Teammates Mentoring of Lincoln kicks off for 2019-2020 school year

The Teammates Mentoring of Lincoln program kicked off this evening in preparation for the 2019-2020 school year. 

Over 150 people gathered Wednesday at Moore Middle School to celebrate the programs success from the previous year, and talk about goals for this year. 

Jim Bennett, the Coordinator for Teammates Mentoring of Lincoln started out the event with opening remarks and numbers from last year.

“We awarded just under 28 thousand dollars in scholarships to our graduating mentees. That’s something we do on a yearly basis and we really pride ourselves on being able to do that”

Bennett announced that just over 1,230 mentors served almost 1,500 students last school year. 

“That’s a good year for us, and that’s a good year for the community,” Bennett says. 

Co-founder and former Husker football coach Dr. Tom Osborne was present at the event, and gave words of inspiration to past and future mentors. 

Osborne ended his speech by saying, “if you can leave this earth and feel like you’ve made a difference, you’ve done something to make someone else’s life better…then I think you can say it was worth while.”

The event also recognized mentors who are part of the ’24 or More’ club, meaning throughout the school year, mentors met with their mentee at least 24 times. 

“They found that, that makes more successful matches, if you’re consistently there and you’re able to always be there every week for your mentee,” says Nathan Lowry, a mentor of 11 years.

Lowry also says that it’s important for kids to have another positive adult in their life who they can count on and call a friend.

“We’re just there to dream big with them, talk about the future talk about hopeful things…and it’s kind of an escape from school work or home life in some ways,” he says. 

Verla Swearingin, another mentor of 11 years and member of the ’24 or More’ club, says it’s critical to give extra support to future generations.

“We know that children need all the help they can get and support, now that I’m retired i have the time, and it’s just really important for our whole country,” Swearingin says. 

Bennett announced that in the next few weeks, Teammates will be laughing their brand new website along with public service announcements aimed to recruit more mentors. 

For more information about Teammates Mentoring of Lincoln, you can visit their current website.