'Mentor Monthly' Newsletter

April 2024

Happy National Volunteer Month!

What a great year it's been! YMI is lucky to have had 262 amazing matches this school year.

Many of our mentors join YMI to give back to youth in our community, but we hope (and know!) it's a mutually beneficial relationship. Volunteering in general improves physical and mental health, connects you to your community, gives additional purpose in life, and it's a dopamine kick!

We look forward to sharing your personal impact as we complete our end of the year surveys over the next month...but until then, we think you're the greatest.

Thank you for choosing to spend your hours with YMI!

Five year - ROLE MODEL

Calvin Daniels

Julie May

Greg Wright

Updated YMI Mentor Handbook & Program Policies - Our handbook has been recently revised and is available for you HERE. It is important that YMI mentors review the document and refamiliarize themselves with our policies.

You can also find the Handbook on our "Mentors ONLY" webpage with other helpful resources and past issues of Mentor Monthly HERE.

Summer Connection Events - We will have TWO connection events this summer as a way for you to keep in touch with your mentee among others in the YMI community. Keep your eyes peeled toward your email and the May issue of Mentor Monthly for dates and RSVP information. In the meantime, you'll see YMI out and about at these community events.

This month Randy Forbes, a one year mentor with YMI, will be sharing his tried-and-true mentoring tip as a guest columnist. Randy and his mentee Liam are a very attuned match and one reason is because they use the 5 Whys method when communicating during their meetings.

"A couple months back, I reflected on this question: How can I get to know my mentee better? I've known my mentee for nearly a year, and we enjoy spending time together. However, I wanted to make a more personal connection. The 5 Whys came to mind. When we met next, I presented the 5 Whys as a game-like activity. We took turns asking each other questions from a predefined list. The results were hilarious, educational, insightful, and often unexpected."

For more on how Randy uses the 5 Whys, including examples of the questions in action, please visit the rest of his column HERE.