CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Chambana Today) — January is National Mentoring Month, and Champaign Unit 4 School District is collaborating with CU One to One Mentoring to celebrate the annual national campaign.

National Mentoring Month looks to connect more of the nation’s youth with caring adults and honor all current mentors who give their time and effort to mentor young people.

Below is a list of local events being held to celebrate and thank over 500 current CU community-based mentors and offer training opportunities for interested prospective mentors:

• January 14: Thank Your Mentor Day – Mentor Benefit Cards are good all day long at the participating local businesses listed below. Local businesses will also celebrate the impact of mentors in schools with giveaways on January 14 for current mentors.
  • Participating local businesses: Art Mart, Body n’ Sole, Beard Culture Barbershop, Courier Café, Fiesta Cafe, The Idea Store, Jane Addams Book Shop, Nothing Bundt Cakes, Siam Terrace, Smith Burger Food Truck, Ten Thousand Villages, and Walnut Street Tea Company.
• January 22: Mentor Luncheon (11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.) at Stone Creek Church – Urbana Current mentors and interested mentors are invited to attend for a light soup lunch. The program will feature a panel of high school mentors and mentee pairs talking about their relationships and the different stages they have gone through. Attendance

New Mentor Trainings: To sign up for New Mentor training, contact Lauren Smith at smithla@u4sd.org.

Mentor training days are as listed below:

• Thursday, January 29 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Champaign Mellon Building, 703 South New Street, Champaign
• Wednesday, February 4 – 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Urbana Middle School, 1201 South Vine Street, Urbana
• Thursday, February 12 – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Champaign Mellon Building, 703 South New Street, Champaign

Mentoring has tangible effects, as shared by Unit 4 via statistics from Mentor, national mentor organization.

• 75% of all Americans who had a mentor growing up said that relationship was a major contributor to their success in
  life.
• 70% of mentors in programs found their relationships with a young person to be highly satisfying.
• 58% of youth with a mentor say that their mentor has supported their mental health.
  519 public school children in Champaign-Urbana currently have mentors, but there are more that would like a mentor.

Mentoring relationships are powerful tools for connection and are critical to our country’s future. Go beyond digital connection and become a mentor in real life. Mentoring made such a difference in several former CU One to One Mentees, that they are now mentoring others in the CU One to One Mentor Program.