Thanks to you, Silver Lining Mentoring youth had an incredible summer!
Your generosity enabled us to offer youth in foster care opportunities to connect with mentors, secure safe affordable housing and step outside their comfort zone. The highlight of the summer for many of us was the annual camping trip on Cape Cod. Once a year, Silver Lining youth, mentors and staff spend a weekend swimming, boating and team building. This summer, we saw a shooting star! The Camping Trip offers young people an opportunity to challenge themselves while surrounded by the support of mentors and the Silver Lining Mentoring program team.
"As someone who grew up in foster care, family is fluid. Family is chosen, family is a village. Family is not necessarily being bonded by blood, but being bonded by circumstance, having someone there when you need them the most." --
Excerpted from "Unapologetically Family" by Kenyon Lee Whitman.
At Silver Lining Mentoring, we know that youth in foster care have varying definitions of what family means. As part of our ongoing efforts to support youth in foster care and be culturally responsive to their needs, we advocate for individuals to be aware of the privileges that come with having a traditional definition of family and the ways that these traditional definitions disempower and hurt youth in care.
By pairing a young person in foster care with a long-term, committed mentor, we know that we are adding to their systems of supportive adults, no matter how the young person chooses to label these individuals.
Silver Lining Mentoring supporters are amazing! You go above and beyond day after day, year after year to show youth impacted by foster care that they matter to you. This month we want to highlight Carmela Martell, who has supported Silver Lining Mentoring by riding in
The Rodman Ride for Kids for the last four years. Carmela won't be able to ride on September 24th, but she is committed to being a "virtual rider."
On August 20th we received this note from Carmela, "I did 'my' ride today - set out with the intent of having it be the Rodman 25, with fallback tomorrow or next weekend if I didn't make the whole trip. Got home about 20 min ago having logged 27.4 miles!"
Thank you, Carmela! Silver Lining Mentoring could not provide high quality, long-term mentoring support and life skills to young people in foster care without the generosity and commitment of people like YOU!
