! Our own mentor, Kelly Wells,



sang an awesome solo and led us in a closing song, "Go Light Your World".

We had many positive comments about the event, one mentor wrote, “You all did a super job with the celebration, dinner, music, gifts and everything! You two are special and truly make a difference to all these young adults. Keep up the good work and continue to help us mentors, especially me as we try and provide support to our mentees. Thanks for all you all do and thanks especially for last night. Ann and I really enjoyed ourselves and it was nice to meet some other folks.”

A Cabinet social services supervisor who attended remarked, “It was a wonderful evening! Thank you for allowing me to participate in it. It is gratifying to see our youth in a setting different than the usual social worker /client situation.”

A mentee said, “The banquet was wonderful. Thank you for giving us such a special evening with our mentors.”

Youth received a Certificate of Participation, 2006 planner and Boys’ Haven key chain. Mentors received a Certificate of Appreciation, personalized business cards/case (they are official Boys' Haven ambassadors now!), and a Boys' Haven key chain.

We want everyone to know how much we appreciate the service and support of our mentors! We think they're the greatest!!

If interested in becoming a mentor please contact Jeannette Stratton or Stephen Brooks at 451-4701.