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Lisa Martin, Marketing & Development
Officer for Greenville National Bank, center left, presents a check to
Empowering Darke County Youth Assistant Program Coordinator Melissa Eve
at a recent combined tutoring
and Big Buddies program. More than 50
students and volunteers were working together during the tutoring
and
support program.
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Greenville National
Bank continues Empowering support
Empowering, BBBS join forces to better support local youth
GREENVILLE – Greenville National Bank recently continued its support
for Empowering programs. The check was presented to Empowering
Assistant Program Coordinator Melissa Eve during a combined tutoring
and Big Brothers Big Sisters program at Greenville Intermediate &
Elementary School.
Martin said Greenville National Bank was pleased to be able to increase
its support this year, noting Empowering’s “excellent results last
year.” She added the program is “very valuable to our community.”
The Greenville National Bank donation was presented during the second
program incorporating a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring session,
conducted by Becca Cotterman, Program Coordinator, followed by tutoring
in the remaining available time.
“This is a win-win situation for our kids,” said Bob Robinson,
Empowering Program Coordinator. “The Big Buddies program has been
working with at-risk children for years. It has a history of success in
its one-on-one approach to mentoring local youth.”
Robinson noted it’s also a “win-win” for both programs. Students get
the benefit of both tutoring and mentoring approaches, Big Buddies
reaches more students and Empowering gets the benefit of BBBS
experience and the services of additional volunteer tutors. The
combined program occurs twice a month.
Big Brothers Big Sisters Director Jennifer Bruns agreed. “Big Brothers
Big Sisters has a rich history and knowledge of mentoring youth through
community base and after school programming,” she said. “With this in
mind it made perfect sense to reach out to Empowering Youth for a
partnership. I believe the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization can
bring a lot to the table and can feed off the manpower and new ideas
that Empowering Youth has to offer.”
“The main goal of both of our programs is to help the youth in Darke
County and this will be accomplished by joining forces on this
project,” she added. “We look forward to learning and growing from this
experience.”
Despite being only two years in existence, the Empowering program has
had major successes in its goal to reach local students struggling with
their academic basics. In a recent survey of parents in the After
School Program, all but one noted improvement in one or more academic
areas, with some of the improvements being dramatic. One teacher
reported a student had gone to A’s and B’s when before he’d been
struggling with two D’s and an F.
“That’s just one of many successes,” Robinson said. “There are more,
too many to note here. All students except one look forward to coming
to the program, and only two haven’t developed an improved attitude
toward their education.”
Robinson noted that Empowering Darke County Youth is a 501c3 United Way
Partner and is grateful for the support its programs have received from
the community.
“I can’t thank Lisa enough for her strong support on behalf of
Greenville National Bank,” he said. “I’m also looking forward to
developing stronger ties with Big Brothers Big Sisters on behalf of
Darke County youth.”
The Empowering Mission: Empowering Darke County Youth provides After
School and Summer Tutoring programs to assist students in the areas of
language arts and math with the goal of Strong Students for a Strong
Community.
For more information about Empowering programs and how to help, email:
empoweringdarkecountyyouth@gmail.com or message Empowering on its
Facebook page.
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