Summer Mentoring Program
This summer we will be leading a citywide effort to extend our mentoring efforts through the summer months. Due to the recent cuts by the school board that eliminated summer school for many students, we have joined together with the City, Finney County Sheriff's Office, Garden City Fire Departments, Garden City Community College, The Center for Children & Families, High Plains Public Radio, and St. Catherine's Hospital to provide as many mentors as we can for children who may need their help over the summer.
We NEED volunteers! We have had an overwhelming response from teachers and need mentors for children in your community!!
This program will still be site based--the mentors will meet with the children in an office or classroom setting, for an hour per day, Monday through Thursday for 7 weeks starting the first week in June. The first week in July we will not have mentoring. All mentors will be screened through our agency and every child will be tracked for their progress. This is in an effort to keep as many children as we can at their current level or have them show improvement in the fall when school resumes. We felt like our program has had such success in the schools with the progress most children make, that it would not only help them but also ease the stress on the teachers in the fall by helping the most vulnerable children with their studies.
At this time, we are sending out special referrals for this summer program and requesting volunteers from the community. We will be focusing on math and reading skills. We will accept referrals for children K-Sophomores in high school. We are not teachers, but hopefully mentoring will assist these children and keep them from falling further behind over the summer, in turn, becoming an issue for the teachers next Fall. If you can volunteer to a child in your community, please contact us with any questions at 275-2424 or at bbbs@gcnet.com.
We will still be hosting our summer playground program at East Garden Village for kids 5-13 years old, in conjunction with Garden City Recreation Commission. Lunch will be provided through the school district and the Books on the Bus Program will provide reading materials to the children. This is a separate program from the summer mentoring program, however students can participate in both at no cost.
if you want to volunteer or to place your child with a mentor please contact us at bbbs@gcnet.com
Thank you so much for your help!
Tammy Davis
Executive Director