Golden Bell Rings for TCMP!

Charles Allen, Melissa Mendonca, Amy Henderson and Larry Champion accept the Golden Bell Award at the CSBA annual conference in San Diego December 5, 2009.

The Tehama County Mentoring Program was one of three Tehama County Department of Education programs to come home with a prestigious Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association on December 5, 2009. The award, presented in San Diego during the CSBA annual conference, promotes excellence in education by recognizing outstanding programs in school districts and county offices of education throughout California.

 This year, nearly 200 entries in 19 Golden Bell categories were received. Experts from school districts and county offices of education comprised the 19 member judging panel. The Tehama County Mentoring Program staff met three times with a CSBA representative who verified the application. The Mentoring Program competed in the category of Partnerships and Collaborations.

The Golden Bell was accepted on behalf of the Tehama County Mentoring Program by Tehama County Superintendent Larry Champion and Tehama County Mentoring Program Coordinator Melissa Mendonca. Assistant Superintendent Charles Allen and Student Support Services Director Amy Henderson were also in attendance.

“This award is accepted on behalf of the many mentors and mentees who comprise our program and make it the success that it is,” said Mendonca. “Our mentors are giving selflessly of their time and knowledge to ensure the next generation is meeting its potential. Our mentees are helping us adults learn how to grow and develop a more inclusive community that truly values youth.”

Two other Tehama County Department of Education programs, LitFest and SERRF After School Program, also received Golden Bell Awards. In the words of a Golden Bell Award presenter, “Wow! Tehama County really cleaned house this year!”

Join Mentoring in Support of PAL and Summer Reading

Rotary Cooks it Up for Mentoring!

Rotarian Dennis Garton accepts a thank you certificate from Mentor Coordinator Melissa Mendonca at a Red Bluff Rotary Club meeting on October 13, 2009.

Rotarians Mike Methard, Roy Gould, Tex Ash, Will Murphy, Tom Amundson, Earnie Graham and Dennis Garton join Melissa in celebrating a successful breakfast at the fairgrounds.

The Red Bluff Rotary Club is a great supporter of the Mentoring Program, providing kitchen help every year for our Monster Pancake Breakfast. Members live the Rotary motto of “service above self” by arriving before dawn each year to fire up the griddle and mix up pancake batter. 

They run the kitchen like a well-oiled machine, allowing Mentoring staff and volunteers to greet the public and showcase the program to patrons in the dining room. We are grateful for their help.

PAL Loves Pancakes…and Mentoring!

Several members of the Tehama County Police Activities League Board of Directors gathered today with two mentees in the Tehama County Mentoring Program to promote the upcoming Monster Pancake Breakfast on October 3, 2009 from 8-11am at the Tehama District Fairgrounds. All proceeds support the Tehama County Mentoring Program.

Pictured here are:   Danny Rabalais of the Tehama County Sheriff’s Office, Chief Paul Nanfito of Red Bluff Police Dept, Melissa Mendonca, Mentoring Coordinator, Lt. Kyle Sanders and Officer Mike Coley of the Red Bluff Police Dept.  Front are mentees Jake and Owen Onopa.

Mentoring is widely recognized by law enforcement as a positive youth development actvity that supports a caring, safe community.

Monster Pancakes + Monster Trucks= Monster Fun!

It’s time again for the annual Monster Pancake Breakfast to support the Tehama County Mentoring Program! Join us Saturday, October 3 from 8-11am at the Tehama District Fairgrounds. The Red Bluff Rotary Club will be serving up pancakes and ham made with ingredients donated by Rolling Hills Casino. Mentors and mentees will be serving our guests. Delicious Dutch Brothers Coffee and juice will wash it all down. Tickets are $5 each, with all proceeds going to the Tehama County Mentoring Program.

The highlight of the event will be Monster Trucks on display from the Major League of Monster Trucks! Drivers will be having breakfast with our guests and are happy to sign autographs.

We will also have the famous raffle baskets available. Volunteers from the Tehama County Department of Social Services have outdone themselves this year with brilliant baskets of exciting goodies. The themes this year are Positively Purple, Think Pink, Green is Keen, Candlelight and Tender Loving Care. Tickets are $1 each or 10 for $5. Baskets are available for viewing at Umpqua Bank in Red Bluff now through Friday October 2. They will also be on display at the Monster Pancake Breakfast, where the prize drawing will be held.

The Mentoring Program is also teaming up with St. Elizabeth Community Hospital and the Major League of Monster Trucks to add an additional opportunity to meet Montser Truck Drivers and see their amazing trucks up close. Join us from 2:00-6:00pm on Wednesday, September 30 at the St. Elizabeth Surgery Center, 2340 Liberty Park Way. The festivities will include hot dogs, Dutch Brothers smoothies and Baskin Robbins Ice-Cream, all sold at very reasonable prices, with portions of proceeds benefiting youth mentoring.

The Tehama County Mentoring Program wishes to thank the many businesses and community organizations that work so creatively with us to support the youth of Tehama County. We urge you to visit their websites, which are linked in this article.

No Kidding! It’s Fair Time Again!

The Tehama County Mentoring program has joined the Red Bluff Chamber of Commerce in celebrating the 2009 Tehama District Fair. Tina Zastrow, our colleague at Student Support Services, helped us transform a Chamber-supplied metal cutout into a fantastic mentoring goat on his way to the fair after a Lunch Buddy meeting with his mentee “kid”. Our new goat friend is spending time at the Tehama County Department of Education before heading out to the Tehama District Fairgrounds  September 24-27. See if you can find him there! He gives new meaning to the fair’s theme “Be a Kid Again!”

You’ll find the Mentoring Program in some surprising places this year at the fair.  See how many places you can find us and then let us know what you discovered!

Visit us at the farmers market!

While you’re picking up fresh summer veggies,  fruits and flowers  at the Wednesday night farmers market in Red Bluff, stop by the mentoring booth and pick up an application to become a mentor!

Mentoring staff are sharing a booth with the Local Childcare Planning Council and will be available to answer questions and share information on the unique fun of mentoring an area child.  Summer is the perfect time to begin the application process to become a school-based mentor in the fall!

Summer Scrapbooking!

Summer is a time to not only create special memories, but to record them creatively. The Tehama County Mentoring Program offers students and mentors a chance to create personal and unique scrapbooks on a weekly basis in both Corning and Red Bluff. The summer scrapbooking series is sponsored by the Tehama County Police Actvities League, which has purchased supplies including archival-quality papers, stickers, cutting implements and adhesives. Participants need only bring favorite photos and other items to record in their scrapbooks.

Future scrapbooking classes are offered:

• In Corning at the Family Resource Center, next to the West Street School cafeteria, July 14, 21, 28, August 4, 11, 18. 9:00am-12:00pm.
• In Red Bluff at the Tehama County Department of Education, 1135 Lincoln Street, July 15, 22 and 29. 10:00am-1:00pm.

Group Outing with Dr. Doolittle!

Our next group outing will be Friday April 3, 2009 at the State Theatre in Red Bluff. Get ready to “see things you’ve never heard” with Sign Stage Theatre’s production of Dr. Doolittle. This will be our third year to attend a Sign Stage production, which will be amazingly offered in American Sign Language and spoken English. Last year we were treated to the delights and travails of James and the Giant Peach. In 2007  we kept up with the sly and cunning Fantastic Mr. Fox.