Often, a teenage boy finds Boys to Men Mentoring when he needs us most. This was the case in the life of Journeyman Ryan, who came to his first BTM group at the age of 13 and is almost 17-years old now. Ryan’s father passed away when he was just three-years old and, despite having a strong bond with his older sister and mother, Ryan was lacking a positive male role model in his life. Our Program Director, Anthony Hutchings, …
Sometimes, we at Boys to Men Mentoring get a wild hair and decide to take on challenges that seem impossible. Our only annual fundraiser, for example, The 100 Wave Challenge, is basically a surfing marathon. On Saturday, January 23rd, 2016, about 150 San Diego surfers rode 18 waves in unison for nearly two hours in an attempt to override the current World Record for most surfers on one wave (which was 110, set in Cape Town, South Africa). Our esteemed …
Read MoreSurfers Attempted to Ride a Wave Into History: The ONE Wave Challenge
In addition to private donations and grants, Boys to Men Mentoring is incredibly grateful for the support of corporate sponsors, and one of the companies that has given generously year after year to BTM is Dr. Bronner’s All-One. An international company based in Vista, California (north of San Diego), Dr. B’s believes in ethical sourcing and fair trade as well as providing aid to non-profits with missions in line with their own, as Boys to Men has. Dr. Bronner’s makes …
Each month, Boys to Men is now holding 130 groups in San Diego. This month’s Spotlight School is Montgomery Middle School in the Cajon Valley School District. We are currently holding two BTM groups weekly at Montgomery Middle, divided by age and grade (serving 7th and 8th grade boys) with 7 mentors — 3 staff and 4 volunteers. One student at Montgomery, Jacob, said, “If I have a problem, I can talk about it here,” and another boy, Sam, explained …