Cyclists across America will have the opportunity to embark on a 10-day, 500-mile biking journey from Austin, TX to Oklahoma City, OK this summer, as The Mentoring Project (TMP) and Venture partner to raise awareness for fatherless youth in the U.S.
The Mentoring Project, which recruits, trains and matches mentors with children who need them, have had over 4,000 people educated across the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Africa and New Zealand through their program. According to their website, there are over 25 million youth in the U.S. growing up fatherless, with children from fatherless homes being “more likely to drop out of school, join gangs, become teenage parents and try drugs.” Since 2009, when John Sowers founded it, TMP has worked to rewrite this fatherless story through mentoring.
TMP Site Coordinator Bruce Doane said he first heard about the organization through Donald Miller’s book, “A Million Miles in a Million Years,” and volunteered for their first event in OKC after the organization’s executive team moved there from Portland, OR.
“It has been my experience that it is not just the kids who are being served well in these mentoring relationships,” Doane said. “Although the kids are a huge focus, the mentors’ stories are being validated. All of a sudden, an adult has this child in front of them asking questions they used to ask, or having experiences they used to experience themselves, and in those moments, both mentor and mentee have this sense they are not alone.”
To help raise funds to continue their efforts, TMP will partner with Venture June 1-10 to offer a 500-mile bike ride from Austin to OKC. The minimum fundraising goal is $2,500, and funds will help TMP continue to recruit, train and match mentors with children who need them. According to their website, during the process of meeting the fundraising goal prior to departure, “you’ll inspire your community to actively engage with you in the redemptive and beautiful story of preventative justice and hope that God is writing right here, and right now, through The Mentoring Project’s work with at-risk youth around the world.”
“Austin has consistently been ranked one of the U.S.’s top 10 bike-friendly cities,” Doane said. “Tour participants will begin their journey in this unique environment before making their way up through the Lone Star state and into Oklahoma City, where The Mentoring Project hosts many of its programs. Tour members will finish this epic adventure at one of OKC’s premier hangout spots, the Wheeler Ferris Wheel. There, they will have the opportunity to interact with TMP staff, mentors, mentees and other supporters to punctuate the transformational experience.”
According to Doane, Oklahoma Christian University students interested in mentoring with TMP can participate in the bike event, as well as in their partnered program with Life Church on Tuesday nights from 6-8 p.m. Once a month, TMP also offers a #MentorMoment event that TMP specific mentors and mentees can attend at no cost.
“It is our hope to continue building a sustainable mentoring community here in OKC and to resource other organizations to do the same in their communities,” Doane said. “Volunteers who take advantage of this opportunity will receive training and eventually be matched with a deserving child if that is your wish. Mentoring is not rocket science. Show up consistently, live a life of integrity, take advantage of teachable moments—those are key ingredients to a transformative mentoring relationship.”
For those who do not have time available to mentor, Doane said TMP also appreciates prayer and monthly donations. The deadline to register for the Austin to OKC bike ride is Feb. 15.
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