Our speaker on January 14th was Dan Leal, Seedling Foundation's Executive Director, who spoke to us about the Seedling mentors program, which places mentors with students from grades K through 8th, who have parent who has been incarcerated. Each mentor spends one day week for 30-45 minutes with their mentee at his or her school, usually during the lunch hour. President Miriam is a current Seedling mentor and told us about her experience. Dan also has been a Seedling mentor. His mentee has now graduated high school. Having a mentor can change the lives of these children. They end up attending school on 90% of the school days, 82% of the mentees do not have any disciplinary issues at school, and 98% moved up a grade. The program creates resilience for these children. There are currently 500 children with Seedling mentors, and the average match lasts about two years. Dan told us that there are three qualities to being a good mentor - be reliable, show up for your mentee, be caring and be and friend. It only takes one hour out of your week to become a Seedling mentor! For more information about how to sign up to be a Seedling mentor, go to SeedlingMentors.org.