Program plans to train 100 mentors to help in city schools
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on September 22, 2017 5:50 AM
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Judith McMillen, owner and broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices McMillen and Associates Realty, and Bobby Harvey, Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation president, provide an update on the 100 Fold Mentoring Program during a fundraiser Tuesday.
More than a dozen mentors are trained and ready to start connecting with youth from Dillard Middle School.
The 100 Fold Mentoring Program, organized by the Mary Wooten Harvey Foundation nonprofit, plans to train 100 mentors in an effort to help boys and girls at the Goldsboro school.
The mentoring program started this year in an effort to help steer youth in a positive direction, with the help of adult mentors interested in making a difference.
"The kids that are getting in the most trouble and that need guidance are living in the city," said Bobby Harvey, president of the foundation, during a Tuesday fundraising event at the Terrace Room in downtown Goldsboro.
"If we can give positive role models to these kids, we can prevent them from going down the wrong path."
Harvey provided an update on the program and its progress during the fundraising event and launch party for the nonprofit's website, at www.maryharveyfoundation.com.
"We're just here to officially launch the program to the community and just let the community know there's a need," Harvey said.
The website has mentor applications available for download and an area where donations can be made to the nonprofit. To date, the foundation has raised close to $1,200, which has helped cover the cost of training 17 mentors.
"We have realtors," Harvey said. "We have a school teacher. We have a business owner, a volunteer firefighter and the rest of the 17 are from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
"We have gotten to the point where we have more mentors than we have funds."
There are 21 more mentors approved and ready for training, and the foundation has other applications that are being reviewed.
The goal is to raise $20,000, which pays the cost of background checks, training and a trip for mentors and the youth. The cost to help one child in the program is estimated at $200, Harvey said. The foundation is also selling 100 Fold Mentor Program T-shirts for $20.
A nationally accredited trainer, Kenston Griffin, with Dream Builders Communication, has trained the first group of mentors, which should be matched and working with youth in October, Harvey said.
Lisa Brown, a local realtor and mentor, is excited about the program's start and its potential in helping youth.
"I think it's needed, and I think I have something to offer," said Brown, a retired New York Police Deapartment officer. "If I can help them get some life lessons without actually going through the life lesson, then I feel like they can learn from me and my trials.
"Life is trial and error anyways. There's no book on it. I don't care what color they are or where they live, I will go and help them."
The 100 Fold Mentor Program started in an effort to match 100 male mentors with 100 young men in grades 7 through 12. The effort has expanded to include adult women who will be matched with young girls, based on direction from a school principal, Harvey said.
Mentors from all walks of life, different professions and different backgrounds are being sought.
The program has an extensive screening process and background checks that reveal any sexual offense result in disqualification. Mentors need to be age 25 or older and be willing to devote at least two hours a week to mentoring. The foundation can be reached at 222-1419.
"It doesn't have to be a full time job, if you have a few hours a week," said Judith McMillen, supporter and owner and broker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices McMillen and Associates Realty.
"I think our town is a wonderful town," said McMillen, one of the program's future mentors. "I think that our community has a gang problem. I think we have a crime problem.
"There is nothing that you or I can do to solve the gang problem, but if we each mentor a young person so that they are exposed to things and know that they can be a success, perhaps, it will make it more difficult for the gangs to suck them into that lifestyle.
"There's a need. There's a real need."