January is National Mentoring Month!

January is National Mentoring Month and I'd be remiss to not profile Kids 'n Kinship before Groundhog Day. I've served on the board of directors for the past 2 years and been greatly privileged to be a part of its critical work.

Kids 'n Kinship's mission is to provide friendships to children ages 5-16 who are in need of a positive role model.

Kids ‘n Kinship:

* Connects volunteers with children who need a positive adult role model

* Supports the volunteer and child relationship as they have fun together

* Provides for safe and successful mentoring

* Serves children in the following communities: Apple Valley, Burnsville, Eagan, Farmington, Lakeville and Rosemount.

Kids 'n Kinship is a prevention-based mentoring program focused on youth in Dakota County in need of a positive role model. The youth, ages 5-16, are matched with a volunteer role model, who spends time with them on a weekly basis building upon their resiliency. Many of the children that Kids 'n Kinship serves are coming from home situations where there are issues that get in the way of their healthy development. This may include stresses of single parenting, financial worries, alcoholism, depression, incarceration, or abuse issues.

When youth are taught skills, interests, and hobbies, and are provided positive adults with whom to interact, the community is the beneficiary. Because the youth's time is structured, they have less unsupervised time, are engaged in healthier activities, have a sense of belonging to a community, and have a better respect for life. Other benefits are that youth report a positive connection to an adult mentor, that youth matched with volunteers will experience less isolation, and that there is an absence or decrease in serious behaviors reported.

Research has shown that the distinguishing factor in children who do not become violent perpetrators is a good attachment to a caring adult. This is Kids 'n Kinship's mission: to provide friendships to children in need of positive role models.

Does this sound like something you'd like to be a part of? For more information on becoming a mentor, see a recent Star Tribune article, "Seventy children are waiting for their role models," or visit the Kids 'n Kinship website. Mentoring is a great way, any time of year, to make a difference in the life of a child.

Climbing the Ridge

one step / one step / i stop / i take one breath / one breath / warm sun above / white snow / below i breathe / i take / one step / one step 

 -Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 

"Climbing the Ridge"

Save GAMC and it may save you.

The countdown on the Fix It Now MN website is at 38 days, 6 hours, 44 minutes, and ticking until GAMC (General Assistance Medical Care) ends. Providing health care coverage for the poorest of the poor in Minnesota, GAMC was eliminated by Governor Pawlenty via a line item veto at the end of the last legislative session.

Over 33 years ago, the Minnesota State Legislature created GAMC to avoid shifting the costs of medical care for the poorest Minnesotans to those who have health coverage. On March 1, 2010, over 35,000 Minnesotans will lose their basic health safety net. These individuals, on average, make less than $8,000 annually and most earn less than $2,700 each year. The loss of GAMC is a health care coverage issue, a public safety issue, a social justice issue, as well as an economic issue.

Currently, Minnesota hospitals and clinics provide $462 million in uncompensated care. Hennepin County Medical Center and Regions Hospital are the only hospitals obligated by state law to provide care for the poorest Minnesotans, regardless of whether they are reimbursed for that care. Unless legislators act quickly in the coming weeks, these hospitals will be forced to raise the $380 million needed through alternative means. Without another program or funding stream, hospitals face two options: Pass the cost on to other health care consumers or eliminate vital medical services that we all benefit from, including burn treatment centers and Level I adult and pediatric trauma centers.

To learn more about GAMC and to urge your legislators to ensure health coverage for the poorest of the poor in Minnesota, visit Fix It Now MN or the Save GAMC coalition. Act fast - there's only 38 days, 6 hours, 43 minutes, 26 seconds until GAMC is eliminated.

Another perspective: Ayiti en photos

CNN and other major news outlets depict the trauma, weariness, and angst of Haitians and relief workers currently toiling round the clock to bury the dead, heal the wounded, and rebuild the island nation following the catastrophic earthquake one week ago. To give people a glimpse into the beautiful landscape and culture that existed before all that the general public knew and saw of Haiti was pain and suffering, I want to share a few images my camera captured during my brief time in Haiti.

Arrival at Toussaint L'ouverture International Airport in Port au Prince, Haiti on January 4, 2004

"Deye mon deye" is Haitian Kreyol for "Mountains beyond mountains," describing Haiti's craggy landscape

Outdoor courtyard lamp detail at the Hotel Oloffson

Small house in rural mountainside region

Colorful Haitian art sold on the streets

Statue in the middle of a downtown Port au Prince intersection

Artistic depiction of the crippling debt that has Haiti faced as a result of its International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans and conditions

It's a day on, not a day off.

Next Monday, schools, banks, and post offices will be closed in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. However, the National Corporation for Community Service urges people to consider it a "day on," not a "day off," in hopes of honoring the legacy of Dr. King, Jr by continuing to fulfill his commitment to beloved community.

 

“Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'”

Dr. King, Jr made the struggle for equality and social justice his life's work, teaching that through nonviolence and service to one another, the greatest of societal injustices and evils can be overcome. Even today, this belief can inspire us to take on the mounting challenges that our state and nation face, economically, socially, and politically.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

To volunteer in your local community next week, Serve.gov has organized listings of opportunities nationwide and other resources, including a feature to create and/or register new service projects. Check out the MLK Mobilization Hot Spot, the MLK Day 2010 Day of Service, and the Corporation for National and Community Service's Service Connection.

Whether you serve your community next Monday, the next day, or everyday, your service is an affirmation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's conviction that, "The time is always right to do what is right."