Dear Friends,
As a non-profit organization serving children in Garrett County, we are so grateful for and reliant on the generosity of our community to provide children in our area with positive, caring, adult volunteers serving as lunchtime mentors at school.
Children are referred by school counselors, usually due to lack of support at home or other difficult circumstances creating the need for a positive, adult role model. Mentors meet with children during lunchtime at school for weekly sessions at all local elementary schools and both middle schools in our county, becoming strong, reliable and positive examples in their lives. We plan several educational, fun and cultural out-of-school bonding activities for the children and mentors that the children would likely not experience otherwise. The families of the children we serve are occasionally provided with individual resources or assistance as needed and we facilitate a few service opportunities for the children each year, encouraging them to practice giving back to others. Due to significant challenges faced by many families over the past few years, there has been an even stronger and more urgent need for our services than ever before, requiring us to provide more training, volunteers, supplies and resources. The schools have reported a large increase in behavioral and mental health issues in children of all ages. Our organization has made it a priority to focus on how we can address these challenges and have been collaborating with and providing support to the school guidance counselors and school social workers each year. Along with our mentoring program, we established the Admiral Richard B. Schiff Memorial Scholarship in 2016 which is administered by the Garrett College Foundation. This scholarship is awarded annually and supports Garrett County residents attending Garrett College, with a preference given to our former Garrett Mentors students. A goal of ours with the scholarship, and in general, is to encourage many of our students to set goals and plan ahead for their educational or vocational futures (or both) here in the Garrett County workforce.
To continue our mission for the 2024-2025 school year, we are pleased to launch our 2024 fundraising campaign and invite you to consider becoming a sponsor of our upcoming year of mentoring. All donations are tax deductible and funds received not only go directly to our organization, but will also help us to raise additional funds by putting our campaign total towards our Garrett Mentors Tucker Community Foundation Run for It team, allowing us to earn even more funds back from their foundation!
If you wish to help support us, please donate online by clicking here, using a credit card or PayPal, or checks can be made out to Garrett Mentors and sent to Garrett Mentors, PO box 725 Oakland, MD 21550.
We are so grateful for any amount you, your organization or business can give to sponsor our program. We believe that the future of our community can be impacted significantly by investing in our children today, and thank you so much for joining us in this investment in Garrett County children.
With Gratitude,
Laura Fike, Executive Director
We are a 501c3 organization (26-3160863) and are a proud community partner of the Community Trust Foundation. For additional questions or information please see garrettmentors.org or contact laura@garrettmentors.org.
