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June 2019 Youth Spotlight: Amy Yeager

Story by Lisa Esterkamp,
M+ Case Manager

Amy is one of our youth who has been active in Mentoring Plus program for years and has accomplished so many things throughout her journey with us. Along working beside staff at Mentoring Plus, her Life Coach and many others such as her family and friends; Amy has been able to blossom into the bright and caring young lady that she is today. That lady is smart, brave, courageous and very talented. She loves soccer and has accomplished much throughout the years of working with our program.

Among her accomplishments is that she has successfully finished high school, this past school year 2018-2019. Graduating high school is a huge accomplishment for any youth, but not only has she graduated but she did it with all A’s. It takes someone who is truly dedicated to make change in their life and do the best they possibly can. She has demonstrated dedication and a can-do attitude each week in program at Mentoring Plus, and we are very proud of her.

I have not had the pleasure of knowing Amy very long, but through stories and the eyes of my coworkers I have been told of the kindness in Amy. One colleague shared with me that Amy has loved to play soccer throughout high school and is very good at it. Looks like this youth is finding things that she is passionate about while spending time doing useful things and building skills for her future. We would like to recognize Amy for her hard work, effort, and dedication to doing well in school, doing homework when she needed to get it done, and perseverance to finish her high school career with such beauty and grace. To graduate with all A’s is a huge accomplishment, and Amy has set the bar high. As a case manager at Mentoring Plus, I am very proud of Amy. This is an accomplishment, beyond words, one that shows dedication, hard work, and a true drive to overcoming many barriers, challenges and obstacles. Amy did not let challenges stand in her way of finishing a goal she set out to accomplish, and she mastered it. Amy is someone the youth within the Mentoring program can now look upon and see first hand what hard work and decimation can do.

Great Job Amy… You did it!!!!

Want to learn more about Amy? Interested in learning how you can contribute to the next M+ youth success story? Get involved today!

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Annual Golf Outing Brings Out The Sun

Once again, the dark clouds opened up and the sun poked through the dense early-morning fog, across the lake at Campbell County Park, and the rains stopped, and 130-plus golfers enjoyed coffee and donuts and teed off simultaneously at 9:00am on September 28 to compete for having the best time at the Annual Mentoring Plus golf outing at A.J. Jolly Golf Course.

After a week of rain, it was fitting to have a beautiful day where almost 200 people opened their hearts and wallets to support the disadvantaged teenagers who call Mentoring Plus their alternative family. It was also fitting that the winning team at 14 under par was a “ladies team” comprised of three women, Blaise Prost, Sarah Braun and Mary Watts and one gentleman, Irv Watts.  Two “men’s teams” tied for second at 13 under, and Joe and Gary Devoto’s team got the prize (a dozen Mentoring Plus good golf balls) via a card playoff.

Blaise also won the ladies’ longest drive contest, and Sarah won closest to the pin. Real golfers, I suppose.  Wayne Berryman won the men’s closest to the pin (on #8), and Brook Reeves won the men’s long drive on 11. All the winners were eligible to win the brand new Chevy Camaro convertible from Kelsey Chevrolet (for a weekend) and Danielle pulled Wayne Berryman’s name out of the hat!

There were two skins for the day (lowest score on a hole not matched by any other team) and both were worth over $300. One was won by Anthony Laup and his wife, Leslie, along with Ryan Turner and Adrian Cabrera. I believe it was a Birdie on the difficult par 3, #6, and the other was an Eagle on #18 by Skip Hicks, Milt Horner, Charlie Barr and Paul Winkler. The asterisk to that is that we sold “skirts” this year instead of mulligans, meaning that for $10 a man could tee off from the ladies’ tee, a sizable yardage advantage, and Milt Horner drove the green (from across the pond) and made a 30-foot putt for an Eagle 2.

Board Co-chair Ed Muntel (retired CEO of NorthKey Community Care) grilled hot dogs for lunch with Executive Director Chris Saunders and former ED Kevin Kennedy (retired supervisor for the Department of Juvenile Justice), with the help of volunteers like Joe Kling. There was an unlimited supply of beer, soft drinks and water to quench any thirst on the unusually hot, 85-degree day.

Texas Roadhouse again donated a wonderful barbeque and chicken dinner, and there were over 120 raffle prizes distributed to the golfers. Helping draw the raffle prize winners was M+ Alumnus, Danielle, who accepted the microphone and silenced the enthusiastic  crowd with her powerful story of her unfortunate adolescence, including having two children before the age of 16. She captivated the audience with her sincere appreciation for her non-judgmental “family” at Mentoring Plus, who gave her the new confidence she needed to secure a job and to find a place to live.

And the grand finale was drawing the winner of a week’s stay at David and Marcia Hosea’s beautiful cabin complex (over a dozen buildings) that sleeps 12 or more in the Blue Ridge Mountains of South Carolina, near Greenville and Clemson, which was won by Co-chair, Judge Mickey Foellger’s brother-in-law, Doug Schoepf. (Yes, there was a protest alleging some sort of nepotism fix, but trust me, Pure Luck.)

Just like Mentoring Plus. Lucked out with a beautiful day, and lucked out with a $20,000 financial gain to support the program (for at least another month). So, thank you to all who participated and helped to keep us moving along, especially our VIP Sponsors Texas Roadhouse and Hosea Project Movers, our Gold Sponsors like The Berger Law Firm and Cincinnati United Contractors,  and our Silver Sponsors like Desmond Bros Insurance, Danis Construction, Champlin Architecture, Spiff Contracting and JD Distributors, and the hole sponsors: Riggs Hearing & Vision; Dobbling, Muehlenkamp & Erschell Funeral Homes; Dickey’s Glass; Fessler, Schneider & Grimme attorneys; County Attorney Steve Franzen; attorney Paul Hill and realtor Jennifer Hill; attorney Dean Pisacano;  Judge Dawn Gentry; Judicial candidate Derek Durbin; Commonwealth Attorney candidate Justin Fortner; Benton, Benton & Luedeke attorneys; Jolly Plumbing; Oswald; Schoepf and Associates; and API Printing.

See you next year on September 27, 2019!

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Meet our Newest Board Members

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Judge Mickey Foellger Annual Golf Outing

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Support Us When You Shop!

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NKU Makes An Impact By Fundraising

The future of social work is looking brighter, thanks to the students at Northern Kentucky University. This holiday season, Northern Kentucky area non-profits received thousands of dollars that were raised by students at NKU. From social work to marketing, students from across the campus ran various campaigns to support the local community, help those who are in need, and promote the non-profit organizations that serve the most disadvantaged people in the region.

The description of one such fundraiser read as follows: “Across the country, access to housing has become a major issue.  Every day, families in Northern Kentucky are facing the potential of foreclosure, poverty, and homelessness. This not only impacts the adults who are struggling to make ends meet, but also the children whose learning and education is being affected by multiple moves and the absence of a stable home.  These are complex problems that need all of us to work together before we can come to a solution.”

After addressing the problems, the students went on to do something about it:  “We are a group of aspiring social workers hoping to come together to start to solve this problem in Northern Kentucky. Our class is associated with the Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project, which seeks to educate students through giving by being grant makers in the classroom.  Over the next few weeks, we will be working together to identify potential non-profits who also hold this issue central to their mission. We will then choose 1-2 of these organizations as our community partners.”

That group went on to raise $2000, donating half of those funds to Mentoring Plus in the form of the Mayerson Grant.

Additionally, David Raska, a marketing professor at Northern, challenged ten of his students to raise as much as they could for Mentoring plus for #GivingTuesday, with the promise that he would match their donation up to $1000. Student Haley Payne organized a GoFundMe page in the final days before #GivingTuesday, raising $575. Raska’s match brought their total to $1150.

But they didn’t stop there. Earlier in the year during the Spring semester, those same marketing students worked on a project for Kona Ice.

“Tony Lamb (CEO and Founder of Kona Ice), needed to gain insights into what branding and products should be used to appeal to a new target audience,” Raska explained. “As such, the project focused on testing new brand and product concepts via online sample survey conducted with over 800 Millennials living in Greater Cincinnati/NKY area. We then used the data to present the client with recommendations regarding what brand concept to use, what products to offer under that brand concept, and whom to target and where to reach them.”

After completing the project, the students were invited to the Kona Ice Konvention, and were awarded $2000. Going into the giving season, the group still had $1700 remaining, and elected to add that to their #GivingTuesday contribution, bringing their new total to $2850.

All-in-all, NKU contributed nearly $4000 to Mentoring Plus is just a matter of weeks. We wish to thank them for their continuous efforts to improve the Northern Kentucky community. We are especially grateful that they have recognized Mentoring Plus as the recipient of these funds, allowing us to continue our mission.

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#GivingTuesday Open House A Big Success

So often, when we tell people about Mentoring Plus, it can be difficult to briefly describe just what it is that we do here. The truth is that our services are so broad and have such depth that summing it up into a few sentences can be a challenge. Yet, the impact that we’re seeing on the lives of the teens and families we serve is immense, and we can hardly keep ourselves from spreading the good news.

That’s why our #GivingTuesday Open House has become so important. Nothing that a volunteer or staff member can say will adequately capture the importance of our work to those who are served. Opening our doors to the public; allowing people to see, first-hand, what we do and how we do it has a way of bringing the program to life in a way that words alone cannot. And this year’s open house was particularly successful at that.

Finding its theme from the Lao Tzu quote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” guests had the opportunity to see Mentoring Plus through the eyes of the teens we serve. Starting by meeting a family who was relatively new to the Mentoring Plus, guests toured the building while meeting with more families and staff, each in a different stage of their journey through the program. What’s it like during the first couple of weeks attending M+? How does the curriculum develop and change over time? What role does the life coach/mentor play? How does our organization go beyond the teen, to serve the families? What changes, external and internal, have taken place in the youth and the family as a result of their participation? All of these questions and more were answered during the tour.

One of the greatest differences between Mentoring Plus and other organizations is the long-term commitment we make to our kids. It’s not unusual for a teenager to remain in the program for two or three years. Just think about how different your life was three years ago. Then try to remember the changes you experienced over the three years from ages 14 to 17. Kids go through massive changes during their teenage years, and these kids are particularly vulnerable to challenges and disadvantages during that time. So, getting the chance to hear from these young men and women as they share the stories of their own personal journeys through the program is often heart-breaking and inspiring. You could really see the journey of a thousand miles, and how each step along the way was significant.

As guests continued through the open house, they met with volunteers and staff who explained in greater detail how to contribute to the organization’s success. This helped our visitors to get a deeper understanding of the broad range of our services, and to see how they might put their own skills to use for us. They were able to meet with Program Director, Robin Anderson, as well as our new Executive Director, Chris Saunders. Several board members were also in attendance.

We also had two special guests, Ed Davis and Audrey Ann, who documented the entire event in photos. Be sure to Like us on Facebook to see all of the great moments they captured.

Again, Mentoring Plus wishes to thank everyone who was able to attend our Open House and express our deep gratitude to those who donated to our #GivingTuesday fundraiser. Thank you!

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The Impact of a Mentor

One of the things that sets Mentoring Plus apart from our peer organizations, is our long-term dedication to the teens we serve. Every young person admitted into our program commits to staying with us for at least one year. Just as important, we commit to be with them for a year.

At the heart of the program is the one-on-one relationship between that young person and their life coach. The teen and mentor meet once a week at the M+ building where they have dinner and follow the program curriculum. It’s usually a light, enjoyable evening for everyone involved, and allows the two principles to hang out and have fun in a relaxed (yet, structured) environment. Over time, however, that relationship becomes more and more important to the youth’s success–not just in the program, but in life.

Theirs’ is a lifestyle that looks more like survival. Living a life with more roadblocks than roads, these teens are growing up in circumstances that are unimaginably difficult. While most people might thrive when given the right support, these youngsters have no support. In fact, the places that you might turn in times of crisis — your family and friends — are the very places that these teens find the most hurdles. Often, it is those places of supposed comfort that someone in our program finds the most distress. And that is why the mentor is so important.

The mentor stands like a lighthouse among crashing waves; a beacon of stability and guidance in the most trying situations. The mentor provides a singular source of trust, hope, vulnerability, and eventually love. If the teens are the reason that this organization exists, then our mentors are our greatest asset. And if this program is to have any success, it is because of the relationships that are built between the teens and their life coaches.

In anonymous surveys taken by the teens in our program over the last twelve months, 95% said that their mentor helped them to feel good about themselves. 95% also either agreed or strongly agreed that their mentor helped them to challenge themselves, and 95% said that they could look to their mentor for guidance. Those numbers aren’t just impressive, they’re important! In the same survey, 55% of the teens felt respected by their parents, and only 45% felt that their parents even tried to understand them. This demonstrates the important role that these mentors play in the teens’ lives.

This is where we need your help. Currently, our organization is operating at just over 80% capacity. Ideally, we want to run at 100%, helping as many teens and families as possible. But admitting more youth requires that we have the volunteers to support them. The position of life coach is perhaps the most challenging volunteer role available, but it is certainly the most rewarding. Just as each teen admitted to the program agrees to participate for a full year, the lifecoach is asked to match that commitment. As mentioned before, the mentor/mentee pair attend the program once per week. They go through the planned curriculum together, building trust and developing mutual respect. Outside of the program visits, the two may meet up from time to time, or communicate more often on phone, text, or social media. And as the relationship grows we begin to see real changes in the youth.

November is National Inspiring Roles Models Month. Yes, that’s really a thing, and it’s going on right now. So think about who inspired you. Think about how you can inspire others. And consider becoming an inspiration to the people who need it the most.

To learn more about becoming a life coach or other volunteering opportunities, contact Laura at [email protected] or 859-462-4152.

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Golf Outing Grows for 2017

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