Talbot Mentors Honors Students And Mentors At Annual Celebration

On November first, mentors, students, families, friends and staff joined in celebrating fifteen years of Talbot Mentors? service to the community. The organization?s Annual Dinner took place at The Milestone in Easton, with more than two hundred guests attending.

Talbot Mentors President Jim Reed introduced the guest speakers for the evening, mentor and board member Merrilie Ford, and Shawn Brittingham, mother of two students in the program.

Ford explained how Talbot Mentors works, encouraging everyone to go out into the community to recruit new volunteers. ?The best part of being a mentor is your mentee,? she said, introducing her longtime mentee Jazmine Gibson, who is now a sophomore at Chesapeake College.

Brittingham spoke of the mentors from a parent?s perspective. ?They care about your kids just as much as you care about your kids,? she noted. ?We give them our kids to help them learn and grow.? Describing her daughters? mentors as ?just wonderful,? she added, ?I?m very blessed to have them in my children?s lives and in my life.?

Executive Director Paige Jernigan introduced each of the mentor/student pairs in the program and recognized them for the number of years they have been matched. Fourteen new matches were made in 2012 alone and some relationships have lasted nine years or longer. Those reaching their five-year anniversary were honored with certificates.

In addition to the volunteer mentors, others were recognized for their support of Talbot Mentors and its program. Jernigan introduced the members of the board of directors, thanking them for their dedication and efforts. Oxford Greens provided a gift certificate for the evening?s mentors raffle.

Board member and former president, Al Smith, presented Talbot Mentors? Community Award to the Free & Eazy Band. For the past three years, the local group has performed at the Avalon Theatre to raise funds for the organization. ?They will play for just about anything, tirelessly, with no compensation other than to have a good time and spread cheer,? Smith said, noting that the band had raised almost $30,000 for Talbot Mentors.

The funds raised go toward fostering the relationships between the adult volunteers and the students. Mentee Bethany Dixon provided a student?s insight into those relationships.

When she met with her mentor, Fran Gosser, for the first time, Dixon admitted she ?was nervous at first?terrified,? but ended up having a ?really great time.? Over the years, she said, ?Miss Fran has been more than a mentor. She has been a listener, an encourager, a friend. She has come to almost everything I?ve been involved with. She has supported me and really and truly is family.?

There are students currently in the program waiting for mentors. Interested volunteers are encouraged to call Talbot Mentors at 410-770-5999 or visit www.talbotmentors.org for more information.

Talbot Mentors honored those matches reaching their five-year anniversaries. Left to right: Board President Jim Reed, Executive Director Paige Jernigan, Beth Remesch and her mentee Manisha Camper, Mirissa Foust and her mentor Pat Moon, Bethany Dixon and her mentor Fran Gosser, and Dave Arledge and his mentor Jack Cook. Not shown, Michael McCormack and his mentor Brian Cotter.

Talbot Mentors Board Member Al Smith, left, presented the organization?s Community Award to the Free & Eazy Band. Left to right with Smith are band members Dick Nolker, Lee Phillips, Larry Denton, Bill Ridgley, Cynthia Miles and Dick Cover.

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Shawn Brittingham, mother of two students in the Talbot Mentors program, was one of the dinner?s guest speakers, giving a parent?s perspective on the mentoring relationship.

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Source: http://talbotspy.com/talbot-mentors-honors-students-and-mentors-at-annual-celebration/

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