January is National Mentoring Month! This is a time to expand and strengthen opportunities for top-notch mentoring in the United States. 17 eager students in Moab wait to be matched with a mentor, and we aim to find new mentors for them in 2016. To that end, Grand Area Mentoring will offer a New Mentor Orientation on January 26th, 4:30-6:00. Tell your friends, colleagues, and family members! They can call 260-9646 to register. Beyond new mentor recruitment and program expansion, we also take this month to celebrate all that Moab mentors achieve. Grand Area Mentoring’s corps of volunteers accounts for the program’s unparalleled success year in and year out. Your kindness and guidance help these children grow and allows them to say things like: “I get to try new things, talk freely, and not have to worry about anything.” “She makes me nicer to people because I’m a lot happier than I used to be.” “Mentoring is my favorite thing.” “I get to tell her stuff that I can’t tell other people because they won’t understand it.” “I need to trust someone, so I trust her.” “If you’ve been shy or mad or scared, a mentor will make you feel good and make you not as scared of things…” “I wish I had mentoring every day.”

You Matter Long-term mentoring relationships produce more positive results for at-risk children than shorter ones. If a relationship lasts less than six months, it can even be detrimental to a child! That’s why we ask volunteers and students to commit to mentoring for at least one year. Happily, the average Grand Area Mentoring match lasts over two years! Your time means so much. That’s why we want to tell you that you matter – to us, to your mentee, to the school district, and to this community. We want you to know that...

Let's Redefine Value! A 25-year longitudinal study by the University of Florida found that self-confidence impacts life path and rates of success. That’s no surprise. According to a Gallup publication1 by Tom Rath and Barry Conchie, “people with higher self-confidence in 1979 ended up with higher income levels and career satisfaction.” What shocked researchers was the magnitude of the impact. After 25 years, the more confident group, on average, made almost $13,000 more per year than their less confident peers. More interesting yet…

Catch Up Over Lunch Mentors and students may meet at HMK’s cafeteria, during the USDA-sponsored FREE SUMMER LUNCH. This is a great opportunity to see each other over the long summer break of June and July. Mentors, please make a record of your summer meetings. Call 260-9646 for more information.