As we embark on another year…
Today as we are getting ready to ring in the New Year, we wanted to share this story which made 2016 one of the best years in recent memory.
We received a call from a young woman who will remain nameless… She inquired about what we do and about the WINGS. After our regular sales pitch, and sharing our views passionately on the phone, she asked if she could be a mentee even though she has nothing to do with Corporate America. She went on to explain she does not have a great education nor a great family to support her.
We came to know that she teaches Guitar in after school programs at a crime filled neighborhood in NJ. At that time, warning bells rang that she would NOT meet our criteria to be a mentee, however the teacher in our evaluation process wanted to get to know her more. We asked her, “Why do you want to be a WINGS mentee?” She responded
Because we want to build a church of 300 people in my neighborhood which helps kids my age and younger to do better things in life and help them from getting into trouble.
She went on to explain that she also has a small band and lots of kids from high crime areas that play with her on weekends. Her hope is to build a better community in those areas.
After hearing her full ambitions we realized she has so much star power and the reason why
WINGS was created was to help such stars become super stars!
She told me that she doesn’t have any money to pay for the program but wanted someone to help her with her dream. We told her we would sponsor her and find her a mentor. She would refuse to give her name and whereabouts but we hope she comes back to WINGS.
We are closing 2016 with a wonderful start to the WINGS journey, which is so full of purpose and hope. We urge everyone to consider sponsoring mentee in our program, or to be a mentor to someone who will appreciate your help for rest of her life, like our nameless candidate mentioned herewith. It is stories like this that make our cause so meaningful and people like the “Woman building a safe community around her” that is a testament to how we can uplift those around us!
We are grateful for our volunteers; thankful to our donors, blessed to have our members, thrilled to have our army of well wishers. We wish our WINGS friends and family a Happy, Healthy, Uplifting 2017!
