Miles for SMILES - Online Fundraising Tool

SMILES is working hard to make our 2nd Annual Miles for SMILES event more successful than the first! For our 2010 walk/run/bike we're having our teams use "Firstgiving", it's an online fundraising tool that's as easy as using email; if you have an email account, you can fundraise online to support SMILES!

Our page is www.firstgiving.org/smilesmentoring and there are instructions on the homepage on how to create your own page. Or watch these quick video tutorials!

How to edit your fundraising page:

How to email your firstgiving page:

SMILES Holiday Party

The festive season is upon us and mentees are enjoying their last session of the year by kicking back and celebrating with their mentors. We decided to follow suit and had a lovely staff party complete with holiday music, delicious homemade goodies and carolling! Here are some pictures!

Facilitators Jared, Mary and Megan

Our Director of Operations, Lynn Poyant with our lovely spread!

Facilitator Kristen at her usual spot by the copier!

USA TODAY Reports...

First lady launches White House mentoring program

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Michelle Obama launched a mentoring program Monday to give local high school girls access to women at the White House.
Thirteen of the girls joined the first lady and 18 White House staffers, including advisers Valerie Jarrett and Melody Barnes, in the State Dining Room to kick off the program, which Mrs. Obama said was one of her top goals on becoming first lady.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

Mentors are Asset Builders!!

In our traditional group mentoring programs many of the activities and worksheets we complete with our mentees are based on enhancing our mentees' "40 Development Assets." Watch the video below and find out more about what this means!

Mark your calendars! Miles for SMILES - Saturday, March 13th, 2010

SAVE THE DATE!! Saturday, March 13th 2010...Join us for our 2nd Annual Miles for SMILES it's a walk, run, bike or skate-a-thon to benefit SMILES Mentoring! Tell a friend! Create a team and walk together for a great cause!!

SMILES will be using an online fundraising tool to make it easy for participants to raise funds!

http://www.firstgiving.com/smilesmentoring

2009 Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference - United Hands for Mentoring

SMILES Mentoring attended the 2009 Northeast Regional Mentoring Conference "United Hands for Mentoring" in Providence, RI this past week. Over 50 mentoring programs were in attendance from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Maine, Vermont and even Canada! The conference kicked off with a wonderful reception at the Providence Marriott, followed by thought provoking workshops and keynote speakers on Friday.

The planning of the conference was spearheaded by the Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership. They recruited many generous sponsors, most notable being the Premiere Event Sponsor - Webster Bank and the Reception Sponsor - SWAROVSKI.

All of the SMILES full-time staff members attended the conference and learned/ shared many innovative ideas at the workshops offered. We attended cultural competency in mentoring, the role of business, fundraising strategies and many more! Though the workshops were very informative, the lunchtime keynote speaker, Charlie Appelstein, shared messages that will stay with all of our staff for years to come.

Charlie Appelstein's humor, compassion, creativity and understanding of youth has helped thousands of youth, parents, mentors, teachers. Described as "the best youth care trainer in America" by Robert Lieberman, former president of the American Association of Children's Residential Centers, Charlie has devoted his entire adult career to helping at-risk kids and those who care for them. The hopeful message which Charlie brought with him that day was that if a child has at least one person (that's you mentor!) who thinks they are TERRIFIC, their odds of overcoming obstacles in their life skyrockets! Charlie is also the best selling author of "No Such Thing as a Bad Kid" (which is available at our office for loan).

Charlie's Strength-Based Beliefs & Terminology

Pejorative Label //// Positive, Hope-Based Reframe
Obnoxious //// Good at pushing people away
Rude, arrogant //// Good at affecting people
Resistant //// Cautious
Lazy, un-invested //// Good at preventing further hurts, failures
Manipulative //// Good at getting needs met
Just looking for attention//// Good at caring about and loving yourself
Close-mouthed //// Loyal to family or friends
Different, odd //// Under-appreciated
Stubborn & defiant //// Good at standing up for yourself
Tantrum, fit, outburst //// Big message
Learning disability //// Roadblocks

SMILES Programs are going full steam ahead

Programs are off to a great start! From our lovely, little 1st graders to our high schoolers - all are bonding and sharing their interests and lives with caring adults. We have mentors and mentees reuniting and forming new bonds all over the SouthCoast!

Though we have hundreds of committed volunteers, we are still in search for more magnificent mentors!

Please spread the word, so we can make more meaningful matches.

If you know of any groups that would be interested in hearing about SMILES or any individuals who you think would make a great mentor, please contact our new Americorps Ambassador of Mentoring, Elizett Pires at epires@smilesmentoring.org or call 508-999-9300.

SMILES @ Keith - Citizen Schools

Brand new 1st graders and their mentors at Carlos Pacheco

SMILES Facilitators 2009-10!

Here is where "the rubber meets the road". Our hardworking SMILES facilitators at their first meeting of the school year. These folks will be with our SMILES mentors every step of the way to guide you through your mentoring experience this upcoming year.

SMILES Facilitators:

Bubbly Barbara

Cheerful Colleen

Caring Cristin

Joyful Jared

Kind Kai

Knowledgeable Katelyn

Keen Katje

Kreative Kristen

Merry Mary

&

Sunny Sandra

Mentor Tony and Mentee Dominic

Tony and Dominic voicing their thoughts on mentoring and their relationship

SMILES in the Sky

Join us on Thursday, October 22nd from 6:00 - 9:00 pm for SMILES in the Sky, a night of fun with friends at the Sky Lounge to kickoff Miles for SMILES 2010. Learn more and purchase tickets now by clicking HERE. All proceeds benefit Miles for SMILES.

SMILES Help Kids Read Event!

Fall River Herald News and New Bedford Standard Times article states:

"SMILES Mentoring is moving forward with an ambitious plan to recruit hundreds of new volunteers to mentor students in dozens of new programs being requested by school officials in New Bedford and Fall River. As part of SMILES’ Help Kids Read campaign, two events are scheduled next month for SouthCoast residents who are interested in becoming a mentor in a literacy-based program in either community.There will be an informational session at the Fall River Free Public Library on Tuesday, Aug. 4. A second informational session is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 5, at the Greater New Bedford Voc-Tech High School auditorium. Both sessions will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. “We are getting the message loud and clear from the principals of schools in both cities that they welcome caring adults who want to help kids read, and become mentors and role models,” said SMILES Executive Director Jim Mathes. “If you want to do something that will make a positive difference in a child’s life and that will improve the community where you live, then I urge you to become a SMILES mentor.”"

Through our outreach via print, radio, social media outlets we were able to draw members of both communities to the events. They were a great success, but as always we are still looking for more volunteers to join the ranks and HELP KIDS READ!

SMILES staff speaking to potential mentors at the HELP KIDS READ event.

SMILES Mentoring Night at the BAY SOX!!!

SMILES Mentors, mentees, family and friends had a great time enjoying our great national pastime down at Paul Walsh field. The rain held off and we all enjoyed a beautiful night watching the BAY SOX win an 8-1 victory over the Lowell All-Americans and qualify for post season play.

The mentees in attendance flooded the players at the end of their game to congratulate them on their win and grab their autographs! The players were more than happy to please their now loyal fans!

Below are some moments from the game shot by our lovely in house photographer, Nicole Almeida:

Jim Mathes, SMILES Executive Director, throwing out the first pitch!
Nicole and Danessa
New Bedford BAY SOX Players during the National Anthem

SMILES Barnes and Noble Bookfair a success!

During the summer months SMILES enjoys getting out into the community. It offers us an opportunity to spread our message and let people know that volunteering for just an hour a week with the child not their own can make a big impact.

On June 26th, we had a great day at Barnes and Noble during our summer bookfair. We raised funds, community members donated books for our SMILES library and we had a great time interacting with the folks shopping for their summer reading books.

Former Red Sox pitcher Brian Rose stopped by during the afternoon to sign autographs and talk about America’s favorite pastime. Rose is currently the pitching coach for the New Bedford Bay Sox.

In the evening, three local authors were at the Book Fair, including D.G. Stern and his canine companion, Upton Charles, Dog Detective and star of the newly released Disappearing Diamonds and Something Fishy. Upton, a Bichon Frise, was in attendance and gave out his "pawtograph.”

Erin McHugh, author of The Little Road Trip Handbook, regaled all with advice about planning and taking to the wide open roads with everything from how to choose your traveling companions to bizarre laws still on the books in many a state.

Barbara E. Moss of Westport, author of The Adventures of Sir Goblin, the Feline Knight, will also be on hand to talk to you about how a certain tomcat came to be knighted, solve crimes and change the destiny of a medieval village.

It was a great day for all!! If you know of any other community events which SMILES Mentoring could attend to spread the word about mentoring please contact Nicole Almeida at nalmeida@smilesmentoring.org or call 508-999-9300.

SMILES Parent/Teacher Open House

Hello all!

We have many talented mentors who volunteer for SMILES Mentoring. One of those mentors is David Weed! He goes above and beyond for the students and our program! He is constantly taking wonderful pictures of our matches and displays them on his website "Partners for a Healthier Community".

Check out his write up about the Parent/Teacher SMILES Open House that occurred this past Spring:

Click on the link below:

Fonseca Elementary School's SMILES Parent/Teacher Open House

Positive Attention

We as mentors, parents, teachers, volunteers always strive to give our students positive attention. Countless times we've heard how negative attention just sprouts negative actions and behaviors. Below is an opinion article written by our very own Katje Fuson which gives our region the dose of positivity it deserves.
_______________________________

LETTER: Volunteers benefit society, themselves, 07-05-09

The Herald News
Posted Jul 05, 2009 @ 12:00 AM

In my role as director of Fall River Operations for SMILES Mentoring, I am fortunate enough to interact with people who have committed to making a direct impact on this city on a daily basis. From the mentors and staff involved with SMILES and Big Friends Little Friends, to members of Peaceful Coalition and the organizations involved with the Fall River Shannon Community Safety Initiative, each entity is dedicated to making positive changes in Fall River. It is truly inspiring to work with such concerned individuals.I am writing today to express my positive opinion of the people and organizations that provide direct service to Fall River’s youth. The teachers, principals, school adjustment counselors and staff who are in the city’s schools five days a week throughout the school year working directly with this city’s youth deserve our praise. I understand that every situation is not ideal in regard to the school system, but I would like to take the time to recognize the good that comes out of Fall River schools. Imagine trying to teach a classroom of 30 kids! That’s a room filled with 30 diverse personalities, 30 singular futures, 30 different home-life circumstances and 30 varied learning styles. I applaud our educators for their tremendous efforts to lead our youth into a bright future. At SMILES, we are grateful to the schools that have opened their doors to our mentors and have allowed mentoring relationships to flourish under their roofs. We are grateful to our mentors who take time out of their week to directly impact Fall River’s youth. SMILES mentors are adults who understand that every child is unique and that every child needs positive adults to talk to and learn from. Our mentors express a sincere interest in their mentee’s lives and futures. We are grateful to SMILES mentees for being open to letting a caring adult into their life and for bringing the joy of youthfulness into our mentors’ lives. Lastly, but certainly not least, we are grateful to the parents and guardians of our mentees for allowing and encouraging their children to form strong connections with their mentors.As a SMILES mentor, I can say that the one hour a week that I spend with my mentee is full of laughs and deep discussions and is always meaningful to me. I am thankful that the school introduced me to my mentee and has been instrumental in helping our relationship to form. I strongly encourage everyone in the SouthCoast to step toward solving some of our region’s problems. Whether you choose to work on the chronic dropout rate that is affecting Fall River and New Bedford, or you choose to work toward eliminating gang violence in our cities, you can effect social change through volunteerism.Please visit www.volunteersolutions.org or www.myfallriver.org to find a local organization that will lead you in the right direction. For more information on SMILES mentoring program, call Nicole Almeida at 508-999-9300 or visit http://www.smilesmentoring.org/.

Submitted by: Katje Fuson,Fall River

This is why we do what we do!

Check out this video of a very talented

Kuss Middle School match

who have been together for 3 years.



Tissue anyone?

Best of Both Worlds

"SMILES program adds up for pair" - Fall River Herald News article 9/28/08

"SMILES mentor Laurette Shabshelowitz has already raised three college-aged children and she hopes that experience will guide her in her mentoring relationship with 12-year-old Steve M. Correia, a student at the Talbot Middle School. Laurette and Steve have established such a good mentoring relationship this past year, that she is pursuing continuing as his mentor under the “Big Brother, Big Sister” program. “I really like him a lot,” Shabshelowitz said of Steven. “He’s always smiling. He has a good attitude about things. He likes to hang out with his friends like a typical boy. He, like many other middle school students, just needs to put a little more focus on schoolwork.” Shabshelowitz said she has already seen an impact since mentoring him during this past school year. His grades are up in math, but that’s partly because both of them consider math their favorite subject. They also both share a love of animals. She elaborates, “I encourage him to focus on his schoolwork and grades. I tell him how important school is, that education is something he will need for his whole life. I encourage him to stay in school and go to college. Kids his age don’t usually have that on their radar screen.”"
___________

This article was written almost a year ago and Steven and she signed up for the Big Brother, Big Sister (BBBS) program shortly after this article was published. Steven and Lauretter are "Big" and "little" in addition to being SMILES mentor and mentee. Through the BBBS program Laurette has met Steven's father and they explore their love of animals regularly on the weekends. Since Laurette and Steven get to see each other during the school day through SMILES, Laurette gets a handle on what's going on at school with Steven, as well. It's a win-win-win for all involved!


If you have any questions about SMILES Mentoring partnership with Big Brother, Big Sister in New Bedford or Big Friends, Little Friends in Fall River. Please email Marie-Frances at mrivera@smilesmentoring.org.

W-Rapping it up!

No--facilitator Tracy Carriero did not break into a rap song for our mentors these past 2 days. What she did do was set us straight on how to "wrap up" our relationships with our mentees. Whether we are moving onto another SMILES program in the fall, reconnecting with our same mentee in the fall or venturing into a community based mentoring program. We as mentors must always model positive closure.

On the left is Tracy with her infamous quotes used to start and end all of the Mentor Fellowships she has facilitated over the past 3 years.

At this "wrap up" session we were allowed time to reflect on our mentoring relationships. Mentors were given a list of questions to answer (thought they would be helpful to others out there who did not get a chance to attend the session):

1. What was the best part of mentoring for you this year?

2. What is the greatest challenge you faced, and how did you handle it?

3. What did you learn about yourself during this process?

4. What are your mentee's 3 biggest strengths?

5. What wish do you have for your mentee?

6. What would you like to tell your mentee as you wrap up this year's SMILES program? (This could be words of wisdom, or thoughts about your relationship, or something else!)

7. How do you want to proceed with this mentor/mentee relationship?


After we answered these questions we had time to share our answers with our neighbors and ask for advice, if necessary. Feel free to chime in below in the comment boxes and give your responses to any/all of these questions or just contemplate them on your own.

Fun Afternoon at the Zeiterion!

Hi all,

SMILES went on yet another wonderful field trip this past Sunday. Thanks to the SCBA (SouthCoast Business Alliance), the Zeiterion Theatre and Scotty's Limo we were able to bring 9 of our matches to the "Z" in style! Scotty's Limosine provided 2 stretch limos for our matches to chat and relax in before and after going to see "Jungle Jack Hanna". Gomes and Carlos Pacheco mentees and mentors loved the extra pampering! We also took a little detour to Fort Phoenix and did a quick photo op before the show.

Mentors attended on the trip, let me know if you'd like us to send you additional photos.

Gomes and Carlos Pacheco Matches - Big Group Shot at Fort Phoenix

Young ladies from Carlos Pacheco

Outside of the limo in front of Carlos Pacheco--that's what I call stylin'!

Mentoring Night at the Fenway 2009!

Hi all!

SMILES matches had a great time last night watching the Boston Red Sox drive home a 13-3 victory against the Cleveland Indians! Mentors and mentees were all decked out in our Red Sox gear and had a great time bonding with one another. One of our SMILES matches even won a very, special opportunity to yell PLAY BALL to get the game started.

Check out the press we received: CLICK HERE to read the Standard-Times Article

In this instance the pictures are worth more than 1,000 words....

Tyler and Tracy yelling PLAY BALL on the Fenway green!

SMILES matches having fun!

Two Mentors!! Lucky kid!

Awesome pic! Fun times bonding with our mentors and mentees!!

If you came to the game and would like your picture emailed to you, just let us know.

3rd SMILES Annual Meeting

SMILES Mentors, Staff, Board of Directors and volunteers had a wonderful evening at Rachel's Lakeside this past Wednesday, April 29th. We rejoiced in how far we have all come with nearly 700 mentors currently active in our program. This was tempered with the task ahead--which is to ensure that every child in the Southcoast who needs a mentor recieves one. Jim Mathes, SMILES Executive Director, spoke and shared with the nearly 100 people in attendance that our goal is to have 3,000 mentors spending an hour a week with a student in our community and to sustain that over a lengthy period of time.

We also awarded the Craig Lindell Community Service Award to Music Director Dr. David MacKenzie of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra who among others things has brought wonderful classical music to our children's classrooms every morning through the "Music in the Mornings" program in the New Bedford Public Schools. This program reaches more than 12,000 elementary school students, in 34 schools every day.

It was a great night of celebrating accomplishments and empowering everyone to step forward to help make SMILES goal of 3,000 mentors a reality!

SMILES staff and school liasion at the Annual Meeting

Dr. David MacKenzie - Craig Lindell Community Service 2009 Award Receipent

Good Friday Thoughts...

Post from Marie-Frances Rivera, SMILES Program Manager:

On this Good Friday many students in New Bedford and Fall River are excited to have this wonderful, sunny day to relax and have fun! But I know one little girl who wishes she was in school today. She'll remain unnamed for privacy reasons, but she just happens to be my very, special mentee.

I meet with my mentee every Friday morning at her elementary school and our session has been interrupted for 2 weeks now. Once by the MCAS testing and this day by Good Friday. I was chatting with her on the phone yesterday** (read note below) and was saying how she must be soooo excited not to have school tomorrow!! But she replied with a simple "No." When I asked her why she said because she was going to be missing SMILES again. It was really touching to hear her say that. I'm sure other mentors out there, reading this can relate to those simple moments when your mentee expresses to you how much they care for you. As program manager I've had mentors share simliar moments with me, but it's even more special when students come up to me and tell me "I look forward to coming to school on Mondays, because of SMILES -- if I have any problems I know I'll be able to talk to my mentor about them."

If anyone out there is missing their mentee today or would like to share any special, unexpected moments you've had with your mentees! Please share below.
_______________

**In addition to participating in SMILES with my mentee I also am able to spend time in the community with her through the partnership SMILES has developed with Big Brother, Big Sister. This allows me to talk on the phone with her and take her to really cool places. Like this-->

(North Conway, NH)

SMILES at the Statehouse

Here are some shots from a trip we took about 1 1/2 months ago to the Massachusetts Statehouse. It was a day that Mass Mentoring coordinated "Youth Mentoring Day" at the Statehouse. We took a BIG yellow school bus filled with mentors and mentees. They had a chance to bond with their mentors, meet with some local legislators, see youth performances, participate in a raffle and tour the magnificent Statehouse! We also had a match go on air on WBSM and share their experiences of the day and mentoring in general. Haven't figured out a way to post that clip up yet, but as soon as I do I'll have it up!!

Clip from WBSM on this day:

Pictures from Miles for SMILES

Wanted to post some pictures up from our VERY successful 1st Annual Miles for SMILES event!!

Ashley Bendiksen, Miss New Bedford sings the National Anthem as Jim Mathes and Nick Christ look on.

And the walking, running, biking, skating begins with our two SMILES mentor leading the pack!!!

SMILES match and mom stopping to drink some water

And finally, lunch is served by the crew from Dominos Pizza. Yum!

Mayor Lang's State of the City Address

Hi all,

Hope you're all staying dry on this cold, wet day. The SMILES team braved the elements today to attend Mayor Lang's Annual State of the City address. It's great to hear all the positive things happening in New Bedford, that you don't realize are going on when we're all so focus on our little pieces of the puzzles. We were excited that SMILES was recognized during the Mayor's speech as growing by leaps and bounds!!!

Stay dry!!!!

Miles for SMILES!

Miles for SMILES was amazing!!!  

Here is a link to a page a wonderful mentor of ours, David Weed, put together.  There are lots of pictures of the day's festivities.

http://www.gfrpartners.com/09MilesForSmiles.html

Miles for SMILES only 2 days away!!!

The weather on Sunday is supposed to be beautiful for our Miles for SMILES event!!! Don't believe us check it out...HERE :) I took a picture of the nice silicon bracelets we'll be handing out to our mentors and mentees at the event. They're awesome! We're all so excited about the event and can't wait to see the day unfold. Hope you'll all be able to make it out on Sunday to join us.

Miles for SMILES

SMILES 1st Annual Miles for SMILES event is coming up this weekend! We are all very excited to see this event unfold. Folks here in the SMILESoffice, Citizens Union Saving Bank employees, and MFS committee members have been putting lots of hardwork to put this great event together. Forecast says it's supposed to be nice and sunny!! Come out and spend the morning with us this Sunday.

Below is the info...

Miles for SMILES is a 3.6 mile walk/ run/bike/skate-a-thon to raise money to support the mission of SMILES! The event will be held at UMASS Dartmouth this Sunday, March 15th -- Registration starts at 9AM.

You can find our brochure, which has sponsorship and registration information, by clicking on the link below: MFS Brochure/Forms

Don't forget to tell your family and freinds about the event. Create a team of three or more and increase the fun!!

SMILES Exec Director featured on 90.9 wbru

Here is a link to a clip run on Boston's NPR station 90.9 wbru focusing on New Bedford's Waterfront economy. The clip features our Executive Director, Jim Mathes and his SMILES mentee, Jeff and Mayor Scott Lang. It's a great interview, check it out!!

CLICK HERE for interview

SMILES Mentor Fellowship

In our continued efforts to provide a well-rounded support system for all of our current mentors SMILES is holding Mentor Fellowship sessions in the month of March. Read below for details.

Topic: "Addressing Challenges with Mentee Behavior"

Date: Wednesday, March 25th
Time: 5:30 - 7:00PM
Location: UMASS Dartmouth, Room 117, Group 1

OR

Date: Thursday, March 26th
Time: 12:00 - 1:30PM
Location: UMASS Dartmouth, Library Browsing Area

R.S.V.P to mrivera@smilesmentoring.org or 508-999-9300

SMILES First Post

Hello all!

SMILES (SouthCoast Mentoring Initiative for Learning Education and Service) is a school based mentoring program whose mission is to help children realize their personal and educational potential through a large scale one-to-one mentoring effort.

SMILES Mentoring is excited to be starting this blog and we hope that all of you will read along, post comments and forward this blog to all who would be interested in joining us! We'll be keeping you updated on SMILES events, field trips, program openings and lots more interesting happenings. For current mentors, we're hoping this will supplement and enhance your mentoring experience. For others interested in the goings on we're hoping to give you a glimpse on how great our SMILES volunteers and students are in hopes that you'll want to join us in the near future!

Stay tuned!

~Marie-Frances Rivera
SMILES Mentoring Program

Note: Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the views and opinions of the original authors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of SMILES Mentoring. Review our entire Comment Policy, Blogger Guidelines, Disclaimer and Terms of Use for more information.