Special to the Chronicle

We met August 16 at Wiz’s Eatery for the “Returning Mentors and New Recruits Dinner.”

It was wonderful to see so many returning mentors who will continue to serve another year with their mentees.

I want to thank the new recruits for volunteering to be a supporter of a child in-need. They are: Beth Berry, Donna Boozer, Kimberly K. Burton and Karen Williams.

The Mentoring Program is still in need of more volunteers to be that “outside support” of Lexington County School District Three’s Panther Pals and Reading Buddies Program.

“Let us renew the true spirit of each day. Not the human capacity for evil, but the human capacity for good. Not the desire to destroy, but the impulse to save and to serve,” President Obama’s said from the Pentagon on September 11, 2009.

Each child deserves the right to use their gift to make this a better world, whether or they become teachers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, entertainers, scientists, athletes or anything else.

We are to serve whenever we have the opportunity to love, to guild, to nurture and to teach because they are the future.

You can be a mentor for a child in need and provide a little helping hand to guide them. We start with students in 4K through the fifth grade. Those are the developing years for academic growth.

When a child receives the basic foundation of learning, they will master the right tools to excel in their education.

Let each one of us try to unwrap the precious gift that each child possesses and see what we will discover.

Perhaps that child will have the solution for peace throughout the world.

Please contact Elizabeth Phillips at 803-960-1005 or ephillips@lex3.k12.sc.us if you would like to be a part of this program.