Getting Off to a Great Start:

The Team Up Mentoring Program Holds Its First Social Gathering

It was loud, the lights were flashing and the adrenaline was flowing at Jillian’s when the Team Up Mentoring Program participants gathered for their first group social in June. But it wasn’t the games that took the stage. Instead, there was the boy who was doing a dance each time he scored while playing air hockey; the pregnant teenaged girl and her boyfriend who could just be kids before they had to be parents, the patient mentor who tried to explain a game to a bright eyed girl—They caught the attention of more than just The Up Center staff who have worked to begin this program. WTKR Channel 3 also sent anchor Pat McReynolds to interview the kids and mentors and show the program in action.  (His report appeared on the 11pm news, and we are obtaining the clip. Check back to our website to see the story!)

Before this Jillian’s event unfolded, The Up Center staff had completed ten “matches” between mentors and children. Other people who have signed up for the program but have not yet been matched also attended the event. The Team Up staff is actively looking for mentors and children to participate in the program. They have a process in place to try to ensure that the pairs created are good matches based on what the mentors and parents desire. Some children can linger without mentors while he or she waits for that special person to volunteer. Please call Lindsay Jackson at 757-397-2121 ext. 302 if you would like to become a role model for a child.

The “Team Up” Mentoring program was created after Big Brothers/Big Sisters of South Hampton Roads closed. The program is offered by The Up Center, a nonprofit United Way Community Partner agency that has been providing services to Hampton Roads for 125 years. Team Up is the agency’s newest program. The Up Center also offers more than 20 other programs that serve 10,000 people every year.