Volunteers & Mentors

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Volunteers & Mentors

Making Mentoring Meaningful was launched in 2003 in conjunction with Youth Network Council to work with children ages 4-14 who have an incarcerated parent. We match each child in need of a caring adult role model with a trained community mentor. Mentors and their young partners meet at least twice a month for 2–3 hours for a variety of activities and outings that provides both academic and recreational support. Mentors plan activities around their schedules.

Examples of activities: going to the park or zoo, making friendship bracelets together, playing sports, learning a new magic trick, sledding, ice skating, going to a museum, working on homework, practicing to become the next American Idol, or anything that you both are interested in doing.

For more information contact:

Director of Mentor and Volunteer Services Christy Beighe-Byrne

773.268.3815, ext. 33, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Volunteer: Join a dedicated group of enthusiastic community volunteers and help our kids achieve a more successful future. Volunteers work directly with kids as tutors, classroom aides, field trip chaperones, activity leaders, and more. They can also serve on the Local Board and help us raise money for our programs.

Click on the links below to learn more about our programs:

Corporate Volunteering

Day of Caring Events (Group Volunteer Projects)

Mentoring Children of Prisoners

Center Based Volunteering

Thank You Note to Center Staff

March 1, 2010

I just wanted to say “THANK YOU” to the wonderful staff at our centers for welcoming in the Disney Day of Caring Volunteers in the last two months (Jan 22 and 29th, Feb 11, 12th, and 15th and March 1st). This has definitely been a roller coaster of an experience!! Many volunteers have conveyed to me how meaningful their experience was at your centers. Since January, 103 new individuals have come to volunteer with us via the Disney Day of Caring. That’s 103 new people who have now been exposed to the positive work that we do at Chicago Youth Centers! Several of those have signed on to become on-going volunteers and mentors. For most of you, this is it for the Disney Day of Caring volunteers coming to your centers/sites; however, Fellowship House has signed on to receive volunteers throughout the year to assist with small cleaning projects. Please let me know if you have small projects that you would like posted in the future.

Thank you!!!

Christy Beighe-Byrne

For more information, please contact:

Christy Beighe-Byrne
Director of Mentor and Volunteer Services
Office: 773-268-3815, ext 33
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Big Bike Giveaway

Astellas Pharma has an impressive community outreach program—and this year it reached all the way to the Regency Hotel by O’Hare Airport, where a group of associates were told by their CEO that their next assignment was to put together 50 bikes to be given to CYC members. While they were assembling the bikes, they were unaware that in a nearby room sat a group of youth from the ABC Polk Bros. Youth Center, having snacks and wondering what kind of surprise would take them all the way out to the airport. After the volunteers made a few quality assurance test runs in the hall, the two groups were brought together and the bikes were matched to the kids. The expressions on the faces both young and not so young confirmed the project was a phenomenal success.

Astellas Pharma volunteers present a bike to a CYC member.

How Gift Levels Sustain MCP

How Gifts of All levels Sustain The Mentoring Children of Prisoners ( MCP) And School-based Mentoring Programs

$5 Provides an MCP Match two cups of hot chocolate so they can talk about the week
$10 Provides an MCP match a lunch certificate for McDonalds
$20 Provides refreshments for a New Mentor Training
$20 Provides 20 mentees (in our School-Based Mentoring Program) a snack to eat during the program (for one day)
$75 Provides refreshments and materials for a MCP Match Mixer Event
$200 Provides a digital camera and printing materials to capture the memories of outings (for an MCP Match)
$200 Provides the School Based Mentoring Program a bus to transport children to/from a field trip
$400 Provides a full field trip (transportation included) to the Museum of Science and Industry: CSI Crime Lab for 30 mentees in our School Based Mentoring Program
$1000 Provides the ability to match and support one of our MCP mentoring relationships
$1500 Provides the ability to match and support one of our School Based Mentoring relationships

Corporate Volunteering

Chicagoland Corporations can help Chicago Youth Centers in many ways by….

Participating in a “Day of Caring” Event such as when the Deloitte Global Company came to ABC/Polk Bros. Youth Center to help the youth with a project. This year, Deloitte employees helped our school age youth create an exploding volcano as a science experiment!
By hosting a Donation Drive like the Chicago Association of Realtors did for the CYC-Rebecca Crown Youth Center. In late August, Chicago Association of Realtors’ Employees hosted a school supply drive and then came to the CYC-Rebecca Crown Youth Center to deliver the supplies.
By sponsoring an interactive Staff Development activity that benefits CYC Youth like Astellas Pharma Co. did in December for their holiday party. Astellas’ employees gathered at a Chicagoland hotel to assemble bikes for 50 CYC Youth.
By designating your United Way dollars to Chicago Youth Centers like Charter One Bank did this year. Employees of Charter One Bank heard about CYC’s Mentoring Children of Prisoners Program and decided that this was a great cause to donate their monthly United Way funds.
By having a CYC employee come out and talk about volunteering opportunities across the agency so that employees can get more involved in the great work that CYC does!

For more information, please contact:

Christy Beighe-Byrne, M.A.

Director of Mentor and Volunteer Services

Chicago Youth Centers

3947 S. Michigan Avenue

Chicago, IL 60653

Office: 773-268-3815

Fax: 773-268-9460

Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Day of Caring Events

Day of Caring events are one-time volunteer opportunities that groups of individuals can participate in. Projects can last for half a day or all day depending on the project.

Group Opportunities (for one-day or half-day volunteering projects):

Skill Based: Create an activity for a group of children (such as arts and crafts project, a sports clinic, a money management workshop, etc…).
Facility Based: Clean up around the center, paint the outside of the building (Saturdays only), build and install closets, organize the libraries, etc…

Interested? Contact Christy at 773-268-3815, ext 33 or at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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