For the last year, The Mentoring Project has had one simple t-shirt.

It's a great one, we love it, and there are people all over the country sporting this classic design.

But it's 2010, time for some new TMP T-Shirts, maybe something a bit more creative, and we want you to design the new one!

Here are the details:

Get Creative:

1. By April 1st, submit your coolest TMP T-shirt design that you think embodies our mission in the best way.

Our mission:

The Mentoring Project seeks to respond to the American crisis of fatherlessness by inspiring and equipping faith communities to mentor fatherless youth.

Through dynamic church trainings, national mentor recruitment, and the creation of sustainable mentoring communities, we are rewriting the story of the fatherless generation. 

*We're really looking for designs more about our work than simply our logo. Be creative, break the mold, and take a risk conveying our mission on a t-shirt. 

Requirements:

2. The shirt has to say "The Mentoring Project" somewhere on it and feature our Elephants logo in some way, big or small, simply for branding purposes. Please don't make the elephants logo the focal point of the shirt. (We already made that shirt!)

Use any font you like, but our default logo font is "Bell Gothic Black"

Get the elephant logo as a jpg.

Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for an Vector/AI/EPS or other file format.

Next steps:

3. In early April, we're going to choose our favorite 10 designs and then give the TMP community the opportunity to vote on the ones we choose to print.

The prize:

4. The winning designs will be featured in our store, worn by our supporters, and highlight the talented artist who created them.

5. As a special incentive the winning artists will get signed copies of Donald Miller's new re-release Father Fiction. 

Good luck:

6. Submit your designs by April 1st to Marketing Director Justin Zoradi: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it in both pdf and jpg form.  We'll get back to you about other formats (vector or illustrator if your shirt goes to print)

Washington DC - Mentoring Project mentor Willie Welch and mentee Lehzan Blake (pictured right) of Portland, Oregon visited the White House last week for the kickoff of President Obama’s new mentoring program that his aides will lead for young men in Washington DC.

The President and first lady Michelle Obama welcomed the first class of mentors and mentees to the Grand East Room to kick off National Mentoring Month.

Willie and Lehzan had a terrific time at the White House, touring the grounds and meeting other Mentor and Mentee pairs.

“It was very exciting for us and such a privilege to be selected. I’d seen the White House in photos and on television, but to actually be there was an absolute privilege,” said mentor Willie Welch.

Check out photos of Willie and Lehzan touring DC and rocking the White House event:

Two days before leaving for Washington DC, Willie and Lehzan had a unique opportunity to share with Lehzan’s entire school about the upcoming trip. Lehzan was performing a dance for a Martin Luther King Day assembly at Buckman Elementary in Portland, Oregon, when the school officials caught wind of the upcoming trip.  As the assembly came to a close, school counselors and after-school teachers brought Willie and Lehzan onto the stage to break the news to Lehzan’s entire school.

“They called Lehzan up and I told the assembly that I was his mentor and we were selected to go to Washington DC to meet the President. When I said that, the whole place was pandemonium. Clapping and yelling, standing up, it was nothing but applause and shouting. Lehzan’s walking around his school like a celebrity now,” laughed Willie. 

Citing his own story growing up without an engaged father, President Obama has proclaimed January National Mentoring Month, urging Americans to give back to young people, saying mentors help children grow into productive and responsible adults.

President Obama praised the efforts of mentoring organizations like Big Brother Big Sister and Them Mentoring Project.

"I was raised by a single mom who struggled at times to provide for me and my sister. And while I was lucky to have loving grandparents who poured everything they had into helping my mother take care of us, I still felt the weight of my father's absence throughout my childhood," said Obama, who has written about his early life in a best-selling memoir.

"So I wasn't always focused in school the way I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of. I got in more trouble than I should have. Without a bunch of second chances and a whole lot of luck, my life could have taken easily a turn for the worse," the President said.

The effort will plan programs for the boys, including monthly workshops to encourage them in education, career planning and community service. It is similar to one Mrs. Obama started in the fall for young women, pairing about 16 girls from the Washington area with women at top levels in the Obama administration.

Willie Welch praised the White House and their focus on mentoring,

“I was also surprised that there is a mentoring program inside the White House made up of Presidential staff and aides. They are giving their time to helping children grow in so many areas. These people are motivating the children. Can you imagine having a Presidential aide as a mentor?”

More information on the event from the Miami Herald:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1434783.html

Our wonderful founder Donald Miller was featured on the Relevant Magazine podcast last week.

He talked all about his new book, The Mentoring Project, his heart for Fatherlessness and more.

The podcast comes in 2 parts:

Part 1: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media/podcast-archives/19109-112009-author-don-miller

Part 2: http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media/podcast-archives/19164-112709-don-miller

Check out a great article by Brian Wurzell about The Mentoring Project and the power of mentoring.

Click the image below or go here: http://brianwurzell.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/mentoring-donald-miller/

“McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut…”

I remember singing this song in music class once a week during my nine months as a 5th grader. My classmates and I would all sit down in alphabetical order and make golden arches in the air with our hands as we sang, further enforcing in our young minds the idea that convenience is something worth celebrating.

As I’ve moved years beyond elementary school, I’ve come to see that this children’s tune represents so much more than a nation’s affinity for french fries. For America, the ideals behind fast food are no longer seen just in drive thru restaurants, but have weaved their way into our entire culture, influencing everything from religion to blockbuster films. For many of us, it better be quick and satisfying or it’ll lose our attention. I most plainly see the evidence of this belief that faster is better not only when waiting for my happy meal, but whenever I pursue something that flies in the face of instant gratification. Something like mentoring.

At first glance, the connection between McDonalds and mentoring seems odd at best, and yet their correlation lies not in their similarities, but in their differences. The more that I talk with our mentors and mentees, moms and teachers, the more convinced I become that one of the main reasons mentoring is so transformational is the fact that it’s slow.

Relationships take time, and unlike food, no amount of shipping and processing and packaging can speed it up. We often remind our mentors that “slow is okay.” In fact, it’s better than okay… because slow takes commitment and faithfulness, both of which are qualities that an adult male role model may never have shown before to children growing up in fatherless homes. For our mentors, faithfulness means just showing up every week for the first six months to shoot baskets or paint pictures or build model cars. It means celebrating their mentees’ small victories. It means patiently asking the same questions every week waiting for the day when the mentee trusts you enough to answer.

Read more here...

As a summer camp counselor, I’ve grown accustomed to middle school boys spontaneously breaking out into pretend sword fights and re-enactments of various World War II battles. But for 12-year-old Peter, I knew within the first few minutes of camp that it would be a challenging week for him.

As time went on that first day, I began to notice that Peter felt very uncomfortable being outside. He didn’t like the idea of climbing trees or swimming. And with all of this discomfort came an inability to stop talking about the popular video game, ‘Halo.

For many children Peter’s age, discomfort with being outdoors is common. His generation is growing up without the knowledge of how to play outside. The various benefits of nature, like escaping noise, using the imagination and resting our TV-strained eyes are not apart of their lives.

Read more below...

On June 19, I was honored to attend President Obama’s Town Hall meeting for fatherhood.  Going in, I didn’t know what to expect.  Was this going to be a political rally?  What was our role going to be?  What is the President’s commitment on this issue?  How would The Mentoring Project fit into all this?   

The conversation of fatherlessness is a critical one and I was thrilled that the President decided to take an entire day to devote to it.  In the stormy climate of DC, issues like: Iran and Iraq, the Economic Bailout, and Health Care reform dominate the political landscape.  From the outset, I was impressed that President Obama simply made the time for the issue.  Not only did the President make the time, he showed the commitment that he and the administration have on reaching this generation of fatherless boys.  There is a full-time staff devoted to helping fathers and fatherlessness, as well as national task forces that have been assembled around these issues. No matter if we voted for or against Mr. Obama, no matter if we agree with all of his platforms or not, we should all be able to unite behind his call to reach the fatherless.     

For the Town Hall, the President gathered a room full of influencers to join the conversation.  Seated near me were politicians, actors, and business leaders.  Across from me was Dwayne Wade from the Miami Heat, Bobby Flay from Iron Chef, Bill Cowher former coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and skating legend Tony Hawk.  I sat there feeling a bit like Forrest Gump.        

Read more below...

On Saturday night, July 31st, we had our first big TMP event of the summer. We went to a Portland Beavers game and had a group of local mentors and mentees join in on the fun.

Baseball is often referred to as America's past-time and it is a commonly known that baseball is a sport transferred from father to son. Fathers have passed down the love of the game to their sons on Little League fields and in backyards for a long time.

Some more pictures and a video after the jump. 

The vision that we have at The Mentoring Project is for churches to rid America of what many call "the fatherless problem." Sure we could run a great organization on our own, but we see a huge opportunity in releasing local churches to follow this vision in their own communities.

The Hero Workshop is a training organization in Erie, Pennsylvania that gives 100% of their proceeds to The Mentoring Project.

 Why the name "Hero Workshop"? There are dozens of children waiting for you on Sunday—children who are looking for a hero to introduce them to God. You and your teams need training that equips and inspires you to lead these children.

The Hero Workshop is located in Erie, Pennsylvania and has a half-day workshop coming up on September 19th. If you are in or around Erie be sure to look into attending the workshop.

We would love to meet you in person, but until then this will have to do. We're thankful for our team and are excited to welcome our two newest editions, John and Justin.