PYD Holds Their Annual Mentor Appreciation Night

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Nov. 1, 2019 – Partners for Youth with Disabilities (PYD), a nonprofit that works to empower youth with disabilities to reach their full potential as individuals in society, celebrated its 18th annual Mentor Appreciation Night. Mentors, mentees, volunteers, and families gathered at the Citywide Senior Center to celebrate another successful year of mentorships.

PYD staff served dinner to community members and their families as they took their seats. Mentor specialist, Kristin Humphrey, started off the award ceremony. As mentors and mentees sat alongside one another, awards and recognitions were handed out one-by-one. Award recipients delivered heartwarming speeches. Individuals from different cultural backgrounds and walks of life gathered under one roof to celebrate life.
Founder Regina Snowden established the Mentor Match program in 1985. Her goal was to provide one-on-one mentoring to youth with disabilities with great mentors that not only serve as a mentor-figure but more importantly, as a friend. Matches go through a process that entails in-person interviews and working with a mentor match specialist. They continue to strengthen and build upon PYD’s mission to help youth with disabilities develop skills and abilities to forward their careers, social lives, and much more. These carefully crafted mentor-mentee relationships are only one part of PYD’s numerous programs. Today, the program thrives as youth and mentors, young, old, and in-between, come together to make the world a little bit more inclusive.
“Mentor Appreciation Night is one of my favorite nights of the year because it gives us a chance to see and experience the wonderful mentors that come to PYD. They make such a difference on their mentees and we get to celebrate those mentors. I call us the united nations of persons with disabilities. Tonight gives us a chance to celebrate our oneness,” said PYD founder, Regina Snowden.
About Partners for Youth with Disabilities
Partners for Youth with Disabilities, a nonprofit organization based in the Boston area, was founded in 1985 in efforts to create a world where young people with disabilities can lead self-determined lives filled with dignity, pride, and purpose. Over the past 30 years, they have worked to raise the skills and abilities of young people with disabilities, and expand the inclusivity of organizations, workplaces, and communities. Through disability inclusion trainings, career readiness programs, and online and one-to-one mentoring, PYD has impacted many individuals with disabilities.
For more information about Partners for Youth with Disabilities and this year’s mentor appreciation night, please visit https://www.pyd.org/