This month in Youth In Action, we met people in the food industry in Buena Vista and Salida and got a little taste ourselves of how to be cooks. Our book of the month was Eric Rohmann’s A Kitten Tale - a book that reminded us the value of taking advantage of new opportunities and the fun that can bring to our friendships.
In addition to making tortillas from scratch and assembling and eating pizza, Youth In Action November adventures included:
A trip to The Eddyline Restaurant in Buena Vista – including a behind-the-scenes tour by Ryan McFadden, middle schoolers making pizzas for the pre-schoolers, and everyone getting a certificate and coupon.
A visit from Eddie Sandoval, owner and lead chef of The Asian Palate in Buena Vista – Eddie taught all the kids how to make a vegetarian sushi roll and a lettuce wrap. After making the delicacy of their choice, matches shared their dishes with their parents.
A trip to Mountain Phoenix Roastery in Salida – including a tour by owner Bryan Joslin and hot cocoa for everyone!
A feast at The Country Bounty in Salida –Kids squeezed whipped cream onto chocolate moose, grated chocolate, spread cream cheeses onto bruscetta, built “chicken slider” sandwiches, and assembled veggie and dessert platters –all with the help of Chefs Mike Conway and Alicia Rampy.
Youth In Action is incredibly grateful to these local businesses for their support!
Attention, Mentors: We Want Your Feedback On Coffee Talks
Hey Mentors! You are AMAZING, and we want to know how to support you best! From everything you tell us, the Coffee Talks are “really important,” “so helpful.”
However, the past 3 months we have had a steady decline in attendance with only three folks in July and one in August. We want to be sure that this is a service that still fulfills the original desire of our mentors: to have time with other mentors to learn and share ideas and tips on mentoring. Please take a few minutes to complete an anonymous survey that will help us create the mentor support YOU want.
We will be assembling the data from this survey in December and deciding whether to resume the Coffee Talks. Please take the survey by NOVEMBER 30th.
This fun event will include a haunted house for the little ones (ages 10 and under) created by the older ones (ages 14 and up), a dessert potluck, live old-time music by Millcreek (Megan, Amanda, and Jacob Smith), dances taught and called by Eleanor Fahrney, and, of course, a costume contest. The party is FREE, so put on a costume and bring your friends and family members of all ages to the Salida Scout Hut on Saturday, October 24th, from 6:30-9:00pm.
This is the October group activity for Chaffee County Mentors, so mentors are encouraged to bring their mentee to the festivities. Perhaps you’ll want to carve a pumpkin before hand and bring that to help decorate or bake some cookies together to bring to the dessert potluck. Teens and their mentors may want to help with the haunted house. You must sign up to help by calling Kelly at 530-9955. We also need some teens and mentors to take photos. Call Eleanor at 395-7006 if you’re interested.
A bus from Buena Vista will be provided and is meeting at 6:00pm at Avery-Parson’s Elementary.
Youth In Action (YIA), a branch program of Chaffee County Mentors, enrolls middle school youth and pre-school children each September to participate in cross-age peer mentoring. Meeting weekly after-school, Youth In Action focuses on supporting the social-emotional and literacy development of the pre-schoolers while also providing a unique opportunity for middle-school aged youth to take on responsibility and use leadership skills in a fun and supportive environment. Middle schoolers volunteer their time, participate in six hours of training, and are rewarded with fun field trips a couple times during the year.
The budding mentors could barely contain their excitement last week when we went to the pre-school – they were going to meet the little ones for the first time. The first two weeks of YIA involve meet-and-greet activities in which mentors and mentees get to know one another and then name the people with whom they particularly connected. Next week, the youth will be “matched” based on their choices. The Match Day is a special time when the youth plant the seed for friendships to build through the rest of the school year.
Due to the generosity of Rocky Mountain Mini-golf and the rain-out of this past Saturday’s “Glow-in-the-Dark Mini-golfing,” the offer below has been extended through Saturday night September 19th! Come out and support the Chaffee County Mentors while having fun! We are grateful to Rocky Mountain Mini-golf and to the support of the community. We know many of you were excited to join us for the Glow-in-the-Dark party this past Saturday until the storm clouds stole our thunder!
SPECIAL OFFER: Rocky Mountain Mini-Golf is graciously donating 50% of all admission charges to the Mentors Program.
DATES: Tues., 9/15 through Sat. night, 9/19
TIME: 10am-9pm
LOCATION: Rocky Mountain Mini-Golf, located on Hwy 50 in Salida, next to Country Bounty Restaurant
YOU MUST MENTION THE MENTORS PROGRAM
MENTOR MATCHES GOLF FOR FREE!!! So just grab a few folks to come along and make it a fun family outing! Tell your neighbors, your family and your friends tell EVERYONE to come out!
Please feel free to contact us with any questions: 539-2630 or Rocky Mountain Mini-Golf: 539-3140
