Bil gives a profound explanation of why he mentors and what drives his passion and commitment.  This video will move and inspire you.  Click here to watch.

New this month: OKC Redhawks Baseball. Photo credit: Redhawks Baseball

For some reason, people seem to have important conversations during a sporting event. Something about the atmosphere of a baseball, basketball, football, soccer or hockey game, allows people to focus their eyes straight ahead while testing the sound of unspoken thoughts.

Taking a child of any age to watch a live sporting event will create excitement before the event and fond memories soon after.

While mentor activity may require some money, many teams have special offers once a month or even weekly.  A community sponsored night at the ballpark is a really enjoyable venture. Regardless of the outcome of the game, attending a sporting event allows you to expand your mentee’s knowledge of the sport history, strategy, and classic rivalries.

For our mentors in Oklahoma City, go check out a Redhawks game, starting this month! Click here for a link to tickets and special offers.  Everyone should enjoy a Thunder game at least once. And of course, don’t underestimate the value of a ticket to go watch the OKC Barons! 

Yogi Berra, a man never in short supply of seemingly ridiculous but strangely sublime quips, once said “Life is a learning experience, only if you learn.” If you are reading this blog, the odds are you enjoy learning too.  Well, at least about some things. Sadly, some  children are not taught to relish discovering the new or conquering the concept.  As a mentor, you can show them the excitement and importance of learning by working on homework with them.  Helping your mentee with homework also builds their self-esteem and problem-solving skills.

To do this activity, the mentee needs to bring their homework, and one of you needs to provide writing utensils and scratch paper.  You can bring a sense of focus and purpose to the activity. Encourage your mentee to ask more questions, take his work more seriously, read closer, ask quality questions.  Be careful not to perpetuate a cycle of taking work lightly by giving him the answers. Some mentees will be lured by seeing homework as a challenge they can conquer. Other mentees will enjoy completing the task and feel relieved by a job well done.

If you think your mentee would enjoy some time “off campus,” libraries and coffee shops can be great places to work on homework together. For our mentors in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, here are some libraries near you, offered as part of Cumberland County Library System http://cumberlandcountylibraries.org/index.aspx?NID=409

Photo Credit: Portland Parks & Rec; link to Portland Parks & Rec BBall: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/48527

There are a number of venues to play basketball.  Many local parks feature courts.  Additionally, most community centers and some churches with recreational facilities have free, open-gym hours.  Browse the Courts of the World website to find unique outdoor courts near your home, and check out these variations on basketball for different game ideas, including the classics—H-O-R-S-E   and Around the World.

If this is a sport your mentee enjoys or has an interest in, lace up your shoes and hit the court.  Basketball is typically a team sport, so you might even bring some other mentor/mentee pairs along for a game of pick-up ball.  You’re sure to have a good time.

Portland-metro Mentors:  In addition to their AMAZING climbing wall, we’ve heard that Club Sport has free indoor basketball.  Has anyone tried it out?  Thoughts?

The Mentoring Project is headed to Carlisle, Pennsylvania April 5-7, 2013.  We are being hosted by The Carlisle YMCA for a mentor advocacy extravaganza.  The weekend kicks off at the Harrisburg Senators baseball game - John Sowers gets to throw the first pitch!

We will be meeting with community leaders for a luncheon as well as conducting a mentor advocacy training on Saturday, April 6.  The training will be held at Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church from 6:00-8:00 pm.  If you would like more information please review the event flyer here.  We hope to see you there!

If you would like to host The Mentoring Project to recruit mentors in your community, please contact Jim.Pringle@thementoringproject.org.

Most months, TMPOKC will host an activity for mentors and mentees to attend together.  The goal is to provide an opportunity for mentors/mentees to have fun and create a shared experience.

In April 2013, TMPOKC is hosting an event in Downtown Oklahoma City in honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day. TMPOKC’s April Mentor Moment will be held Saturday, April 27th, 1:30 pm at the Myriad Botanical Gardens.  TMPOKC will provide lunch, lawn games, and your admission into the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory. This event will take place during the OKC Festival of the Arts. We ask that mentors RSVP both the mentor and mentee’s names to advocate@thementoringproject.org on or before Wednesday, April 24th.

Photo Credit: Myriad Botanical Gardens

Mentors active outside of Oklahoma, how can you and your mentee celebrate Earth Day/Arbor Day?  Are there community gardens or Botanical Gardens in your city? Could you visit the gardens and learn about plant lifecycles? Volunteer to help in some way? You could visit a local recycling center for a tour. Maybe your mentee would be willing to pick up trash at her favorite park? Do you have a yard? You could create or tend your own garden. Plant a tree as part of your local Parks & Rec festivities. Find an activity that allows you to appreciate this land we call home.

However you celebrate Earth Day/Arbor Day with your mentee, we know your time together will be meaningful. The most important aspect of your mentor relationship is consistently showing up for your mentee. Do this, and your relationship will continue to blossom.

Have you read our newest newsletter? If you would like to review the latest version, click here. If you would like to have The Mentoring Project’s newsletter delivered monthly to your inbox, please e-mail advocate@thementoringproject.org.

February is the month of love and The Mentoring Project LOVES our mentors! We love our mentors who have chosen to join our movement to rewrite the story of the fatherless generation.  To help our mentors feel the love, members of The Mentoring Project’s National Mentor Collective (sign up here) receive monthly mentor resources to keep them inspired along their mentor journey.

For the month of February, we are offering a great mentor resource straight from our founder, Donald Miller. Don’s book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, will rejuvinate you as you read about living a lasting, better story. We believe that advocating for mentoring is indeed living a better story!

For our members of The Mentoring Project’s National Mentor Collective who requested Don’s book, your book will ship today!  Start watching your mailbox… this book is going out coast to coast!

Did you attend a TMProject mentor training hosted by The Mentoring Project directly (or by a community organization using our mentor resources), but you have not yet signed up for TMProject’s National Mentor Collective?  By all means, log on to our National Mentor Collective registration page and register immediately.  We don’t want any of our mentors to miss out on the exciting resources and invitations we are able to pass along to members of TMProject’s National Mentor Collective.

Long live mentoring.

Just starting a new mentor relationship?  Sometimes you may need a little help coming up with some activity ideas.  THAT IS OK – The Mentoring Project is here to support our mentors! First, remember the most important ingredient to mentoring, “showing up.”  Our amazing head intern, Bruce, prepared the list below of some ideas to jump start mentor activities for you and your mentee. Have some additional thrifty fun ideas? Please leave them in the comment section below!

Bruce’s List of Mentor/Mentee Activities (part 1):

1. Pack a lunch and have a picnic
2. Shoot hoops at the park (play a game of horse)
3. Play catch (baseball / football)
4. Knock a tennis ball around
5. Attend a sporting event (Junior High, High School, College or Pro)
6. Build a bonfire and roast marshmallows
7. Go to the dollar theater
8. Go to the library and research your mentee’s hero
9. Visit a museum (several museums have free admission days)
10. Go to the zoo (the zoo also has free admission days)
11. Learn how to play an instrument that interests your mentee
12. Read the same book and have a discussion about it – make your own mini book club!
13. Exercise together (create your own custom routine to make it more interesting)
14. Help with homework

What else?  Mentors, tell us what works for you!  Long live mentoring.