The little girl inside...

The entry below was written by a guest blogger, Elizett Pires, who works for SMILES Mentoring as an AmeriCorps Ambassador of Mentoring. As you continue on to read this entry you'll discover how lucky we are to have Elizett on our team!

The little girl inside...
Elizett Pires
2/3/10
SMILES Mentoring

It’s amazing how fast time goes when you’re doing something you truly enjoy. Six months of my service year is complete and I still have so much to do. I may have to face road blocks such as lack of funds, time, man power or other issues, but I choose to persevere and continue with my mission each day. My motivation comes from the little girl within me. She grew up in the same neighborhood as most of our SMILES mentees. She went to some of the same schools that SMILES programs are in. She moved to New Bedford from Cape Verde when she was about three-years-old with three older sisters and her mother, who by the way had never worked a day in her life. It wasn’t until they came to the US that her mother got a job. Her mother slaved away in a fish factory for sometimes what were 14/15 hour days, leaving her eldest sister who was only 10 at the time to take care of the younger children after school. Her mother would still manage to come home each day to make them dinner and braid their hair for school the next day. After that she still had another task, night school to learn English. That was their life, the only life they really knew back then since the little girl’s father was always working at sea. You may read this and think that her mom was an unfit parent but to this little girl she was and always will be the glue that keeps their family together. In those days she was fortunate enough to have a few people in her life that really helped her to mature and flourish. They were a next door neighbor who was like a second grandmother to her, a church member who pushed and challenged her both emotionally and spiritually and an academic who showed her the opportunities that were available to her if she worked hard enough for them. The little girl was fortunate enough to have three amazing mentors throughout her childhood. So, it is that little girl that I hear and see in so many of the young mentees in SMILES. That little girl and SMILES mentees may not all have the same story but they have one thing in common, they are or were once considered at-risk youth in the South Coast community. I am that little girl and I don’t think I would be the person I am today without their influences. In some ways I think I am luckier than other Highland Street Corps members because I have the privilege to serve in my own community. I have been given the opportunity to place amazing individuals with great hearts and intentions into the lives of youth who truly need another positive influence and role model.I’ve shared my story but you must be wondering, “How exactly are you making a difference?”Well at SMILES I serve two major functions with one important mission, capacity building. My first function is recruitment efforts. This includes processing new mentors, going out into the community and presenting about SMILES, creating new marketing tools or creating new strategies for getting SMILES’ name out there.Some projects that I have especially enjoyed have been going into the local universities and presenting to college students about SMILES. It’s so nice to see 18-22 year olds who care about those that come after them and truly wanting to make a difference. As someone who recently graduated from college I know how hard it is to balance school, student life, and jobs alone; never mind adding in a huge commitment such as mentoring. I’ve also been able to and will continue to work on creating video PSA’s and recruitment videos for SMILES. It is such a time consuming task but the end result is truly amazing. In the videos we hope to capture the true essence of what mentoring is. They will include feedback from mentees, school teachers/counselors, staff and mentors who have powerful stories to share.In terms of recruitment, things are going great. I’ve been able to match 100 mentors since I began my service year in August and have received almost 400 inquiries. This is truly amazing and I’m so happy to be working on such a critical part of what SMILES does.My second major function at SMILES is match support. In my opinion this is the area that needs the most attention so I am always trying to find new ways to reach out to current mentors. I’ve called many mentors to talk about what is going on, I’ve created a newsletter and a wall of fame for them, and I’ve also helped with planning events for them.The match support effort that I am most proud of so far is the Monthly Mentor Magazine I created because it is a simple way of reaching out to just about all of our mentors. The magazine includes tips for successful mentoring relationships, answers to tough questions, it highlights matches and more.As you can see I have been busy but I’ve enjoyed it and expect to get busier as the year progresses. I am an AmeriCorps member and I will get things done!