After months of meeting on Zoom every Monday night, the girls from the Second Chance Dayton group home have finally been able to start meeting with their mentors in person. This summer they have continued to work through the “Why Try” curriculum they have been using for the past year. “Why Try” uses visual metaphors to teach important life skills. The most recent lesson has been a visual metaphor of crabs climbing out of a pot. When blue crabs are put into a pot they immediately start looking for ways to grab the edge of the pot and climb out. But what often happens is other crabs grab onto them and pull them back in the pot as they attempt to climb out themselves. This metaphor is powerful for young people as they think about times when they have been in trouble (in a pot). Sometimes friends, and even family members, don’t want us to change or get better so they will do whatever they can to pull us down. MVLF mentors worked with the teens to help them see that surrounding themselves with strong, positive and encouraging individuals will help them get out, and stay out, of their “pots.” One way they activated this new knowledge was by being the change they hoped to see in their own lives. They did this by painting “kindness rocks” and intentionally giving them to someone who they knew could use the encouragement. The teens also wrote encouraging and positive messages on the sidewalk at the park for people in the community to see. Through the power of mentoring, the teens at Second Chance Dayton experienced a lesson about doing positive things for other people. Not only does it help the other person get out of their troubling “pot”, but it also makes us feel better. | 
