Our Guest Speaker this past Monday evening was Kimberly W. Mastrofino, who is the Olean Center Mentor Program Coordinator. Kimberly provided a power point presentation which summarized the Mentor Program beginning with the statement "Every great achiever is inspired by a great mentor." They currently have 5 active mentor teams but hope to double that number in 2019. The teams meet weekly with an average of three hours per week. Activities include "volunteerism, fitness, educational and recreational. A mentor must be at least 21 years of age, complete a background check, complete required training and spend time weekly with your mentee partner." Kimberly said that there are two types of mentor roles: Long term and Short term. A long term mentor commits to time weekly with their mentee partner for an hour or more throughout the year. A short term mentor assists the mentee with short-term goals such as Special Olympics time trials, assisting an individual on fitness goals, assisting with creative writing or instructing with some other activity.
Anyone interested in becoming part of the wonderful program should contact Kimberly at 401.596.2091 x 129 or kwmastrofino@oleancenter.org. You can also check out the Olean Center website at www.oleancenter.org.
