Another reason to root for Jerod Mayo

Jerod Mayo is a good guy.  Yes, he's the a team leader on and off the field with the New England Patriots.  Yes, last month he made 15 tackles against the Jaguars. And yes, Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 in 2008, he was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.  But above all that, I offer this:  Jerod Mayo is just a really good guy.

Earlier this year, he came to United Way with a request: He wanted to do something to help connect more young people with mentors. He had been thinking about the people who helped shape the direction of his life and he wanted to do what he could to make sure that local kids had the same positive influences.

I was talking with Mass Mentoring earlier this month, and there are 3,000 youth on waiting lists for mentors in Massachusetts.  3,000 youth actively looking for someone with whom they can connect.  Someone whose example, they can aspire to emulate.  If you talk to our partner agencies, you’ll learn that the recession hasn’t helped this any.  In fact, a few of them have reported that as some registered mentors have lost jobs, they've made the tough decision, for a variety of reasons, to leave their mentoring programs.

What's special about Jerod -- a mentor himself to his two younger siblings -- is that he saw this clear need in the community and came to us to make a difference.  We didn’t recruit him. We didn’t have to ask for his support.  He wanted to do this for the community.  So we worked with him to define his campaign.

On January 1, Jerod Mayo launched a 51 Day Mentor Challenge at http://www.chooseyourimpact.org/jerodmayo The challenge, which is influenced by of Mayo’s jersey number, asks the community to take action by either donating to match a young person with a mentor, signing up to volunteer as a mentor through Mass Mentoring or advocating for the cause.

So here's my own challenge to you:  Let's help him get there.  Because an effort like Jerod's deserves support.  Because it's a new year, and you know your other resolutions aren't going to stick.  Because it's the right thing to do for the 3,000 kids out there that are just waiting for someone to step up.

Give. Advocate. Volunteer.  Make mentoring a priority in 2010.