Merry Christmas from Mentors!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

from all of us at

Vote for Mentors!

Chase Community Giving is hosting a campaign on Facebook for local charities. They will give away $5 million for the charities and needs that you vote for.

That means Mentors needs your vote!

Think of all the lives that would be changed forever by being able to be given a “Hand Up”. According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. Let’s make a difference in someone’s life TODAY.

Click on the link below to cast your vote and be sure to pass on the word!

Meet Francisco Molanphy

FRANCISCO MOLANPHY

Executive Director of Mentors Honduras

Francisco Molanphy, new executive director for Mentors Honduras, was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras on May 17, 1972.  His parents, Jorge and Martha Molanphy were a young and hard working couple.  Without a college education but with determination and long hours they were able to start a tour operator business, Maya Tropic Tours, which soon became the leading operator in the country.  This business led to a car rental operation and later a hotel.  “I guess all I can say is that they have taught me what hard work, love and dedication are,” he smiles.

Frank, as he likes to be called, is currently 37 years old and happily married to Liza Figueroa. He has been married for nine years, and he and Liza are the parents of Sofia (7), Natalia (5) and Mateo (3).  “They are all amazing gifts from God to us,” he says.  “Both my wife and I are Architects by profession and actually met in college.  During my studies I felt I was going to be a famous architect and design beautiful buildings; little did I know what the future would hold as beautiful to me.”

A couple of weeks into his marriage Frank obtained a job with an NGO rebuilding homes around Honduras after the big hurricane.  “When I saw the very small homes we were building, I was quickly offended by their size and simplicity,” he says.  “Remember, I was going to be a famous architect.  One day greater awareness came to me as I viewed this small family from underneath pieces of cardboard and plastic looking with gratitude at their future home.  This looked like a castle to them!  It wasn’t until then that I understood what beautiful meant and the great power inherent in opportunity.

“I still want to be a famous architect,” he smiles again, “but for different reasons.  Mostly I want to be able to help people get that small opportunity that might change their lives.  I want to be able to constantly share with my wife and children the humble pride I witness every day.”

Frank loves playing baseball, basketball and tennis. He still enjoys working with design and technology.  “I still like being in the background,” he adds.  “I love my home, I love my family and I love the patience and constant guidance from our Savior.”

In 2003 Frank was invited to open a new manufacturing operation in Honduras, which he did with great success as a general manager leading a team of over 80 people.  His leadership took the organization from its humble beginning to a $2.5 million operation with higher profitability and productivity than other partner organizations in Sri Lanka and the Chech Republic.  After his proven success he was transferred to Los Angeles for two and a half years where he continued his trajectory of success until the operation was transferred to Sri Lanka, and he decided to move back to his home country.

Frank was brought up going to English speaking schools since kindergarten.  “I am sometimes embarrassed to realize that my grammar is much better in English than in my native language,” he admits with a grin.

We welcome Frank to our Mentors family!

2009 Mentors International Gala Fundraiser

Many thanks to all those who donated their time, resources, and talents to make the 2009 Mentors International Gala Fundraiser a very memorable and successful evening.

Get a small taste of the evening here.

With the help of many, we are eradicating poverty and ignorance worldwide.  It is a humbling thing, to empower so many.

What a wonderful organization!

Mentors Gala in less than a month!

Mentors fifth annual fundraising gala is quickly approaching and we are getting so excited! Tables and seats are filling up, and with 900 people expected to attend, be sure to get yours today! Please visit www.enterprise-mentors.org to register.

Schematic as of Sept. 17

The featured performance for the evening will be The 5 Browns and Mentors couldn’t be more thrilled. The 5 Browns, a family of five piano virtuosos all schooled at Julliard, has dazzled audiences from Beijing to Berlin and have been at the top of the nation’s classical music charts in 2005 and 2006. They have been dedicated to bringing classical music to the lives of people everywhere and have become committed to the Mentors cause.

This year the Humanitarian Service Award will be given to Padma Venkataraman, daughter of former India President R. Venkataraman. Venkataraman has long been a leading figure in the national fight against leprosy and its resulting stigma. She has also made great strides in incorporating micro lending into numerous leprosy colonies. Her determination to break the cycle of leprosy transmission for future generations has become a model for giving these individuals the dignity they deserve.

We will see you at the Gala on October 9!!!

New video on Mentors Philippines

New video on Mentors Peru

An Intern’s Perspective of Mentors – By Alycia Stubbs

With Mentors clients in Guatemala

During the Summer of 2009 I had the opportunity to work as an Intern at Mentors International, and although I understood the general concepts behind the work Mentors did, nothing could have prepared me for all of the things I was about to learn.

As any struggling college student can relate, I was in desperate need of a summer job. I heard about the internship through one of the office staff members and Mentors was an immediately attractive alternative to working summer retail. I admit that starting out I didn’t know really anything about the company or what they did. For me they seemed like just another non-profit that thought they were, “Saving the world,” but didn’t have a far reaching effect. I was wrong.

One of my first assignments was to assemble “success story” frames featuring clients and a story about how Mentors had changed their lives, and then to hang them up in the office. After sifting through hundreds of pictures and reading story after story I felt like I knew more about these people then I knew about most of my friends. And although I was touched by their stories originally, after a while I became indifferent to yet another ‘success story.’ My first major assignment was to plan the next Mentors field trip to visit the partner organizations in El Salvador and Guatemala, and I had the opportunity of traveling along with the rest of the group.

I have traveled to Latin America before, but every time I return I am reminded of the severe differences between the way I live and the poverty level of these people. Getting to see the Mentors loan process in action altered my entire perspective of the organization. The experience of seeing these people face to face, not just in their picture was awe-inspiring and I finally understood what Mentors was all about. All of the sudden, the story becomes real. They are no longer a picture or a blurb, they are real people with hopes and dreams and hard times whose lives have been changed because of the efforts of the selfless people I was surrounded by in an office space.

From the outside looking in, it is near impossible to understand what this loan means to the people receiving it. The average business loan the Mentors gives out is around $160, for people living in America, that’s a new gaming system, a GPS, a nice pair of shoes, a prom dress, a spa day, sport supplies or a gym membership; for these people it’s a new start. This loan allows them to improve the quality of their lives to a level they never imagined possible. Families can feed their children, children can attend school, and houses can be made safe, comfortable and secure. Donations made to Mentors go directly to these people with real tangible results. What sets Mentors apart from other microfinance organizations is the training the clients receive; the clients are taught how to successfully build and sustain a business. Underneath the premise of building businesses, Mentors is building families which are in turn building their communities; the training provides these people with the tools to help themselves for true and lasting self-sufficiency. Mentors International understands that while they can’t end poverty all at once, or on their own, they can end poverty one life at a time, one family at a time, and one generation at a time.

Truth learned: Hard working people with a common goal CAN change the world. I have always been a firm believer that if everyone did what they could to better their little, “section,” of the world, the world would end up taking care of itself. While working for Mentors, the office staff has mentored me. I feel empowered and comfortable in knowing that I am capable of leaving my imprint on the world. As small as my efforts may seem when compared to all of the people in the world, it is significant in my life and to the people I’ve reached out to. We have all of the resources, capacity and connections to make a difference, we only need a reminder that we are truly capable. Mentors inspired me to reexamine my life, and rededicate myself to my education, my career and my community; I will be forever grateful for everything I’ve learned and experienced throughout this internship and I will pass on the message of Mentors to anyone who will listen.

At an orphanage in El Salvador

Mentors from a Philippines perspective

Eric with his friends in the Philippines

Recently, I lived in the Philippines for nearly two years and I can attest to poverty and helplessness that exists there.  This last year has been difficult financially for nearly everyone here in America, but the American people’s ‘recession wage’ is so still much better than what Filipino is making or will likely ever make in his or her lifetime.  There are millions of people in the Philippines who don’t even have a roof over their head, let alone electricity and plumbing.
The people in the Philippines are some of the most respectable and loyal people whom I have ever met; they are simply waiting for a chance to be successful.   Mentors could be their chance.

The future of the Philippines

The task of putting adequate food on the table, purchasing a pencil for a child in school, or the simple outlay needed to buy a small candle to provide light for the home in the evening are major consumer decisions that the people of the Philippines face every day.  These are situations don’t even cross the minds of most Americans, but to a Filipino, being able to never have to worry about these small things would be considered a success financially. More, now then ever, these people simply need a chance to succeed. Unlike many, they don’t expect anything from anyone, including the government.

This mind set has enabled Filipinos to become some of the hardest working people I have ever met. These hard working people never get an opportunity to become successful because of their financial station in life.  I wish everyone could spend time with these people because they are so amazing. I gained a love for the people that made me want to help all of them find better work and become more successful.

Of course, it would be unrealistic to freely had out money to everyone there. That’s why Mentors is so amazing. They are able to reach and help people in a way that teaches them the correct principles of success by providing capital resources that wouldn’t otherwise exist in an entrepreneurial setting.  Hopefully, we can rally around this great program and reach more families throughout the Philippines and in other parts of the world.

Ingat po sa inyong lahat

Eric Queathem
eric_q_3@me.com

Eric visiting friends in the Philippines

Our new Mentors Guatemala video

Mentors’ latest attempt is to make a video about each partner organization.  Hence the Mentors Guatemala video below…