A Little Advice--One P4K Mentor's Perspective

Patti Van Horn is a mother of three and a grandmother to eleven. She is also a  a busy full-time professional with Lincoln Financial Group, who still finds time to volunteer with her church and feed her passion for baking decadent desserts and pastries. Patti's plate is pretty full! 

Despite what most would agree is a pretty fair statement, Patti would say her plate would never be complete without her three  mentees, or as she likes to call them,  "her girls". Patti has been a group mentor with P4K for almost a year and wouldn't give it up for the world.  Below is an excerpt from a note she recently sent to P4K staff about her experiences as a mentor, along with a little advice for new incoming mentors. --Thanks for sharing your story Patti and also for your commitment to P4K's kids!

Being a mentor has been such a rewarding experience for me.  I love my girls.  I lost one this year but to a good cause.  She was a foster child last year and has been reunited with her family in Lincoln now.  That's a good thing because she was a daddy's girl and missed him terribly. Tell the new mentors to have an open mind and an open heart.  Trust will come in time and the kids will share. 

I love to bake and my girls and I found common ground in that.  We made Christmas, Valentine and Shamrock cut-out sugar cookies, which we frosted and decorated. I gave them care packages of their own- aprons, cookie cutters, cookie sheets, a hot pad each, etc. I had the care package's sitting on the table when they came in and they squealed and said it was like Christmas!! The girls loved it and are looking forward to more baking this year. I took pictures of them in the process of making and decorating their cookies and gave each girl a set of pictures ( so they will have memories of this time). We will make some cakes this year as well for them to share with their family.  They like making the cookies and bringing them to their peers in the program.   

These kids need love and need to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. My girls asked me to stay their mentor all through high school as well. :) Isn't that cool?!

Tell the new mentors not to be hurt or put off if the kids seem distant at first. They will make a connection with one of them or if they are truly lucky, with all of them. Just be who you are and let your love shine through. 

I am 57 years old and have 3 grown kids of my own and 11 grandchildren and this mentor program has allowed me to care about even more kids.  I want a better life for my girls. They know if they stick with the program and get good grades, college for them will be a reality. 

Take care and thanks again for the wonderful program that I get to participate in and makes my life mean something.

God Bless You!!

Patti       

Introducing Lenli Corbett and Katie Sautter

Katie Sautter (left) and Lenli Corbett (right)

Partnership 4 Kids is proud to introducing two of the newest members of our team: Lenli Corbett and Katie Sautter!

Lenli joined P4K as a development coordinator in June and has dived into her many responsibilities such as grant writing, in-kind donation coordination and working with the P4K Service League.   Prior to working with P4K, Lenli worked in compliance for the University of San Francisco Athletics Department. 

Katie is brand-new to the team, starting earlier this week.  Katie will be a program coordinator working specifically with the 7^th and 8^th grade students at Monroe Middle School. As a former classroom teacher with the Papillion-LaVista Public Schools district, Katie is extremely well-versed at working with middle school students.

Lenli and Katie are both avid sports fans and also love being with their families.  Outside of work, sports and family, Lenli enjoys taking on home renovation projects and Katie likes to decompress with a good work-out or a little retail therapy.

To learn more about the individual members of the Partnership 4 Kids team, visit the Teams page on our website!

A Lesson In Grace Under Fire

Throughout history, astounding masterpieces have been created in the face of the most horrifying and unspeakable atrocities the world has ever seen. To witness such a feat is a great lesson in what it takes to find true grace under fire.     

Over the course of the next two months, a group of Partnership 4 Kids 8^th grade students have an opportunity to observe one such historical occurrence of grace under fire through a series of events put together by the Institute for Holocaust Education.  The event series takes an inside look at the lives and music of 1940’s European composers, whose fate was met during the Holocaust in Auschwitz.

Students will begin their journey back in time on August 30^th, at a Strategic Air and Space Museum exhibit titled, “Searching for Humanity:  Veterans, Victims and Survivors of WWII.”

The exhibit event will feature a tour and testimony from Nebraska Holocaust survivors.

Students will also have a chance to learn more about the history of the Holocaust composers and the creation of their music during an in-class workshop led by professional classical musicians.

To cap off the educational series, two students will be selected to document their own life experiences and reflections on what they learned from the experience, which they will capture on video.  Clips from the students’ video diaries will be featured in a television documentary that will air on NETV later this year.

*Be sure to check back for updates as this P4K student project unfolds!

Contributors of Swing 4 Kids, 2012 Drive Event Success!

Thanks to the many contributors and participants in Partnership 4 Kids 2012 golf benefit, Swing 4 Kids, more than $50,000 was raised for the agency’s programs.

The scramble-style tournament took place at Field Club of Omaha on Monday, July 16^th with nearly 200 participants coming out to support the Partnership.  

Notable players included Husker football legends Johnny Rodgers and Tommie Frasier,  University of Nebraska, Lincoln division I head basketball coach, Derrin Hansen as well as  WOWT, Channel 6 news personalities, Dave Webber and Jim Siedlecki .

Swing 4 Kids golfers enjoyed a day of chipping and putting for a good cause, trying their luck at multiple hole contests, including the coveted hole-in-one contest for a brand-new 2012 Mini Cooper Coup from Markel Automotive Group.  Although the level of skill on the course was extremely high, no one was able to drive away with the grand-prize Coup.   

As part of the day’s festivities, Partnership 4 Kids students greeted golfers as they took the course and hosted a lemonade stand, at which they served thirsty  players  for free-will donations to help raise money  to purchase books and classroom supplies.

A special thank you to the more than 50 sponsors who contributed to Swing 4 Kids, 2012 including title sponsor, Omaha Steaks, lunch and beverage sponsors, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, and Lucky Bucket Brewing Co., print sponsor, Wright Printing, hole-in-one sponsor, Markel Automotive Group and media sponsor, WOWT, Channel 6. 

For a complete list of 2012 Swing 4 Kids sponsors and contributors, click here.

Learning The Language of Middle School

 

“I had so mch fun w/u @ d rodeo!!! DY tnkwe cn hng ot agn sumtym sn?”

If you can read this, you might just be a mentor to a middle school student!!

Mentoring middle school students is not an easy task. It takes a special person to take the time to learn the ‘lingo” of a middle-schooler and to help guide them through such an important time of growth. Rhonda Weyant is one of these special people and she can tell you what the text above means.

Even though texting makes English look like a foreign language, she chose to join the teenage masses to relate with her mentees at Beveridge Middle School. She felt there is a "time and need to help students before they get into high school or further into their teen years." The middle school years is that time when they need someone to teach them “kindness, confidence and show them that someone else really cares about them.”  

Rhonda is one of the Partnership's mentors, from OPPD.  Her dedication to the Partnership students has grown each year. Initially volunteering as a goal buddy, Rhonda decided to add group mentoring  to her list in the fall of 2011, and most recently, she has taken on the role of liaison between OPPD and the Partnership.

Rhonda's mentees, Dah Ler, Octavia, Angela and Glennasha describe Rhonda as a “second mom.” For most people, a connection like this may take years to accomplish, but it took Rhonda and her girls just 8 months.

Rhonda and the girls get to see each other twice a month at their after-school meetings, as well as on the fun outings they have had together. Dah Ler said she appreciates all the time that Rhonda has dedicated to them and she feels like she has a friend in Rhonda she can always lean on.  Angela boasts that Rhonda makes her feel like “home,” and “very comfortable”.

The group of young ladies all agreed that going to the rodeo was a blast and probably one of the best experiences they've shared with Rhonda so far.  It was also a new experience for the girls, none of them having ever been to a rodeo before.   They shared laughs, some good snacks, and of course, some boy-watching.  Rhonda laughed that the girls paid more attention to the boys than the rodeo.  

Rhonda's favorite moment is a little different though.  She said her best mentoring moment was when one of the girls said to the others that she knew Rhonda loved them and cared for them because Rhonda wanted to stay in touch with all of them after the school year was over.

As busy as Rhonda is, she does continue to stay in touch with the girls.  She stresses that if you are considering mentoring to “not think too long--you’re missing out being able to love and help someone.”