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Thursday, February 09, 2012..:: Get Involved » Discussion Forums::..Register  Login
Forums > Ideas and Innovations > Tell your story. How have you been involved?
Subject: My story started in 1973

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tutormentor2
Posts:354

08/29/2006 4:53 PM Alert 
I became a volunteer tutor/mentor in 1973 during my first year as an advertising copywiter at the Montgomery Ward headquarters in Chicago. I was assigned to meet with a boy named Leo, who was in 4th grade at that time, but already as tall as me, and about three times larger.

I met with Leo every Tuesday after work, from 5:15 to 6:00pm. I never knew if I was making much difference, excpet that I usually felt better about being there when I left. That's because Leo was such a great kid. He energized me.

At the end of that school year Leo's mom urged me to be a tutor again the next year. She said "He talks about you all the time." I agreed. I also got talked into being on a committee of volunteers who organized the program each year.

At the end of the second year, I was giving the leadership job, mainly because the previous leader was taking off for Europe and did not plan to return for a couple of years. And because no one else wanted the job.

That was 30 years ago. I've continued to lead a version of this program every year since then. I left my paying job in 1990 and converted the company sponsored program to a non profit. I formed Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1992, with the help of some of the other volunteers from the original program.

My understanding of poverty, racism and the hypocracy of leadership in America has grown every year as I do this work. So has my network of friends, peers, youth in Chicago and around the world. I've had people come up to me and say, "Dan, there will be a place in heaven for you for what you do." I've also been given many awards, even an honorary PhD by my alma matter, Illinois Wesleyan. I met my future wife when she became a volunteer in 1980. I have two beautiful children as a result.

A few years ago Leo came back to Wards and talked to the kids and volunteers in the current program. He told them how important I had been in his life.

On a call in radio show last fall, another student told me how important I had been in his life. And in a 2005 email, a student who joined us in 1993 told me how I had affected her life.

I've been blessed to have been given this role. My life has been enriched and I think the lives of countless others have been also enriched because of what I do.

What about you? [ How has your involvement in a tutor/mentor program enriched your life? Tell your story hear and we can build a collection of stories that show the power that our programs have.
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Forums > Ideas and Innovations > Tell your story. How have you been involved? > My story started in 1973



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