Spokesperson, Child Advocate and Mentor for ACES & Kinship of Greater Minneapolis , Alumni Big Brothers/Bi Sisters
Make an Impact in a Child's Life----Mentor
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations in life-we can never help another without helping ourselves." - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wendi Russo is a full time Television Host with Shop NBC, the luxury home shopping network airing in 72 million homes nationwide and was first runner up at the National Mrs. United States 2010 Pageant. For Wendi's schedule on air, go to www.shopnbc.com . Wendi specializes in Fashion, Beauty & jewelry, but presents everything from dishes to diamonds & computers to cosmetics.
Wendi earned her B.S. degree in Business Administration from the University of Vermont, a certification in Broadcast Journalism from UCLA; is certified as an Accredited Jewelry Professional with the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and currently becoming a Graduate Gemologist.
Passionate about Mentoring, Wendi has been a mentor for 12 years and currently serves Kinship of Greater Minneapolis as a speaker and alumni, helping to recruit mentors. She is also an E-mentor with ACES, Atheletes Committed to Educating Students & an Everyday Advocate & Alumni of Big Brothers Big Sisters.
One of her personal goals is to to encourage new mentors to step forward and mentor. Couples, individuals and families can become EVERYDAY HEROES to a child in their community. Minnesota has over 150 children from single parent families waiting for a mentor. These children usually live with their mothers and are the product of divorce, war or parental incarceration and are in need of a positive role model in their lives. Single working mothers often don't have the resources to take them to do activites you, or I, might take for granted...like swimming.
Wendi was surprised to learn that a 7-year old may not know how to swim. At the pool at Lifetime Fitness, she saw many 3 year olds swimming...but her mentee, at 7, was afraid to get her head wet and was not able to take swimming lessons. She also didn't know what camp was--something that many of us grew up taking for granted. Thank you to Foss Swim School in Chanhassen for donating free swim lessons to Tyiteana! She has been taking lessons and is now able to dive to the bottom of the pool, to do the crawl and float!! Learning to swim has increased her confidence level.
As an Alumni of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Wendi promotes their new Big Families program at her speaking engagements. Wendi loves to inspire children to feel confident and that they all have something special to offer the world. As a speaker/mentor for Children of the Night, a non-profit safe house for runaway children, her favorite thing was helping these children to see what gifts God had given them, whether it was a sense of humor, storytelling, dance, or being artistic.
Dr. Martin Luther King said, “Everyone has the power of greatness; not for fame, but greatness. Because greatness is determined by service.”
If you are interested in learning more about mentoring opportunities in your area, Please visit. www.Mentoringworks.org. The Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota is committed to increasing awareness about mentoring in Minnesota and is collaborating with Minnesota Business Partnership to encourage more businesses to start mentoring initiatives and increase employee involvement.
January is National Mentoring Month: Barack Obama is asking each one of us to become mentors to kids who need additional support. Please Pay -it-Forward by contacting www.Kinship.org today!
Eden Prairie Magazine November Cover Story about Kinship Mentoring
My daughter and I in Eden Prairie Magazine
Tyiteana with Santa at Bachmans
Tyiteana learned how to use a camera today and loved it!
In this life we cannot always do great things. We can only do small things with great love.
-Mother Teresa
I chose Tyiteana as my mentee because she showed so much self confidence in describing herself as smart & pretty and a great reader!! She is from a single parent home and looks forward to spending time with me doing things her mom can't take her to do. Tyiteana loves playing outside, riding her bike and playing double dutch jump rope.
Tyiteana and Chloe's Birthday at Libby Lu
Tyiteana wanted to go back to Libby Lu this year and dressed as a princess while Chloe was a rockstar! They had a ball getting their nails done and getting "crowned"!
Tyiteana's Princess Party with an appearance by Cinderella!
Erica Nero, Mrs. MN USA 2008/2009 is our Cinderella, reading "Fancy Nancy" to the kids! It was surprising that all the kids listened quietly!
Last Year Tyiteana was in a life preserver, this year she got free swimming lessons donated by Foss Swim school and she is doing the crawl!
My daughter loves playing with "Tana" and asks to see her every week!
