Time for our last wrap up post of National Mentoring Month Happenings. Did you miss any of the earlier posts? Check them out – Part One, Part Two, or Part Three.

Missouri Valley, Iowa
In addition to other recognition activities, Missouri Valley had this tribute to their mentors on the wall at the school. “Our Mentors Rock!”

Holdrege, Nebraska
The Holdrege chapter placed a thank you in the newspaper and handed out candy bars with different themed messages. The message of “You are a breath of fresh air to your mentee in the TeamMates program” accompanied Certs Breath Mints, “We are nuts about you as one of our TeamMates mentors!” accompanied peanuts, and “Thank you for your faithfulness with TeamMates. You’re worth more than a 100 Grand.” along with a 100 Grand candy bar. Each mentor also received a key chain.

Cozad, Nebraska
Mentors were honored at the home basketball game versus Gothenburg. Each mentor received a button that says “I mentor, what’s your superpower?”. They also were sent a thank you and personal certificates.

Scottsbluff County, Nebraska
The chapter hosted a mentor meet and greet at the newly built elementary school in Gering. There was discussion between the mentors and tours of the school. Mentors, TeamMates Board members, school counselors, and administrators were all invited to the celebration of a new school and mentoring.

Garden County, Nebraska
Mentors received appreciation in the forms of an email from the coordinator, candy bar with a note, kinds words from their mentees, and an ad in the local paper.

Minden, Nebraska
The Minden chapter hosted a recognition at a basketball game where the mentors received a standing ovation. There was a display booth at the basketball game with pictures of TeamMates events and the names of mentors. Mentors were given a shirt at the game and had a coffee and cookie reception after. A thank you ad was placed in the newspaper along with an article. Mentees each wrote a letter to their mentor and a banquet was held to honor mentors and spouses at the local Country Club.

We are proud of the time and effort our coordinators have put into honoring the mentors of their chapter! Thank you.

It is now the second of February and chapters have mostly wrapped up recognizing their mentors and celebrating their matches, but we wanted to ensure the chapters and their coordinators were also getting recgonition. Last week we posted the Part One of our summary of National Mentoring Month Events and this week we posted Part Two.

Fort Calhoun, Nebraska
This is Fort Calhoun’s first year of being a chapter. They honored their mentors by purchasing new games for the game boxes at school to ensure they were prepared to mentor. Each mentor was also sent an email to thank them for their participation.

Box Butte County, Nebraska
National Mentoring Month received a lot of press during the month of January in our Box Butte County chapter. The Mayor signed the NMM Proclamation, the newspaper ran two feature articles, the radio conducted a mentor interview, and interviewed Tom Osborne. Weekly goodies were placed at the school for the mentors and a recognition night was held on January 25. To top it all off, students wrote their mentor thank you notes!

Elwood, Nebraska
Matches were honored at a school basketball game on January 28

Hyannis, Nebraska
Candy bars were attached to thank you cards and kids wrote notes such as “you’re so sweet to be my mentor”. A recognition event was held at a basketball game.

Sidney, Nebraska
A mentor appreciation and recognition banquet complete with candlelight, decor, and awards for all mentor and board members was held in the middle of the month. Regional Coordinator, Annette Woodhead, spoke at the event to honor mentors.

Blair, Nebraska
During January, students honored their mentors with thank you notes. Articles about mentoring ran in the Blair Enterprise. One article featured a Blair mentor/mentee pair, and the other was about retirement opportunities, including mentoring. The article included Arlington, Ft. Calhoun and Blair TeamMates. They placed 15-20 “Mentoring Works” posters around the community with TeamMates of Blair recruitment information. There was an ad in the Blair paper thanking all mentors by name and the businesses that make their mentoring possible. They also placed an announcement this month in local church bulletins asking for more mentors.

Mullen, Nebraska
All mentors received insulated glasses full of 100 Grand candy bars with a note taped to the outside of the glass stating “You are worth a 100 Grand”. National Mentoring Month celebrations will be continued into March with a mentor meeting and nachos! The meeting will serve to thank mentors for all that they do, ensure that all questions are answered, and touch base on activities and changes within TeamMates.

Bridgeport, Nebraska
Bridgeport hosted a meet and greet night on January 15th. They will be attending a Western Nebraska Community College Basketball game on February 8th.

Stay tuned – we will have one more National Mentoring Month Wrap-up post!

January has been full of activities in all of our chapters! We wanted to highlight the hard work our chapters have put into recognizing mentors and celebrating National Mentoring Month. Look forward to more posts.

Council Bluffs, Iowa – Celebrating 5 years!
TeamMates is celebrating its fifth year in the Council Bluffs Community School District. The chapter has 152 matches in 17 schools. The chapter was featured in the local newspaper, The Daily Nonpariel. The article quoted the Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan and his experience with mentoring. “I’m not a teacher, a disciplinarian or a parent. I’m just someone who sits down and gives him the opportunity to just converse,” he said. “I probably learn as much about a (teenager) in today’s world as he learns about me. It’s a good program and really benefits the school system.” Congratulations Council Bluffs!

Sutherland, Nebraska
Matches were recognized at a basketball game! They received free admission, popcorn, and drinks. Mentees wrote thank you letters to their mentors and mailed them to celebrate National Thank Your Mentor Day. DeMoine Adams also made a visit during the month and presented on mentoring. What a busy month!

Lexington, Maywood, McCook, Ogallala
All of these chapter coordinators worked with their mentees to write thank you cards for their mentors.

Gothenburg, Nebraska
An ad was placed in the newspaper to thank mentors. Candy bars were given out at meeting locations and the mentors were sent a $5 Runza gift certificate for the month of January. These mentors were certainly given first class treatment!

Chadron, Nebraska
Mentors are being celebrated at a Chadron State College basketball game in January. Mentors will be introduced at half time of the women’s game and mentees and one adult will get in free. Mentors will be receiving thank you notes from the TeamMates advisory committee and a free drink card from the Bean Broker.

Kimball, Nebraska
A thank you ad will be placed in the local newspaper with the mentor names featured. Mentors will be honored at half-time of a girls’ basketball game. Mentors will get into the game free and they will be presented with a bag of goodies, a personal note, and a picture of their mentee. The recognition will be topped off with a large round of applause from the crowd!

Beatrice, Nebraska
A full page “thank you” and information page was placed in the newspaper. There was also an article on the front page and radio spots on the AM and FM channels. Thank you cards were also distributed to the mentors.

Lincoln, Nebraska
The Lincoln chapter hosted their Annual Recognition Dinner on Thursday, January 24th in the Lincoln Station. The Huskers’ Associate Athletic Director of Diversity and Leadership Initiatives, Dr. Williams, was the keynote speaker. The evening included a dinner and awards ceremony to recognize the contributions of mentors and the exciting accomplishments of TeamMates students. The awards presentation included the Decade of Difference Awards, the Mentor Hall of Fame Awards and Student Achievement Awards.

Arapahoe
During the month of January, the Arapahoe School Board was given a program update. The Arapahoe paper featured a quarter page ad with the names of all involved in the program. All mentors and board members received a thank you and information was posted on the local cable TV station.