Touchstone Honoree: Mentor North

Billings Park in Superior got a little spruce up in September, thanks to an event hosted by Mentor North.

Folks weeded flower beds and picked up garbage for a few hours, while mingling with other mentors and mentees.

These relationships are meaningful, built on moments like going in a hot air balloon.

Charlotte Currie, a mentor, talked to us about Christine, her mentee. “She keeps me young. And so we go on a lot of adventures. We kind of step out of our comfort zone and we try new things.”

Her mentee, Christine, told us, “I’ve learned that it’s good to be yourself and not hold anything back and to be friends with other people that I’ve never met before.”

Ariel Wolf, another mentor, shared, “I’d tell people that it’s more rewarding than I was expecting.”

A grant from the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation helped them revitalize their push to get more mentors signed up by hiring on a Mentor Engagement Coordinator.

This was especially important after the pandemic put a pause in their momentum.

They’ve been really focusing on outreach, like at Juneteenth and Pride, to help diversify their mentor pool.

And they are grateful for the support of the foundation, which has acknowledged their work with a Touchstone Award.

“This award represents to me, this acknowledgment that mentoring matters and it ripples out into the entire community and everyone benefits,” Hinners said.

The Touchstone Celebration will honor six non-profits and their work to make the Northland a better place. It is coming up on Thursday, November 9th, at 6:30pm, right here on WDIO.

The Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation is celebrating 40 years.

For more info about Mentor North: https://mentornorth.org/