The Super Fuel That Powers This Frantic Vehicle:

The best way to find yourself,

 is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Ghandi

At this time of year Youth Mentoring Connection is on fire with activity. Our event “An Evening Under the Stars” is this week, then the massive undertaking of bringing 100 young people up to the Big Bear Mountains next week for some deep soul work in our Mentee Initiation Retreat. While preparing for these events we are starting a dozen programs, each with about 40-50 people. We will create about 75 sessions at our various programs in just the next two months. Each one is a major event in and of itself that in the past would take us weeks to plan and prepare. Now we do them as a matter of course. While doing all of this we will train and support hundreds of mentors and council scores of youth, help them find jobs and housing, navigate the pitfalls of young relationships, heal from minor and major traumas and deal with the problems of living in some of the most dangerous geography on the planet.

The super fuel that runs this frantic vehicle is generosity:

The generosity of the mentor who shows up in a kids life even though his or her life may be uncertain in these difficult times. There are hundreds of you active right now with us, from all walks of life.

The generosity of staff members whose hearts will propel them to give more of themselves than anyone has a right to ask…who will generously answer the call of a young person in need, even after a 12 hour day.

The generosity of our friends who fight for our programs at their corporations, keeping us running even when there are economic downturns in their business cycles: HBO, Warner Bros., Paramount, Rhino, Shout Factory, MTV, BET, Comedy Central.

The generosity of volunteers who show up with full giving hearts at our office and populate our Leadership Board and Board of Directors – who teach our kids to surf, make films, write poetry, do math, etc. The rock star giving a private concert to raise money and awareness, the movie and TV stars offering their talents (and money).

The generosity of certain constant Angels who lift me up when I need support (thank you Susan, Linda, Julianna and the too many others to mention).

Generous friends and family who dip into their pockets to help us with badly needed funds and who dip into their hearts to give us encouragement to keep going.

And the truth is that all of these people while giving from their hearts are healing their souls. When they lift a young person up they lift themselves up – they lift all of us up. They remind everyone of our common humanity and that we were born with our individual gifts not to make a profit, but rather to make a difference. Or in the words of Sir Winston Churchill:

“We get to make a living; we give to make a life.”

I live in gratitude that I am surrounded by such richness,

Tony

Founder & CEO

Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis

Founder, Boarding House Mentors