Mentor Match Makers

Epworth Children’s Home cares for children ages four to eighteen that have been victims of abuse or neglect. Children come to Epworth from across South Carolina via government placement through the Department of Social Services or private placement, often by a pastor or grandparent. Located on a beautiful 32-acre campus in Columbia, Epworth provides a safe nurturing environment.

Epworth has a well-established high-quality mentor program. Unfortunately, there are more young people at Epworth who want a mentor than there are adult volunteers. Mentors are paired with same-sex mentees, and the shortage in volunteers is more acute among men. Our delivering an additional ten volunteers per year to the program would constitute a success.

The project goal is to establish a reliable and ongoing supply of qualified mentors to Epworth. Members of Mentor Match Makers will be targeting professionals who want to give back by serving as role models. The team plans to do this by engaging organizations that have standing meetings and are populated by professionals.

The team will contact organizations and ask if we can speak at an upcoming meeting. The goal is for each team member to give one presentation. The presentations will: educate the organization about Epworth’s work, make them aware of the need for mentors, provide details about mentor qualifications and training, and ask the group to establish a standing Epworth ambassador as an ongoing committee chair.

The team’s objective is to establish Epworth Ambassadors in six organizations. An ambassador is a board member who agrees to share our presentation and Epworth’s existing mentor collateral materials annually with their organization. Ambassadors will also agree to recruit a replacement when they rotate off of their boards, allowing the program to continue without the ongoing involvement of our team.