January is National Mentoring Month.

Now in its seventh year, National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors as well as how each of us — individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and non-profits — can work together to increase the number of mentors and assure brighter futures for our young people.

This month-long outreach campaign highlights mentoring and the positive impact it can have on young lives. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and Public/Private Ventures recently conducted a study on school-based mentoring. The study showed that within the first year of mentoring, there was an increase in academic performance, more completed school assignments, a decrease in negative behavior and fewer skipped days of school.

This school-based program really works, but we have to have committed volunteers. It was shown that some of the impacts were not sustained largely because over half of the mentored children lost their mentor the second year.

Children need someone to look up to and talk to, encourage them and care about them. In Tift County, we have only 14 school-based matches. It only takes 30 minutes a week to make a difference in the life of a child.

To volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, call 382-2077 or toll free at 1-866-614-4215. Make a difference in the life of a child in your community today!

Dee Register

Tifton program manager

Big Brothers Big Sisters