Giovanni & Tim's YMC Story

"Only the guidance from a mentor could make a fifty pound weight lost goal turn into a result of losing one hundred and twenty pounds in just a two year period. The gratitude that I have for my mentor Tim Windgard continues to exceed new heights as I continue to relies how much he has truly change my life. This Malibu local saw me, a twelve year old, two hundred and eighty pound African American male growing up in south central that had no academic motivation for education, no self-esteem because of obesity. This individual had no desire to be different than the troubling drop out students, gang bangers and poor role models that were all to familiar. My mentor Tim saw this young individual and told himself that he needs to contact Youth Mentoring Connection so he can invest time into this young man’s life because he’s going to be successful some day.

Some might say such events as losing as much as one hundred and twenty pounds, becoming a great African American surfer and turning my whole general perspective on school around is much to have accomplished before and during high school. I say it’s just the beginning. The beginning of a developing mentality to not just be the best, but set the bar with my own personal best. A personal, persistent mentality in hunger of new opportunities to challenge myself and improve. This mentality continues to develop because I still haven’t reached the pinnacles I plan to reach. This lead me to be on the search for the door to the new opportunity that will mold me into a better, brighter and more persistent young scholar.

In Youth Mentoring Connection giving me a mentor or what I see him as, the father figure I never had, he paved the we for today and myself successfully finishing my freshmen year of college with a 3.3 GPA. I plan to continue my education at Loyola Marymount University and majoring in business administration, political science, and minoring in environmental justice. I will continue doing various internships and jobs that are guided toward my major during undergraduate. Following that, I plan to continue my education in graduate school at Stanford University and at the same time start generating profit for the company I am in the process of starting with a Stanford Graduate Chemist and few students from UCLA. We are developing a water conservation company that will innovate the waste management industry. After that, I will run for Speaker of the Assembly for the State of California. Then I will run for Governor of California. Following that I will run for President of the United States. After that I plan on opening up a non-profit that reflects the same core values as Youth Mentoring Connection. I want to continue YMC’s mission to help connect more individuals to invest their valuable time into young inner city kids most say will be nothing in life. Similar to what most people said about me at a first glance. YMC connected me with my mentor and proved the nay sayers wrong. I want to help save lives just as YMC did with mine.

In the summer of 2011 the Metlife Foundation and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging(N4A) flew my mentor Tim and I out to Washington, DC for a Older Volunteers Enrich America Awards reception were Tim’s received a national honor. He received the Silver Honor for the national Mentoring Award. Part of the event article reads, “Tim Wingard, 69, has been a volunteer at the Youth Mentoring Connection (YMC) for seven years.YMC awakens at-risk youth to their power, unique gifts and purpose by matching them with caring adult mentors. Tim, who still surfs, volunteers his time for the surf program and brought his mentee, Giovanni (Gio), surfing on weekends. At 13, Gio weighed 285 pounds and was struggling in most areas of his life in South Central L.A. Tim taught Gio how to eat healthfully, to surf and to be a proud, responsible man. As a result of Tim’s mentoring, Gio lost 120 pounds. Gio is now president of his high school’s debate team, an honor student, surfer and basketball player who has been accepted to several universities. Tim and Gio remain extremely close five years after first meeting.” Youth Mentoring Connection first changes lives of the mentee, then changes lives through the relationship with the mentor and the end result is that YMC enriches both lives."

Surfing 2011

Once again our youth had an amazing time surfing the waves. Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers that came out and helped. This would had not been able to happen with out your support. Thank you and lets keep making a difference in young peoples lives.

Odyssey Plays LIFE

Last Wednesday, YMC's Game of LIFE was played for the first time by the Odyssey program. The activity was adapted from a popular board game. Mentors helped their mentee travel through LIFE as they made choices like starting with college or career and whether to buy new rims or new tires. With YMC paper money, mentors, who volunteered as bankers, helped the players move from station to station as they landed on various spaces. The activity also moved players through the unexpected possibilities in life and raised great discussion topics about school, careers, rent, family, children, money, and housing. Through its glitches of being the first YMC Game of LIFE played, the session was full of fun and group involvement.

Tony’s Blog: “Not a damn thing”

There was laughter, gamesmanship, strategy and haggling. “Number 32, 33 on deck!” I called out and the young lady promptly went over to “steal” the adult diapers, clearly the most unwanted gift in the game, then number 33 steals them from her, but later she has the opportunity to steal them back and the game ends with our young 15 year old girl holding the most undesirable holiday gift ever. The game is called “White Elephant Gift Exchange” and when your number is chosen you can steal any gift that someone before you got, or take your chance on a wrapped gift. Why do we do this? Mostly because it’s fun, but I try to make it a learning opportunity. Learn to deal with disappointment when that coveted gift is stolen. Learn to keep material possessions in perspective. “Talk to your mentor.” Learn that everything that happens, good or bad, is an opportunity for ones advancement and not to regret our misfortunes because they are there to teach us.

But every time I learn more than they do. I learn how clever and strategic these young folks can be, how quick thinking they are as they strategize with friends how to steal a gift from one so that he is freed up to steal what he really wants from another. They are playing chess in real life. I learn to be a little better at managing and containing so much energy. I also learn that to some of these young people the laptop or mp3 players sprinkled in with the joke gifts are their only chances this year at the kind of gift that they dream of. I am reminded of just how materialistic we train our citizens to be. This sets me off on reflection about what we have become as a society, and the values that an over-commercialized consumer culture teaches its kids. I remember reading that Oprah chose as one of her most ambitious projects to open a school in South Africa partially because when asked what they most wanted, the kids there said books and school uniforms, whereas American children talk about the latest fashion trends, ipods and sneakers. Look what we have created folks. Those of us who dream of a society with higher values know that we have a long way to go. My hope in getting there rests in the faces that I see in the crowd of mentors and mentees. They come together on this night to celebrate the instant community that we created. California is the richest state in the union but ranks 46th in self-reporting of happiness. Yet, here I see a lot of happiness: mentors laughing at the spectacle and youth in an environment where they can let their shoulders down and just be kids for awhile.

So, back to the game. I also learn how good their memories are. The reason that Jasmin wanted to end up with the adult diapers and Darryl looked to steal the Mickey Mouse stickers is because they remember that the preceding year I made up a last minute rule that the person who got ‘screwed’ the worst could choose any gift in the house to steal in exchange. I’m still not sure if it was a clever life lesson to them or just a cruel hoax that I did not invoke that rule this year and they got stuck with the lousy gifts.

Mostly what I am left with are these memories:

• Dozens of cards signed with personal messages from youth and mentors for one of our young men who languishes in prison. We’ll send one each day to help him pass the lonely time.

• The giant card with “get well messages” that will be delivered to a young lady’s hospital room where she will spend the holidays due to severe complications associated with her sickle cell anemia.

• The beautiful reverence as all 100+ people in the hall reflect on our good fortune to be together and speak the names of those less fortunate of our community who cannot be with us tonight.

• And finally this: An exercise at our worksite mentoring program at HBO instructs mentors and mentees to reflect back on the year just past and ask“what would you change if you could do the year over again?” The mentor reports with pride that she and her mentee (who had been through some trying times that year), without collaborating both ended up writing the exact same answer:

“Not a damn thing”

With love, laughter, peace and blessings,

Tony

Happy Holidays. May your dreams take flight in 2010

We're looking for a few good mentors...

We're looking for a few... well actually a whole lot of new mentors for our new programs starting up. Please help us spread the word. As Tony mentioned in his blog, "if you reduce your time in front of the TV by 5%, you can use that time to mentor a young person in one of Youth Mentoring Connection's programs"

Couldn't have said it better, Tony! Please help us spread the word. The pitch is below.

Domo Arigato!

-monk

Be a Mentor for At-Risk Youth

Youth Mentoring Connection has a 10-year history of delivering worksite- and community-based mentoring programs serving "at-risk" teens throughout Los Angeles. Our mentoring programs are relationship-based - through developing a trusting relationship with a caring, consistent adult, our youth are able to develop more trust and esteem in themselves.

We provide the necessary structure and support to help mentoring matches succeed. Mentors and mentees meet twice a month, for nine months, on a set calendar. One meeting each month is a "Group" session, where all 30 mentor-mentee pairs meet together for facilitated group activities to build trust, community, relationship skills, and life skills. The other session each month is a "One-on-One," where mentors and mentees go off to do activities of their own choosing (dinner, movie, ball game, etc.) We are currently seeking mentors for two programs that meet on Thursdays from 5:30-7:30pm. Our Adams Program is scheduled to begin October 1^st, meets near USC and focuses on middle school youth. The Children’s Hospital Program will begin November 5^th and takes place in North East Los Angeles in Cypress Park with youth ages 10-15.

Staff provide extensive training and support to mentors - our goal is to be there for you so you can be there for our youth! No special skills are required, just the desire to help a young person reach his or her full potential. Mentors should be age 21 or over, and own or have regular access to a vehicle. We ask that mentors be able to keep their commitment to their mentee through attending the scheduled group and one-on-one sessions, and making one phone or email contact in the off weeks. We ask mentors to show up, role model participation, be genuine, and be themselves. We conduct an interview, background check, and mentor training to ensure the safety of our youth, and to prepare mentors for what to expect. From there - the rest of the magic happens on its own through the mentoring process!

Interested? Please email Monk Turner, Program Coordinator, at monk@youthmentoring.org, or call us at 323-731-8080 x105 if you have any questions. If you're ready to go, you can simply apply online. We look forward to hearing from you!

Everyone needs a Mentor

Hoolie and the YMC team are at the Staff Retreat Today so I wanted to share one of the most poignant stories of Mentoring this week. When the President of the United States regards you as a Mentor you know you have made an impact. This is how Barack Obama referred to Teddy Kennedy this week at his funeral and is a reminder to us all about how important it is for us to mentor the next generation.

Out and about with your Mentee

A new opportunity has come up for Mentors and their Mentee's. Come get involved in a hands on program that is looking out for our wildlife...

Snowy Plover chicks with their parent - July 18, 2008 Photo - Coal Oil Point Reserve

The Western Snowy Plover is a tiny shore bird that breeds on the Pacific coast from southern Washington to southern Baja.The Pacifc coast population consists of approximately 1,800 breeding paits and 3,500 - 4,000 wintering individuals. Plover nesting season is February through late September and on the California coast, nests usually appear by the tihrd week of March. Plovers eat the sand flies and other arthropods (bugs) that are attracted to decaying seaweed. Their nests generally consist of a shollow scrape lined with beach debris and typically occur in flat, open, sandy areas with little vegetation. They typically lay three eggs and their nests are found within 100 meters of water.

The last known breeding pair in Los Angeles County was recorded in Manhattan Beach in 1949. Between 260-334 spent the winter in LA County between 2004-2006, but they don't, won't, or can't nest here because of increased habitat disturbance like: beaching grooming and the consequent removal of nesting and foraging habitat; off-leash dogs; increased beach visitors; and, increased vehicle use on beaches.

Snowy Plovers were listed as Federally Threatened on March 5, 1993. LA Audubon is working with biologists, state and federal agencies, conservation organizations and volunteers on a Federal Recovery Plan (USFWS 2007). Out goal is to get Plovers breeding in LA County once again. We are currently working on study designed to determine which beaches, and where on those beaches, in LA County Plovers like to hang out. We provide that info to agency staff and managers and make recommendations to help protect the Plovers on LA beaches so that one day they may again nest and breed in Los Angeles County!

Join LA Audubon on a visit to Malibu (or another LA Co beach) to monitor Snow Plovers! Your help will be greatly appreciated! Our 2009 schedule is:

Feb 6-12

Mar 7-13 beach-wide

Apr 5-11

May 4-10 beach-wide (dependent on USFWS window)

June 2-8

July 17-23

Aug 14-210

Sep 12-18 beach-wide

Oct 12-19

Nov 13-19

Dec 11-17

We will be having a training at the end of February, although this is not required to participate. If you'd like to join us, pleased contact:

Mary Loquvam

Executive Director

Los Angeles Audubon Society

323.664.1294

maryloquvam@laaudubon.org