Mrs. Tiffany Hewitt, Youth Empowering Services (Y. E. S.) Executive Director and Mr. Patrick Bradway, Y. E. S. Program Director would like to put out a huge shout out of “THANKS” to all mentors during January’s Mentor Month, especially their Y. E. S. Mentors.

At Lemmer Elementary School our Y. E. S. Mentors made “well-being” books with our Delta County Program students. It consisted of five pages and each page had a question. The questions were; my favorite thing in the world, something I do to relax, something I can do to help others, something I do that is healthy and something I am good at. One of our boys who sits with our Y.E.S mentor Holly drew this.

This is an example of why we need the YES program:

Mr. Bradway commented, “We had a boy come into our program who was kind of having an off morning. He came in and didn’t talk at all even after we asked him a few questions. We all started playing a game together and he was with one of our Y. E. S. mentors, Jeremy, during the game. After the game we asked each kid some questions about Christmas and about school and what they liked. It got to the boy’s turn and we asked him what he liked about school, he said he didn’t like anything. We knew this was true and he was having a hard day on top of it. We pressed in a little bit and asked “you don’t like anything?” And his response was “I like Jeremy.” What a great, honest answer! Some days we don’t really like anything except the one person who has been there for us. This is another great example of why we do what we do.

Both Y. E. S. mentors and our Delta County Program students will continue to hold their experience dear to their hearts and carry those memories throughout their lifetime.

The Youth Empowering Services (Y. E. S.) is a local non-profit organization that provides in-school one-to-one mentoring for K-5 students in Delta County. Through community partnerships, they focus on the mental and emotional health of tier 2 students in grade schools in Delta County. The positive impact, trust and bond the Y. E. S. mentors have formed with their matched Delta County student is remarkable.

If you’d like to learn how to become a volunteer or donate to this wonderful local non-profit program please contact the Community Foundation for Delta County at 906-786-6654, 2420 1st Avenue South Escanaba, MI or visit the Y. E. S. website at: youthempoweringservices.org.

The Community Foundation for Delta County is a 501 (c) (3) and proud to be certified with National Standards.