[Southsider2k12]

I did not know that Hours for Ours had gone under. That is very sad, as it was a great program.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=39678.28

MCHS student gets support for mentoring through petition

Deborah Sederberg
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - James McGinty describes himself as "a little shy." He usually doesn't get involved in petition drives or in most events of such public nature.

But on Wednesday, during his lunch period at Michigan City High School, James was seated at a table near the big-screen TV in the cafeteria. Students were waiting in line to sign his petition to support mentoring.

Cheering him on was his own mentor, Pam Middleton, who has been with James since the fourth grade at Park Elementary School. When Park closed, she followed him to Joy and from there to Elston Middle School. Now that he is a freshman, she visits him at MCHS.

"This (petition drive) was his own idea," Middleton said. "He heard there might be some cuts in the (federal) budget that might put mentoring in jeopardy, and he wanted to do something."

Indeed, said Chip Cotman, director of the Hours for Ours school-based mentoring program in Michigan City Area Schools.

Confirming James's own self-description, Cotman said he has known the young man since he entered the mentoring program, "and he was so quiet, he hardly said a word. But he has made real progress."

Indeed, James, who also gets a bit of homework help from Derek Bolka, Hours for Ours site coordinator at MCHS, said, "I'm doing better in English, in writing and speech."

When Middleton first started to visit with James at lunch time, they sometimes would play games, talk about homework or about what his family or her family had been doing.

And, indeed, mentoring funds are in trouble.

Local mentoring supporters have been receiving alerts from an organization called Mentoring.org.

Now, according to the group, is a critical time for funding. The U.S. Senate now has the opportunity to restore $50 million cut from the Department of Education budget for mentoring. Other mentoring programs, including some community-based services such as mentoring for children of prisoners, are vying for funding as well.

In Indiana, Cotman has become active with a group that supports mentoring through the Indiana Youth Institute.

"We're trying to get Indiana to support mentoring," he said. The movement, called A Better Hour, is designed to help communities build their own mentoring programs. Funding issues are not yet in order, but Cotman said it would be wonderful if Indiana could find a way to fund some mentoring as well.

The petitions signed by students, together with a mentoring testimonial from James, will be sent to Congressman Joe Donnelly, as well as senators Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar.

"These years with my mentor have been the best I have ever had," James wrote.

"I'm afraid Hours for Ours might be eliminated because of lack of funding. This situation is pretty sad because Hours for Ours has been a great asset to Michigan City and their schools.

"I encourage others who feel the same way as I do to make their feelings known," James wrote. "It would be terrible if the program ever had to end."