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.
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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