by David Chapman
Staff Writer
Mentoring takes center stage at Meninak
The Meninak Club of Jacksonville has had a concerted focus on mentoring over the past year, but putting forth the dedicated effort can be traced back to one particular meeting, according to President Bunky Johnson.
While Mayor John Peyton and Big Brothers Big Sisters President Warren Grimes have both given excellent presentations in the past regarding mentoring, he said, it was Jaguars part owner and devoted community leader Delores Barr Weaver’s appearance at the civic organization that inspired the charge.
“It was an inspiration to us all,” said Johnson, referring to her discussion on serving the community.
A little more than a year later, Johnson and around 100 other Meninak members celebrated the mentoring efforts and community with a luncheon devoted solely to the cause and message from MaliVai Washington of the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation.
“I can’t speak to you strongly enough on the position of adults getting involved in the lives of kids,” said Washington to the group of business and community leaders, later adding: “It makes a difference ... don’t ever underestimate the power you have.”
Washington’s foundation has changed over its lifetime, he said, shifting from simply introducing underserved children to the sport of tennis to using a combination of the sport along with mentoring and tutoring to develop positive life skills. Currently, he said, it’s around a 60 percent skills development to 40 percent tennis ratio.
“We realized tennis itself wasn’t enough,” he said, on the program’s evolvement.
During her introduction of Washington, Meninak Mentor Committee Chair Melanie Messer talked of the difference being a mentor makes in children’s lives, something she’s seen firsthand. She also sought support for the advocates to join, quoting Winston Churchill to inspire.
“We make a living by what we get, but we give a life by what we give,” she said.
Washington wasn’t the only mentoring advocate official who celebrated the event and called for additional support from the community. Officials from many of Meninak’s now-seven mentoring affiliates — including Communities in Schools, the YMCA of Florida’s First Coast and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida — attended the event and following “mentorship mixer.”
To date, Johnson said that a little more than 10 percent of the organization’s members signed up to become mentors since the organization’s push. Twenty-seven members were recognized during the event by the organization and a special guest, as well.
Barr Weaver, the “secret guest” Johnson referred to, thanked each participating member individually and presented them with a pin and words of encouragement for their efforts.
While the amount of Meninak’s stepping up to join the mentoring campaign has been very encouraging, said Johnson, he’d like to see more and more join the charge.
“I’d love to see the numbers reach 50 percent,” said Johnson. “I think it’d be great ... I’d say 100 percent, but I do realize mentoring isn’t for everyone ... we have a good start.”
356-2466