Wendi Russo 
 
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The key to promoting Mentoring is to find new mentors.  Nancy Torrison, Director of Recruitment and I worked the crowd at the Raspberry Festival and found many new leads!  Along came the Royalty of the Hopkins Raspberry Festival so I was able to meet the newly crowned Royalty and capture a picture!  How cute!
 
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Kinship of Greater Minneapolis Mentor/Mentee picnic at Loring Park   July 17th

I met a wonderful group of kids at the picnic where they tossed water balloons, ate cake and played outside on this beautiful summer day.  I asked the children why they liked having a mentor and here is what they said "So I can get out of the house",  "Because I'm lonely.",  "Because they play ball with me",  "Because they take me to do things I don't normally get to do.".   They say WHY to mentor better than I could.  I spoke about my childhood and why I got into mentoring, they asked questions about the pageant and how it is judged and if I won any money (no).  And then I signed autographs and took pictures with them.  The key is meeting these kids to see why Mentoring is important and how it can change lives.
 
So many of my close friends and supporters were able to make it to send me off to nationals!  I had an amazing time and everyone loved meeting eachother!  Chloe had so much fun playing with Holly's daughter Ava-they are the same age!  I am so blessed to have so many good friends in my life!  Thank you Holly, Sarah, Heather, My husband, Corrado, Jason, Brian, Jeremy, Tamara, Shelly, Kellee & Robb!
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It turned out to be a beautiful day on this 4th of July and my mom was in town so we all hopped in our bBMW convertible 625, sponsored by BMW of Minnetonka and headed to Delano!  The largest and oldest Fourth of July parade!    The streets were densely lined with chairs at least 3 deep and all ages came out to enjoy the festivities!  In the car behind me were Miss MN Teen USA '10 and Miss MN USA '10 so we represented all three generations very nicely!  The crowd was so supportive --I only wish I bought more candy to toss out to the children!  We ran out midway through the parade!  I just adore this quaint town.
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