The Greater Salisbury Committee and the Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce are engaging in a joint project to raise the awareness of Mentoring and its impact on students in our school system. Mentoring has shown that it will increase graduation rates and the ability to move to the next level of training/education, as well as ultimately prepare students to become more employable and increase their own self esteem.
Right now, in Wicomico County Schools, there are about 850 youth being mentored by 436 mentors. There are nearly 850 additional students waiting for a mentor to volunteer for a program. Students appreciate having a mentor and actually consider this to be a “badge of honor”. Our goal is to attract 1,000 new mentors during this school year. Attached are two brochures describing mentoring through the Wicomico Board of Education. One is entitled A` la Carte Mentoring and the other is from the Wicomico Mentoring Project with application enclosed. We strongly encourage you, with the approval of your organization, to be a mentor. It works and your community needs you to be involved in this effort.
In addition, there is a residual cost to being a mentor of about $10 which covers mentor background checks and various success celebrations during the year. The Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce and the Community Foundation have partnered to match the first $2,000 raised. Join them in making a difference in the lives of local kids!
We are asking that you consider the following:
1. Encourage your employees to volunteer to become a Mentor. This takes approx. one hour per week at a Wicomico School.
2. Donate to help offset additional cost related to expanding this program.
Thanks in advance for your consideration, we look forward to your participation and the positive influence Mentoring will have in Wicomico County
Click here for the Mentoring Project Brochure
