Monday, January 3, 2011

Mentoring: Transforming the Lives of Children in Homewood

This weekend at North Way Wexford a LAMP mentor shared her story during the sermon in front of a couple thousand people. The message this weekend was about life change stories from 2010. Her mentee, an eighth grade girl at the Faison Intermediate School in Homewood, showed some remarkable progress this past year. This is their third year of being matched in a mentoring relationship. During the first two years together her mentee had fifteen suspensions, and she received mostly D's on her report card. This past year, her mentee has made the honor roll with mostly B's, and she has not been suspended once during the entire year! Last month, this mentee received the Most Improved Student Award recognizing her amazing improvement at school.

I have experienced similar results with several of my mentees. One of my LAMP mentees, who I have been with for almost five years, had a lot of trouble during his first couple of years at Faison Intermediate School in Homewood. During our first year together he was suspended nine times and he was nearly held back because his grades were so bad. During our second year together, he was again suspended for nine days and his grades were terrible. In our third year together, he was only suspended for one day and his grades improved. Last year, he graduated eighth grade with good grades and he has not been suspended in over a year. He has made a great adjustment to high school this year... I'm very proud of him.

These stories are just two examples of the hundreds of young people in Homewood who have been impacted by LAMP mentoring over the past five years. Kids' lives are being impacted by the relationships they have built with mentors from churches in Pittsburgh. I am looking forward to an amazing year of transformation in the lives of the LAMP kids in 2011, and even over the next five years as churches in Pittsburgh collectively live up to our long term commitment to the children in Homewood through the Learning and Mentoring Partnership.

2 comments:

Chad said...

It's amazing what God can do through his people. I'm so thrilled that you spoke of your 3 year relationship. Most of the time it takes awhile for visual change to occur yet we're accustomed to drive thru service. Thanks for sharing that story.

Bryan McCabe said...

Thanks, Chad. Transformation is a process... not a destination. These things take time.