Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee- Misty & Ashley


“Dear Misty,

I want to say thank you so much for being my mentor, I appreciate everything that that you did for me checking up pm ,e when I am feeling down about myself. You didn’t give up on me, you had faith in me not to give up on myself and I just want to thank you Mizty. Thank you for listening and understanding me on the things I’m having trouble with. Without you listening and giving me advice on which way to go, I think I would have been in a messed up world. Thank you so much for having faith in me, I hope that we keep in touch with each other.”

Much Love,

-Ashley

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee- Bert & Juan

"I want to thank you for being an awesome guy and giving me all your attention. You were a very open person. You shared with me some of the struggles you have with your sons and I appreciate that. I knew you cared because you always told me the right things to do".

-Juan

Childrens Hospital Seniors I Cohort - Choas Bowling



CHLA Senior I Cohort - Returning mentor+mentee matches were able to play a full game of bowling while new mentors and mentess played "chaos bowling". Each mentor was seperated into different lanes and were given truth or dare questions. Each mentee would rotate between mentors, bowl, and play truth or dare.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Would you give your life for love?

Rome, under the rule of the Emperor Claudius II was constantly engaged in war to expand the Roman Empire. Many of the young men that were to be soldiers became reluctant to leave wives and children to go off to war. So, Claudius outlawed marriage and decreed that all engagements be broken off immediately.

Roman Emperors were regarded as Gods. So, when Claudius learned that a certain priest of Rome, answering to a higher calling, disobeyed the edict and continued to perform secret wedding ceremonies he became furious. The priest was dragged from the temple, imprisoned and put on trial. A triumvirate of judges found him guilty and the priest was sentenced to be beaten, stoned and beheaded.

While in prison, the priest received a visitor - the blind daughter of one of the judges who convicted him. He is said to have cured her blindness and the priest fell in love with the judge’s daughter. While awaiting his execution the priest penned a note to the young woman expressing his love. It was signed:
“From your Valentine”

The execution of St. Valentine was carried out on February 14.

What would you die for?

celebrate love,

Tony
CEO/Founder
Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis


Thursday, February 10, 2011

Adams Grande Matching Session



Adams Grande Mentors and Mentees find out who their matched up with!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee- Lorraine & Cynthia


"I want to thank you for being there for me through everything. There was never a day that you didn’t call to see how I was doing. You made sure we went to different and I experiences new things with you. In this program I learned that no matter what people can count on YMC and to be helpful with others and much more".


-Cynthia

Monday, February 7, 2011

You Can’t Make This #*%t Up!

It was my deep honor to be invited to participate in a Sweat Lodge Ceremony Friday evening with a group of respected men and elders looking to initiate a new vision for the collective work of guiding youth and nudging culture.

When you do these things you never know what magic doorways might open for one to receive guidance. So much can happen when you surrender yourself to the medicine of sacred healing space, experienced together with our instant community of men, within the timeless womb of Mother Earth, in harmony with the ancestors.

So, trying to be open to whatever message comes through I crawled into the lodge in the traditional manner offering prayers to “all my relations” and sat in the dark.  As always I prayed for those who could not be with us. One whose spirit I always invite into all ritual ceremonies is our boy Jose who is languishing in a prison in Oklahoma.


What I didn’t expect is how powerfully he would show up.


Just after I invoked his spirit, I began to feel a pain in my side - in the region of my gall bladder.  I identified it as a “phantom” pain, since my gall bladder had been removed a few years back after a serious gall stone attack.  The pain was identical to that which I felt when my gall bladder used to act up.  As the ceremony progressed the pain became so bad that I almost passed out. With my head in a dizzy spin, I held back my feelings of shame to ask the leaders if I could take some water so that I wouldn’t have to leave the lodge before the ceremony completed.  The support of these men was heartwarming. No judgment, just acceptance. 


Then it came back to me. This happened before, it just wasn’t me.  On our first Mentee Initiation Retreat seven years ago I was awakened at 3am by one of our mentors to tell me that Jose was experiencing severe pain in his side. I got my friend Orland, a gifted healer. As we made our way over to Jose’s cabin Orland spoke of “phantoms” working on Jose. Our young man was in such severe pain that he winced just trying to bend his knee, let alone sit up to talk with us. In one of the most remarkable things I have ever witnessed Orland conducted a healing that seemed to elevate the temperature of the room several degrees and culminated with him spraying water from his mouth. What conscious, subconscious, psychoactive or otherworldly forces that were called upon I can’t say.  But within a few minutes Jose was sitting up and the pain was gone.

So, back to the sweat lodge. After the water was passed I felt some relief and shortly thereafter the pain had completely subsided.  I’m still processing the lesson being offered, but one of the things that came to me was how much grief and rage we are working to help our young people deal with now. (This is always heaviest just after the holidays.)  We end up helping them carry it because the weight that young people carry in this world today is almost unbearable without mentors. After the sweat, I shared my experience with Orland and he reminded me that the gall bladder is connected to anger and grief.

Really, you can’t make this #*%t up.

Tony LoRe, CEO / Founder,
Youth Mentoring Connection/Urban Oasis

PS Thanks Chris for making the invitation.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee- Leo & Ronnie

"I want to thank my mentor for teaching me that I could succeed in life by focusing on my goals. He showed me what I have to do in order to reach my goals. I knew he cared about me because he listened to my problems and helped me find an answer to the things that I am going through. In this program I learned that every one has different ways to achieve there goals and that every one is talented in their own ways".

-Ronnie