Cabrini Madness Is Underway!

In anticipation of the college basketball tournament season and a way to bring in some much needed resources to the organization, Cabrini Connections' has started it's own tournament...a FUNdraising tournament called Cabrini Madness!!!

Cabrini Madness is a FUNdraising project that promotes teamwork, program advocacy, and is really just a fun way to obtain the necessary resources our program needs to continue providing the services that our students and volunteers have grown to love. Each team must have atleast 1 student, 1 volunteer, 1 person in a leadership position (staff, Volunteer Coordinator, Board Member etc...) and atleast one person who is outside of the program and teams can have up to 10 members on the roster. And we added this component as a way of expanding our Cabrini Connections' network.

This project was launched in the early part of this month and will last until the NCAA Men's National Championship game on April 5th...well for those two Cabrini Madness teams that make the finals (smile). To get the full details of Cabrini Madness you can go here. And we went a little wild with the creativity put into this project by putting together an actual Cabrini Madness Brackett, so players, coaches, and fans can see their teams either advance to the next round(s) or...you know the rest! And each team will have put together and launched a Give Forward fundraising page to college their team's donations, which is ultimately the teams' scoreboard.

~Become a Fan, Become a Donor, Become a Member of the Cabrini Connections' TEAM~

Cabrini Connections Answers President Obama's Call

On Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Day on 2009 President Obama called for a day of service to all Americans to act upon M.L.K.'s vision of assisting those in need. And he not only called for a day of service, President Obama lead by example by volunteering his time at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. And just one year later Obama and people all throughout America are continuing to answer that call for a day of service.

While there are people who are off from work and school for this holiday, several Cabrini Connections' students and staff, decided to 'work' on their day off. Cabrini Connections' Program Assistant, Bradley Troast, lead a group of nearly a dozen students to James Wadsworth Elementary School to join others in helping to beautify this South side school. The group will be cleaning the halls and classrooms, taking out any and all trash and waste, painting the walls and murals, and just collectively doing what they can to enhance the visual appeal of the school.

This opportunity was announced to the Cabrini Connections' group during announcements the last two weeks, and the several of the students signed up to volunteer without hesitation. The group met here in the center around 7:30am on this cold January day, to assist others. Being a tutoring/mentoring program that serves a population where many of the students come from very low income household, this shows the character of the students that make up our program. They are sacrificing their 'off day' to assist others who more than likely coming from a similar community to Cabrini-Green. I am extremely proud of those students and staff member Bradley Troast answering Obama's call for a "Day of Service." My call for YOU, is to make an effort to support our program and the volunteers, staff, and most importantly the students.

NFL Combine and Cabrini Connections

Every year teams in the National Football League invite players to their facilities for a workout. The teams are looking for football players who work hard, have talent, have the drive and determination to be a professional football player, and players who would be a nice fit to their organization. Nearly each team in the NFL sends these invites out hoping that they can add what could be the missing link to their team's road to a Super Bowl victory!!!

All throughout the year our tutoring/mentoring league (Tutor/Mentor Connection) and the individual teams (tutoring/mentoring programs) are doing the exact same thing. Just like the NFL, each program is looking for the resources, whether is volunteers, students, supplies, and/or dollars and donors...to add to our programs so that we can be one of the best programs in the league. Unlike the NFL, we are not competing against other teams, but we are all looking to reach a similar goal of being a program that is equipped with the necessary resources to provide the players and coaches (students and volunteers) so that they can be successful.

The Tutor/Mentor Connection can be considered the tutoring/mentoring league that provides resources for each of the individual teams to use to better their own programs, but also to share what they are doing so other programs can better themselves as well. And the Tutor/Mentor Connection goes as far as hosting two conferences a year, which could be considered coach's clinics, so that members of the programs that make up this league can all come to network, share strategies, and hopefully brainstorm ways in which the entire tutoring/mentoring league can obtain the dollars so that each individual organization can benefit as a result.

Although, the programs are seeking resources throughout the year to enhance their team, the month of January is National Mentoring Month, and this month is similar to the month where the NFL combine where organizations promote what they do in hopes that the right talents joins their team. Cabrini Connections is just one of the many programs in the Tutor/Mentor Connection league and during this month we have had promo material on CanTV, the staff in the front office has been writing various blog articles about National Mentoring month, and the players and coaches already on our team have been sharing their stories about being involved in this league and on the Cabrini Connections' team. And as a result there have been several prospective new members who have begun to answer the call to be a new player and coach...and hopefully we receive new fans to become donors!

The Pittsburgh Steelers is just one of the teams in the National Football League, Cabrini Connections is just one of the teams in the Tutor/Mentor Connection league, but both teams in their respective leages are similar in that they have to have the right people and resources in place to have a GUARANTEED VICTORY...