Kids Hope Mentor/Family Lunch at Huachuca City - December 17, 2011

I sent the following message to the local papers as a Letter to the Editor:

While attending the 54^th Annual AZ School Board Association Conference, I listened to a Keynote Speaker relate education to saving lives and another to promoting a better standard of living in our community.  It was during a visit of the Mentor/Family luncheon hosted by Thunder Mountain Community Church at Huachuca City School that I connected the stories I heard to real life. 

Several months ago I, along with other Tombstone School Board Members voted unanimously to welcome the Kids Hope USA program, www.kidshopeusa.org , in partnership with the Thunder Mountain Community Church to support the students of Huachuca City School.  Kids Hope USA is the catalyst for a mentor program at schools.  Each mentor is paired with one child, and for one hour a week the trained mentor becomes a friend and helps their mentee acquire basic academic skills and social skills.  This was a great opportunity for us to provide a string in the Web of Support, http://www.helpingkidssucceedarizonastyle.org/, for our children. 

It has been a month since mentors completed the training and finger print card to be on campus and interact with our students.  The purpose of the mentors, provided by Thunder Mountain Community Church, is not religions indoctrination, but educational and social skill mentoring.  During the time with their mentor, students talk about their week, work on teacher specified academic tasks, play learning games and other fun activities.

I had the pleasure to see over 55 guests attend the luncheon where mentors were given a chance to meet the parents of their mentee.  The families began the afternoon working on a puzzle game with their mentor.  The members of Thunder Mountain Community Church provided the tacos, for lunch, chocolate cake and ice cream, for dessert and many great door prizes for all.  Attending this event gave me an opportunity to meet several mentors and learn more about the mentoring session. One mentor talked about how much his mentee loves rocks.  Another was very enthusiastic about her artistic abilities.

I would like to extend my appreciation to Rebecca Pipik and Randy Youngblood, Sr. Pastor of Thunder Mountain Community Church, for the coordinating of the Kids Hope USA program. 

  

Thank you,

  

Lillian Hritz

Member of Tombstone School Board