January is National Mentoring Month!  The goal of this month-long campaign is to recruit volunteer mentors to work with children who are at risk of not leading healthy, productive lives.  National Mentoring Month will showcase a series of television and print public service ads featuring Quincy Jones, Maya Angelou, Clint Eastwood, and Sting.  Other PSAs will highlight the need for mentors for young people aging out of foster care and youth with disabilities.  To view the videos, go to www.WhoMentoredYou.org.

The Corporation for National and Community Service, along with fellow leaders the Harvard Mentoring Project and MENTOR/National Mentoring Partnership, is working with a coalition of government, corporate, and nonprofit groups to recruit an additional 3 million mentors for at-risk children in the United States by the year 2010.  This January is a perfect time for you to make a commitment to help one of the 15 million children in the country who currently need mentors.

As part of National Mentoring Month, the fourth annual Thank Your Mentor Day will be celebrated on Thursday, January 24.  On that day, many Americans will reach out to thank or honor those individuals who encouraged and guided them and had a lasting impact on their lives.  Thank Your Mentor Day urges mentees to express their appreciation to their mentors and to “pass it on” by becoming a mentor to another young person in their community.

If you are looking to become a mentor, go to www.mentoring.org, where you can find organizations offering mentoring opportunities as well as other mentoring resources.  As always, VCRI’s website is another great tool to find all sorts of volunteer opportunities, including mentoring, in your local community.