Enjoy skiing? Be Isabel's mentor and show her how!

Winter is fast approaching!  It's a great time for winter sports, like skiing and sledding, both of which Isabel enjoys!  It's also a great time to make a difference in a child's life.  Sign up today to include a child in your holiday festivities and in your family life!  We have almost 50 kids waiting for someone to step up and befriend them.

First Name: Isabel

Age: 11

Interests: She enjoys roller-blading, bike riding, swimming, sledding, art & craft projects, playing games, cooking & baking, and watching movies.  She also likes sports, especially volleyball & basketball.

Personality/Characteristics: Isabel is outgoing and friendly. She lives with her single mom and older brother & sister.  She’s in 5^th grade and her favorite subject is math.

Goals/Dreams: She wants to learn how to ski.

Looking for: She wants an individual, couple or family to mentor her and give her advice on how to deal with bullying.

Attend an information session to learn more: Thursday November 15, 6:00-6:45 pm at Wescott Library in Eagan! For more information and other dates, go to our website: www.kidsnkinship.org.

Kids 'n Kinship receives Bob Dayton Quality Mentoring Award!

From Left to Right: Rita Younger, Jan Belmore, Janet Lekson,

 Ingrid Henry

Last Sunday, Kids 'n Kinship received the Bob Dayton Quality Mentoring Award for achievement at the lovely Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota Awards Celebration.  Kids 'n Kinship was 1 of only 4 programs in the state to be recognized with an award that night.  It was such an honor to receive this award! 

This award honors Bob Dayton whose vision led to engaging community leaders in developing the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota (MPM) and a statewide plan to connect all youth in Minnesota with caring quality adult mentors.   MPM now supports 140,000 mentoring relationships in Minnesota and is a nation-wide leader in quality mentoring, having instituted the Quality Mentoring Assessment Path (QMAP) tool for mentoring programs to evaluate their process and procedures on national researched-based standards of quality.  Kids 'n Kinship executive director, Jan Belmore, served on the QMAP committee to assess these standards as they were being developed.  Kids 'n Kinship is an Expert Partner with QMAP, having achieved 100% implementation rating on these best practices and standards.

For more information on MPM go to their website: www.mpmn.org

To learn more about Kids 'n Kinship, the youth mentoring program in Dakota County now celebrating 40 years, go to our website: www.kidsnkinship.org

Join us for 13th Annual Bowlathon! Guest Blog by Rita

 

Autumn is here; the leaves are falling, the kids are back in school . .   Give yourself a treat and come bowl with us!  Kids 'n Kinship mentoring is looking for community groups, sports leagues, students and businesses to have a great time at the 13th Annual Bowlathon on November 4th. 

There are lots of ways to be involved:

• Have your group or your company name on a lane for $200.00

• Donate an item or gift certificate for our  Silent Auction

• bring four bowlers with pledges totaling $100.00 and bowl with us on November 4 or a date you choose

Kids ‘n Kinship will recognize sponsors in our newsletter, website, Facebook page and at the Bowlathon. 

register at:   kidsnkinshipbowlathon2012event.eventbrite.com  

 

Questions?  call 651-686-0990 or email:  rykinship@aol.com

 

Put some fun in your fall and join us at the Bowlathon!

Consider being a mentor to a boy like Garrisson!

We have 40 children waiting for a mentor right now.  One for every year Kids 'n Kinship has been serving children in Dakota County.   Most of them are boys, like Garrisson below.  Please consider being a mentor to a child!  

First name:  Garrisson   

Age:  11

Interests:  Garrisson is in 6th grade; he enjoys baseball, fishing, basketball and riding his bike.  he likes anything outdoors.  And he likes art

Personality/Characteristics:  Garrisson is very well mannered, he is friendly and talkative.  He really wants a mentor!  His mom works full time and he does not see his dad - he would love to do activities with a mentor.       

Goals/Dreams:  Garrisson would like to go to a baseball game or other sports event.

Looking For: An individual male mentor, couple, or family who will do activities with him.

For more information or to sign up, go to our website: www.kidsnkinship.org.

Gala a great success!

The Kids ‘n Kinship 40^th Anniversary Gala was a memorable evening.  Our emcee, Tim Sherno of 5 Eyewitness News, did a fantastic job of leading us through the evening in a most entertaining way. We had live music, a silent auction, a wine cork pull, and a delicious meal.  The theme was “Growing Our Community One Relationship At a Time”.  The founder Carol Frick, was presented a piece of artwork of a tree- representing the relationships in the program.  Two mentees spoke of the impact mentoring has had on their lives and a video of many other mentoring relationships was shown.   Kids ‘n Kinship would like to thank all of our sponsors, in-kind donors, and attendees who made the event a success.  To date, $15,000 has been raised to help Kids ‘n Kinship continue serving children in Dakota County.  See below for some photos.

 

Preparing for 40th Anniversary Gala Part 2: A Reason to Celebrate

Guest Blog, Jan Belmore, Executive Director

Why Celebrate?  As I look back on the years that Kids ‘n Kinship has served this community, I see so much good that the program has accomplished in our young people.  We often use the phrase “Make a difference- Mentor a child”.   Kids ‘n Kinship really DOES make a difference.  I have seen it over and over again. I have been with the program for 20 of the past 40 years.  Sufficient time to see the children grow into themselves, into confidence, into adulthood! The preventive force of mentoring is inspiring when you look at the impact on one person at a time.  Sometimes you see small changes, like a shy child that can now speak up and say if they prefer chocolate or cherry ice cream or wanting to go mini-golfing versus kite-flying. Other times, you get a chance to witness life-altering changes, like “I am going to be the first person in my family to go to college.” or “I’ve learned about how to treat people fairly.”  I truly believe in the power of mentoring and am honored to have met so many great youth and adults who engage in this affirming process, over and over.  Kids ‘n Kinship is growing our community, one relationship at a time.  Come celebrate with us and hear some of the stories.  It will be an uplifting experience sure to warm your heart!

The Kids ‘n Kinship 40^th Anniversary Celebration is September 8^th at the Crystal Lake Golf Club in Lakeville and tickets are available and can be purchase at www.kinship40th.eventbrite.com

Preparing for 40th Anniversary Gala: Part 1

*Our tree logo represents Kids’ n Kinship growing the community, one relationship at a time.   
The trunk incorporates our logo and the leaves are thumbprints that the children and mentors contributed.

With the approaching start of the school year, everyone at Kids 'n Kinship is working hard at preparing for our 40th Anniversary Gala on Sept. 8th.  We just sent out invitations to many individuals, organizations, and companies who have partnered with us over the years to allow us to continue to match qualified volunteer mentors with children in need in our community.  We are excited to see everyone who will attend, to watch the new and wonderful video made for us by Jeff Achen Videography, and to hear the stories of Carol Frick, founder of the program, and Drew Hendrickson, her original mentee who is now a successful adult, plus others.  We hope you can join us at the Gala!  To get tickets go to: kinship40th.eventbrite.com