Mentor Center
On January 17, National Mentoring Day, United Way of Palm Beach County officially launched its M2K Challenge. In conjunction with the recent transition of the Mentor Center from the Children’s Services Council to United Way, the M2K Challenge asks the community to help raise the funds to sponsor 2,000 children to be mentored for one year at the rate of $2,000 per child.
The goal is to expand the Mentor Center’s reach to create positive change in the lives of 2,000 more children, in addition to those already participating in funded programs. Currently, the Mentor Center provides oversight to six programs as well as the Palm Beach County Mentor Network, serving more than 2,000 children annually:
• Community Mentoring Program, run by Ruth Rales Jewish Family Service
• Foster Grandparents Program, run by Area Agency on Aging
• Mentoring for Kids, run by Alpert Jewish Family & Children’s Services, Inc.
• Mentoring at Pioneer Park, run by Housing Partnership, Inc.
• Milagro Mentoring, run by The Milagro Center
• Model Mentoring, run by Children’s Home Society
The Mentor Center also serves as the anchor of the Palm Beach County Mentor Network, a professional affiliation of 15 formal mentor programs working together to elevate mentoring in the community. These local mentor programs oversee about 1,975 mentor matches, with an additional 5,200 children reached by Junior Achievement of Palm Beach County through its mentoring efforts.
To get the word out about the M2K Challenge, @UnitedWayofPBC will tweet using the hashtag #M2KChallenge and post on Facebook. Anyone interested in learning more about the program, sponsoring a child or becoming a mentor, should contact Gary Graham by phone 561.375.6638 or email GaryGraham@UnitedWayPBC.org.
