New Match Celebrations!
This month 9 new TRUE Relationships were formed between our mentors and mentee families! Thanks to our partnerships with Ben & Jerry’s, Jimmy Johns & the Hoboken Historical Museum, all of our new matches were able to schedule their first FREE match night out at a local business. Each new mentor/mentee match brought a level of excitement, smiles and all the warm fuzzies to our hearts. We are excited to watch their relationships grow and hear all about their new adventures in Hoboken.
Ricky & Phil
Although Ricky was unable to attend his match meeting, his excitement for finally getting matched with his favorite Enrichment Club Mentor, Phil can only be beat by that of his mentor’s excitement! Phil & Ricky met in our Enrichment program in February and instantly became best buds! Phil was excited to meet Ricky’s mother and share all of the fun activities the two of them have been planning since June. We can’t wait to hear about their summer adventures this fall at Clubs!
Cynthia & An
a
Cynthia’s enthusiasm for the program and spending time with her mentee was contagious. These two beautiful ladies hit it off immediately, bonding over their love of ice cream and the opportunity to explore Hoboken, Jersey City and NYC. So far, Cynthia and Ana have enjoyed ice cream, archery, and Cynthia’s family reunion a the lake! Ana is joining our Teen Internship Program this fall and Cynthia is looking forward to helping Ana on her journey towards college.
Ryan 
& Carlo
Carlo is a bundle of energy and creativity and he plans on keeping Ryan active and energized as they bounce around the town! Ryan was excited to check out Carlo’s youtube vlog and looks forward to vlogging their adventures together this year!
Vincent & Jayvion
Jayvion is on the football team and loves to play basketball. Vincent is excited to stay active and work on his dabbing skills this year with his mentee! These two basketball fans headed to Church Square park to shoot some hoops for their first day together. Jayvion had a chance to check out Vince’s office afterwards and grab some ice cream and Ben & Jerry’s.
Lisa & Desiree
It didn’t take long for Lisa to discover her and Desiree enjoy ALL of the same activities! The two of them have a shared passion for ice cream and pizza and are excited to get together next week! Their first stop is the Hoboken Museum. What better place to discover all Hoboken has to offer and learn more about their community!
Dwayne & Kyle
Dwayne and Kyle are both ¨rematch¨ mentor/mentee applicants in our program. Occasionally families & mentors are not able to continue their initial match for the full year, and in those instances, we work to rematch both mentors & mentees whenever possible. When Dwayne walked in for the match meeting, Kyle´s face lit up in a huge grin! His mother also was very encouraged and excited for the match. Kyle & Dwayne bonded over a love of baseball and spent their first night together at the batting cages!
Matt & Sam
This is a match that both Matt & Sam have patiently waited for since last year. Matt joined the TRUE Mentors Teen Internship Program last fall, after all of our interns were already matched with a mentor. Matt spent his time last year providing support for an intern if his/her mentor was absent. Sam met TRUE Mentors at the Night Out Against Crime last year and was excited to finally turn 16 and enter the program. Matt & Sam look forward to spending some time getting to know one another this summer and attending the weekly TIP workshops together in September.
Jake & Emanuel
For the past year, Emanuel waited patiently for a MENtor like Jake. His older brother was matched almost a year ago and Emanuel is excited to finally be able to hang out with his very own MENtor! Jake began mentoring last year in a group setting through the TRUE Mentors Enrichment Club program. After working with various age groups for the past year, Jake was ready to become a one-to-one mentor for a younger mentee. This Sunday, Jake will meet the entire family at their home, check out all of Emanuel´s favorite video games and toys and then head over to the park to spend some time shootin’ hoops & getting to know his new mentee.
Christina & Kylah-Marie
Christina and Kylah enjoyed getting to know each other and plan on attending our Mad Science field trip together. Kylah plans on joining our enrichment club program this fall and is excited to meet some of our other mentees on the field trip and enjoy her first TRUE Mentor’s experience with her new mentor. Before the field trip, Christina & Kylah plan on spending some time together getting ice cream and Ben & Jerry’s and learning more about each other.
Field Trip Fun!
July was a month of FUN field trips for our enrichment club mentees! We kicked off our summer field trips with a night at the movies to see Despicable Me 3! Our executive director and 22 minions took over the theater, eating all the popcorn and laughing at all the silly minion antics. Our older students had the opportunity to check out FunPlex, thanks in part to a sponsorship by the Mason Civic League. Our mentees had a blast racing go-carts, going head-to-head in laser tag and sliding down the water slides in the outdoor water park! In August our students are volunteering to paint faces at the Night Out Against Crime, learning about Robotics at Mad Science & ending the summer at our annual kayaking trip with the Hoboken Boat Cove.
FUNdraising Celebrations!
Wok to Walk just opened in Hoboken and celebrated by inviting TRUE Mentors to be the recipient of their FREE VIP event! It was great to see the Hoboken community come out and support our mentoring programs. Our friends from Mission50 stopped by to support us, as well as our Mentors Matter partner, Jimmy Johns owner Joe Brendel and Grant Sahag, of Connect, one of our favorite volunteers and friend of TRUE Mentors. Special thanks to local Hoboken mom and TRUE Mentors supporter, Linda Kwok & Wendy Hun, for manning the table for a much needed coffee and lunch break for our executive director! With a suggested donation at the door of $5,in just 6 hours, the Hoboken community donated almost $2,000 to support local mentoring programs! “It was great to see so many people stop by to learn about TRUE Mentors and make a donation to our programs. We raised just over $500 during lunch time and to kick off our dinner donations, local dog walker, Josh Einstein, donated $1,000 in support of our programs!” Wok to Walk matched those donations, for a total of almost $4,000 in just 1 day! “My favorite part of this job is getting to meet people in the Hoboken community and share the message of mentoring. Anytime I get the chance to speak with future mentors/volunteers and raise money for TRUE Mentors, I know it’s going to be a great day!”
