Walking to the Pendleton Farmers Market started as a routine outing until I reached the flagpoles at Museum Park on South Main Street. July 17th and the flag of South Africa was flying in Pendleton. After adjusting for my own surprise--I am half South African--I followed the breadcrumbs to discover that the Lions Club was honoring Nelson Mandela Day. A shout out to the Lions Club and the work they do to balance inclusiveness and outreach while creating a sense of belonging….various flags sharing space is an ideal way to demonstrate the possibilities if we are willing to operate within their model of connectivity. Similarly, I notice around town the many other events posted that evoke the notion of “heritage” and the willingness to invite others to experience a shared tradition, practice, or lifeway (my thoughts turn to butter and its pride of place in the pioneer experience!). We are invited to share in the pioneer experience at Heritage Station or become makers of rhythm with a handmade drumstick workshop sponsored by Crow’s Shadow. See images above for details, but note the ways in which a mastery of these skills guides us in a certain direction; creates a connection for and between us. Mentorship similarly seeks these connections and the Mentoring U podcast, Other People’s Children with Jean Rhodes, prompts us to consider reaching out to those we may not identify with as being under our wing. She asks us to be intentional as we look to the future and consider assisting those outside of our immediate circle. As she explains, “Few adults feel the imperative to serve as helpful guides to children outside their families or communities and poor students rarely develop the skills and sense of entitlement to approach them. Short of a reality show, or better yet, less income inequality, we need a campaign to help mobilize adults to seek out opportunities to help champion other people’s children.” Hosting events like these helpful organizations are doing in Pendleton is a start. If you want to learn more about becoming the kind of advocate and mentor that Jean Rhodes has described, please consider partnering with Impact Mentoring or other similar groups that are a good fit for you, and help “other people’s children” to thrive. Listen to her podcast here : https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mentoring-u/id572519617?i=1000378244402 Learn More Become a Mentor with Impact Pendleton! Check it out at: https://www.impactpendleton.com/become-a-mentor.html -Suzanne Church, AmeriCorps VISTA Mentor Coordinator
0 Comments
As spring morphs to summer in Pendleton this year, perhaps we all feel a bit closer to Noah and company as we search for the hope made symbol by the advent of the rainbow (see Genesis 9:13-16). We have been through struggles that mimic a rainbow genesis...at once rain and sun burst our horizons with a brilliant and temporal sign. As Impact Pendleton persists in providing mentoring for the summer, a more mundane source of color comes our way through programs like the summer reading program at the Pendleton Public Library: “Reading Colors Your World.” Color-themed reading logs feature individual entries for the hope of a prize drawing and free books for younger students. See summer reading : https://pendleton.or.us/library/page/summer-reading-program-2021
The connection between color and hope suits us well as a driver for learning. The clever display curated at the library entrance suggests a way to realize the summer goals...a great example of the value of modeling to achieve a desired outcome. Another way to load your reading shelf this summer (or to help a mentee do so!) is by a visit to the Pendleton Book Co. Owner Debbie Kerby has made reading accessible to everyone with a generous book exchange policy. If you are like me and prefer to own your books and such, it is worth checking out as well as the super discount third Saturday deals. A careful customer can send their mentee home with fun items for under a dollar! Not needing to fuss over return dates and the condition of a book can do loads for motivating us all! In the bigger picture and as a symbol of promise, rainbow vision takes on a double meaning in the post of writer Anne-Lise Vray, a juvenile justice fellow with the Campaign for Youth Justice. This group deals with the loss of the promise of youth for children who have become incarcerated. Mentorship stands in this gap where there is a loss of hope, as we will see in a later post. Because June is Children's Awareness month, I propose being aware of the struggles she describes. A child’s rainbow sketch is the image that prompts her writing on the devastation of youth behind bars: http://www.campaignforyouthjustice.org/across-the-country/item/june-is-children-s-awareness-month In mentorship, we are at once unified and driven by the rainbow of hope, and need only respond as agents of renewal as we model the rainbow promise we were gifted. Learn More: (Visit Pendleton Book Co here: ) https://www.facebook.com/Pendleton-Book-Company-297520400302736/ Summer Motivation Podcast: https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/summer-bridge-activities-podcast.mp3 -Suzanne Church, AmeriCorps VISTA Mentor Coordinator |
about
|
RSS Feed
