November 21, 2007

LANSING - In her weekly radio address, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today called on residents across the state to observe the Thanksgiving holiday by volunteering in their communities or mentoring a child, a friend or neighbor.

"With people in Michigan facing so many tough challenges, there are an awful lot of our fellow citizens who could benefit from a helping hand," Granholm said.  "So, this Thanksgiving, I am particularly thankful for all the selfless Michigan citizens who have reached out to help a friend, a neighbor, or a fellow community member."

"There are countless ways people are helping out, but one way that is particularly near to my heart is mentoring.  Throughout my life, I have gained so much from great mentors and role models who offered advice and help - mentoring is a way for all of us to share with others the combined wisdom that has shaped our lives."

"When I became governor, I set a goal to have 10,000 mentors across the state.  Now, I'm happy to report that our Mentor Michigan program has over 20,000 active members."

The governor's weekly radio address is released each Friday morning and may be heard on broadcast stations across the state.  The address is available on the governor's Web site (www.michigan.gov/gov) for download, together with a clip of the quote above.  The radio address is also available as a podcast on the Web site, as well as on iTunes and via RSS feed for general distribution to personal MP3 players and home computers.  Links to the audio files and text of today's address follow.

Governor Jennifer M. Granholm
November 21, 2007

Full Radio Address Audio: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov120_Full_216109_7.mp3

Edited Radio Address Audio: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov120_Edit_216110_7.mp3

Short Clip: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/gov/Gov120_Quote_216111_7.mp3 

This is Governor Jennifer Granholm.

As the holiday season begins, our thoughts turn to gift giving - and one thing that life has taught me is that the most important gift we can give is our own time….

With people in Michigan facing so many tough challenges, there are an awful lot of our fellow citizens who could benefit from a helping hand. So, this Thanksgiving, I am particularly thankful for all of the selfless Michigan citizens who have reached out to help a friend, a neighbor, or a fellow community member.

There are countless ways, in fact that people are helping out but one way that is particularly near to my heart is mentoring. Throughout my life I have gained so much from great mentors and role models who offered advice and help - mentoring is a way for all of us to share with others the combined wisdom that has shaped our lives.

When I became governor, I set a goal to have 10,000 mentors across the state to mentor children. And now, I'm happy to report that our Mentor Michigan program has over 20,000 active mentors!

Mentoring takes many different forms, and you can act as a mentor to anyone - a friend or neighbor facing a challenge that you've confronted before… a family member who needs guidance… a coworker trying to learn the ropes. And it can be a truly transforming experience, both for the mentee and for the mentor.

My focus with Mentor Michigan is on pairing adult mentors with children who need positive reinforcement and a role model in their lives, to make sure those kids have every opportunity for success in the future. Our mentors do activities with kids, they help with school work, they talk, they listen… and they make good things happen, one child at a time.

And, right now, there are 3,500 children on waiting lists to be matched with a mentor.

I hope you'll join with me in being thankful for all the great volunteers across the state who are already mentors or who are helping out in their communities in other ways. And I also hope that you'll think about becoming a mentor yourself. You can have a real impact on the life of a child, and on the future of our state.

To learn more, dial 2-1-1 on any touch tone phone and tell the operator that you're interested in volunteering and mentoring. Or, you can visit w-w-w dot mentor Michigan dot org, o-r-g and click on "Become a Mentor" to find a mentoring program near you.

Thank you for listening and have a tremendous, happy Thanksgiving.

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