June mentor awareness month in Carson City

Youth are the future of the country.

With that simple statement heading a proclamation by Gov. Kenny Guinn, June was declared Carson City Mentor Awareness Month.

"This is significant to the community because years of effort, planning and hundreds of hours of meetings created this," said Susan Edwards, director of the Mentor Center of Western Nevada. "It's a big deal to have that kind of statewide recognition. It means a lot to a lot of different people."

Carson City's new mentor center has been operating for only two months, and Edwards and a team of 10 volunteers are still working out the kinks of opening and operating a new mentor program. But June has been the month were everything has come together, she said.

Mentor training this month attracted 14 mentor candidates - a great start, Edward said. A new training session begins in August and 100 mentors will be needed by the end of next year to serve the youth who will benefit from a mentor. The program aims to pair children with a caring adult from the community.

Community members spearheaded by the Community Council on Youth and The Monitoring 2000 Task Force of the Carson City and Douglas County Leadership Alumni, started in October 1999 looking for community support to start the program. Their efforts led to Carson City, the Carson-Tahoe Hospital Board of Trustees and the Carson City School Board each pledging $15,000 a year for two years to help start the program. Western Nevada Community College committed in-kind cooperation by donating office space and supplies.

The program is supervised by the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada.

Call Susan Edwards at 446-3346 for information on volunteering at the Mentor Center of Western Nevada. Head to the web at www.wncc.nevada.edu/mentor/.