Dear volunteers, donors, and parents,
It still doesn’t seem real that almost 5 years after getting involved with TRUE Mentors, I am stepping away. I came in motivated to contribute to my community, work to make Hoboken a better place for youth, and to make an impact. I have been reflecting on the impact and changes I have made, but I keep coming back to the impact and influence TRUE Mentors has had on me!
Over all the years of volunteering with and working at TRUE Mentors, I keep coming back to the word: individualized. After years of teaching in public education I was frustrated. I had a desire to help kids on an individual level, yet with 32 students and so much to cover I was constantly forced to teach to the majority. At TRUE Mentors, with the focus on one-to-one relationships and small groups, I saw that kids are able to work towards individual goals. This means there is no blanket standard to meet. There is no benchmark. There is just them; individual kids with hopes, dreams, personalities, struggles, talents, passions, and goals. As I got further involved as staff, I realized this “individualized” approach worked for our volunteers as well. People in Hoboken want to get involved for a number of different reasons. And while the kids and their goals are always at the heart of what we do, with so many programs and needs, there are a lot of different ways to get involved. In this way, TRUE Mentors is a community of people with similar but individualized goals.
Relationships allow for this type of individualization and it is the relationships with individuals in the organization that have kept me coming back and spurred so much growth in me. I have met different volunteers, board members, students, donors, parents, teachers, counselors, and more. The relationships formed with these individuals have shaped my life direction, goals, and skills more than I would have expected. I have learned how to manage others, how to take suggestions, how to budget my time, how to laugh at myself, and so much more.
At the end of it all, when you leave a job, there will always be unfinished projects, programs that fade away, processes that are changed by your successor. However, the relationships you formed throughout the years are proof that your time was not wasted. The relationships in the end are the biggest impact you can have. The best part is that I don’t have to hand those in with my job title. So whether you are a donor, volunteer, parent, or youth of TRUE Mentors, thank you so much for the time you took to invest in a relationship with me and others at TRUE Mentors!
Rebecca
