CHECK OUT OUR AWESOME NEW VIDEO PROMOTING OUR PROGRAM AND THE SELFLESS PEOPLE INVOLED!!!!

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B.I.S.O.N. Bingo Night

 

Our Welcome Back B.I.S.O.N. Bingo Night for our mentoring program was a HUGE success!!!  We had 40 + mentees there with most of their mentors in attendance with them.  We even had a few gracious mentors, whose mentees didn't show up, that stayed to help play bingo with some of our younger mentees. It's those giving, sacrificing people that make this program great!!!

 

The event occurred on Thursday, Sept. 3 at 6:30 in the gym lobby and a great time was had by all.  The "photo booth" was rocking with feather boas, fake eye glasses, crazy hats, and picture frames to help accessorize the folks getting their picture taken.  After eating a festive meal of hotdogs, chips, homemade cookies, and pop, we played a solid 45 minutes of different variations of bingo.  There were prizes for the kids and almost every kiddo won at least once that night.  Thanks so much to Deon Kauk, Roy Goldston, Lily Kendall, and Tammi Goodall for being the best Board of Directors ever and for always showing up to help.  Dr. Pepper Bottle Co of Elk City donated our drinks.  Thanks to everyone that brought cookies and helped set up and tear down.  It was a super group effort and the kids have been asking when are we going to do it again!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



2015 Mentoring Banquet

 

Alton Carter, author of "The Boy Who Carried Bricks" was the speaker at our mentoring banquet.  Mr. Carter is the Methodist Youth Director at Stillwater.  The book is about his challenging life growing up in the foster care system and the struggles and conflicts he has had with his family.  Mr. Carter moved us all emotionally and challenged us to keep showing up and making a difference.  He spent the entire day at the school, talking to our students and doing various hands on activities with them.  Mr. Carter is an excellent example of someone who can succeed in spite of difficult situations, and we so appreciate the time he shared with us. 

 

Kaysa Carpenter sang and entertained us, while Rib Crib catered our meal.  A special thank you to our older mentees and to Betsy James for helping serve. 

 

A special recognition plaque was given to Mrs. Jeanne Craig for her services on the B.I.S.O.N. Mentoring Board of Directors.  Unfortunately, Jeanne passed away shortly after the banquet.  Her wisdom and upbeat, can-do attitiude will be greatly missed.  We are appreciative of the time she served with us and the guidance she showed in helping us create the B.I.S.O.N Mentoring Program. We love and miss you Jeanne.



SAVE THE DATE--Tuesday, April 28th @ 6:30 will be our annual end of the year Mentor Banquet.  This is a time for us to honor all of our mentors and their guests with a delicious meal and some fabulous entertainment.  Please make every effort to attend.

We also want to congratulate our trio Mentors of the Year--Doug Quattlebaum, Herb Hammack, and Mark Collins.  These men do an excellent job with their young adult mentees and have made a strong, hopefully life-long connection.  Recently all six attended the Mentor Appreciation Day at the State Capitol and were recognized and honored with numerous other mentors from all across the state.  Congratulations again to each one of them.  We are very proud of their efforts!!

 

Mentor of Year Video--click on link below to view:
https://animoto.com/play/Go8SXqedfMD5SooePK8ubw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Check out the B.I.S.O.N. Mentors' of the Year Video!!!

https://animoto.com/play/Go8SXqedfMD5SooePK8ubw

Mentor Updates

Our B.I.S.O.N. Mentor Appreciation Day is scheduled for next Wednesday, Jan.14. It is a come and go feast from 8:30-3:00.  We would love for you to stop by the main office to eat and visit and let us show you how much we appreciate you.  There will be door prizes, as well as hot Wassail and cake!!!  It just doesn’t get any better than that!  J

We would also like to announce our mentors of the year for 2015.  Congratulations to Doug Quattlebaum, Mark Collins, and Herb Hammack.  These three men have done an outstanding job the last two and a half years of showing up and being there for the young men they have been matched with since day one of the program.  They, along with their mentees, will be honored Jan. 15^th at the State Capitol for a full day of recognition and fun activities.  We know that they will represent our mentoring program well that day.

Hope to see you all next Wednesday.  Keep plugging away and making a difference!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

2014 Mentoring Banquet

     As the school year wraps up, so does our time to mentor with the Leedey kids.  The board and I want to again thank all who participated this year, and we hope that everyone enjoyed at least some small part of their mentoring experience.  I know that the mentees certainly benefited from the experiences and alsways looked forward to time spent with their mentors each and every week. 
     Our second annual B.I.S.O.N. Mentoring Banquet went off without a hitch and was deemed a success by all.  I think those that were able to attend enjoyed the wonderful meal catered by The Cattle Exchange from Canadian, Tx.  All bellies seemed full that evening.  :)  Chassidy did a great job entertaining us with her special song that Lake Carpenter spent countless hours helping her prepare.  Our speaker, Brian Hunter, did an oustanding job and humbled all of us by showing his emotional vulnerability when he spoke about his mentor memories from his childhood.  Brian also shared with me that he was ablte to raise a signifigant amount of money for his non-profit organization, Strong to the Finish.  Brian was overwhelmed by the generosity of a few donors.  On behalf of Brian, thank-you for being moved to do that! 
     Overall, it was a super evening that we were all able to share and enjoy.  In my opinion, it just solidifies why this program is so very important, and why we need to continue to do whatever is necessary to keep it going.

     The following are some pictures from that night.  Hope you enjoy them!!  :)