Posted by: thepinetree on 03/10/2014 03:59 PM
Updated by: thepinetree on 03/10/2014 04:03 PM
Expires: 01/01/2019 12:00 AM
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Sharon Ash Honored as Mentor of the Month for March 2014
Angels Camp, CA....The Calaveras Youth Mentoring Program has designated Arnold resident Sharon Ash as its March Mentor of the Month. Sharon has been matched with sixteen-year-old Diana Westphal for the past seven years. “Sharon and Diana enjoy one of our program’s longest continuous friendships,” said Colleen Dolan, Coordinator of Mentoring Programs for the Calaveras County Office of Education. “This means that they both have contributed a lot to the policies, practices, and general strength of the Calaveras Youth Mentoring Program.”
Sharon first volunteered to be a mentor with her friend and neighbor Betty Basehore by her side. “We saw an ad for the Mentoring Program in the local paper and Betty and I agreed to do it together,” said Sharon. “Betty has also gone on to have an amazing, life-changing friendship with her mentee. She recently watched her mentee’s mom graduate from college! Both Betty and I agree that mentoring has been an incredibly rewarding experience.”
“It has been a privilege and a humbling experience to watch Diana grow over these past seven years,” said Sharon. “She is very mature and emotionally strong, and she is incredibly devoted to her family. Watching her develop from a nine-year-old little girl into a confident young woman, it’s just been amazing to witness,” said Sharon.
Sharon and Diana have a standing weekly lunch date, but last Thanksgiving Diana also joined Sharon and her family in San Jose to celebrate the holiday. “I have four grandchildren of my own, and Diana blends right in, she’s one of the gang,” said Sharon. “Being in a big city was an eye-opening experience for Diana. It was a joy to watch her enjoy a different environment, outside of the mountains.”
In addition to mentoring, Sharon volunteers on the mission committee at her church, Chapel in the Pines in Arnold. She is also a member of the Arnold Logging Museum’s board of directors. Her advice to any new mentors is “just be yourself and let your mentee be herself. Take your time and let them warm up to you.”
The Mentoring Program is seeking more volunteers, and has fun-loving boys waiting for mentors in the West Point, Mountain Ranch, Valley Springs, and Angels Camp areas. For more information about the Calaveras Youth Mentoring Program, call Colleen Dolan at (209) 736-6078 or visit us online at www.calaverasmentoring.org.
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