The secret is out, I am a mentor and today is “I am a mentor day”. A day for volunteer mentors to celebrate their role and reflect on the ways mentees have enhanced their world. I have one of the best mentees in the world. So why did I become a mentor? Honestly I am one of those people with the cliché response to that question and that’s to help others. People experience so much pain on a daily basis that you and I may have absolutely no understanding of. Not being able to express yourself to someone you feel comfortable with can wear you down. If I can be there to listen to someone, especially a child, at a time where they feel unheard, hurt or even happy, I will. I became a mentor because even when I had nothing, I had the support of others encouraging me and reminding me that I was not my circumstances. Being able to give that amazing feeling back to someone else is why I Mentor. Annnnd, let’s be honest having a mentee gives you a great reason to do something fun and casual like swinging on the monkey bars at a park as an adult.

What is your mentoring story?