Pictured L-R  Cheri Krull and Melinda Sanderson
 
The club heard a presentation from Melinda Sanderson, Director of the Matilda Cuomo Mentoring Initiative for Upstate NY.  She opened her presentation by mentioning that she was a Rotarian for many years in Buffalo, and that her father has a perfect attendance record as a Rotarian for 50 years!!!
 
Melinda said that the main goal of the NYS Mentoring Program is to help shape the future for NYS. 
 
In 1984, Mrs. Matilda Raffa Cuomo (widow of Former NY Governor Mario Cuomo) Founded and Chaired The New York State Mentoring Program the nation’s first school-based one-to-one mentoring program. This highly successful program screened and trained volunteers and matched them to children in their communities as a way to prevent high school drop-out. Before the program ended in 1995, it successfully connected thousands of New York State’s neediest students to a network of highly trained Mentors to succeed in school and graduate. 
 
The program was reinstated by current Governor Andrew Cuomo during his 2015 State of the State Address. 
 
The New York State Mentoring Program follows a research-based model of mentoring in which Mentors and Mentees meet one-to-one in a supervised school environment at a set time and location. This format not only allows for the volunteer mentors to properly manage their busy schedules, but also provides much needed consistency to the mentoring relationship.
 
Melinda stressed that the program not only is good for the student, but also good for the mentor. She also asked that everyone in the club consider becoming a mentor, or share information about the NYS Mentoring Program to anyone they might feel would be interested in supporting the program. 
 
To become a mentor, Fill out the Mentoring Application or call The New York State Mentoring Program at the New York State Office of Children and Family Services at 1-844-337-6304. More information can also be gathered from their website.