Newsroom

Why I volunteer as a mentor with the Vail Valley Foundation’s YouthPower365 (letter)

September 19, 2018

WHY I’M A MENTOR

I know there are a lot of people out there who will read this and hear the call to do something more for their community. A lot of us want to give back, and so many of us do, but I’m not sure there’s anything I do that is more rewarding than mentoring for YouthPower365.

I don’t ever want to miss an opportunity to contribute, however I can, so that we can make a better future for our Vail Valley kids. I have no children of my own, though I have a ton of life experience and knowledge to share.

My first year as a YouthPower365 mentor had a huge impact on me. I learned just as much from each of the kids in our group as I hope they learned from me. They were from different backgrounds, played different sports, had different dreams of the future, but they each wanted to be there, and I watched each of them grow a little each time a new session came around. One learned empathy, another learned respect, one learned patience and another very shy kid came out of his shell and is excelling more and more to this day.

We all benefited from the connections and the time shared, and I left the first year of the program taking away something more than what we started with. I’m looking forward to starting year two with some of the same kids, as well a new ones that come onboard.

Please join me in becoming a mentor (or signing up your middle-schooler for mentoring) at https://youthpower365.org/program/group-mentors/.

Greg Bloom

Eagle

VIEW THE ARTICLE

Back to Top