Kinship of Tomahawk was presented with a $4,000 AT&T Innovation & Investment Award Thursday to support its mentoring program for local youth.
The AT&T donation will support Kinship of Tomahawk’s KinsKlub program, an afterschool educational, mentoring and leadership development program for teens. The goal of KinsKlub is to engage youth in community service projects and leadership development opportunities, in addition to partnering them with academic mentors.
“The mentoring relationships established during our program are critical to the future success of our teens and our community overall,” said Patti Hilgendorf, Executive Director of Kinship of Tomahawk. “We are very appreciative of companies like AT&T that step forward to support these mentoring programs and help the youth in our area.”
KinsKlub participants work on community service projects such as washing police cars, serving at the soup kitchen, volunteering at the homeless shelter, performing highway cleanup projects, raking lawns for the elderly, and shoveling sidewalks in local neighborhoods. An annual program, KinsKlub requires teens to commit to one community service project per month for 12 months.
“The work that Kinship does in our community is so important to the development of the future leaders of Central Wisconsin,” said State Representative Mary Czaja (R-Irma). “It is wonderful to see Wisconsin businesses supporting these critical mentorship programs for our young people.”
Kinship of Tomahawk is a nonprofit organization that believes in and promotes the concept of youth mentoring. The organization works to improve lives by establishing quality relationships between individuals and caring volunteers for the purpose of promoting stability, support, friendship and community.
Since 2013, AT&T has provided nearly $10,000 to support Kinship’s youth mentoring programs.
“As a company, AT&T is committed to investing in our communities and helping prepare our young people to be our future leaders,” said Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T Wisconsin. “We are very proud to support Kinship’s efforts to make a positive difference in the lives of area youth.”
The AT&T Wisconsin Innovation & Investment Award program provides funding to local organizations that enhance and give back to their communities. The program is focused on awarding grants to organizations and programs that improve the community by advancing education, enhancing the environment, promoting economic development or delivering other community services.