Giving the gift of time in this ‘Season of Giving’
“I would suggest the plan of reading not less than one hour a day,” Mayo founder William J. Mayo, M.D., said back on Dec. 21, 1910.
Now more than 100 years later, Dr. Mayo’s words are being lived as Mayo staff share the gift of their time by reading to local children at the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester.
Mayo Clinic has traditionally embraced the “Season of Giving,” with Mayo leaders personally giving of themselves to those most in need in the Rochester community.
On Dec. 12, Mayo Clinic President and CEO John Noseworthy, M.D., and his wife, Pat, and others from Mayo Clinic spent an evening at Boys and Girls Club of Rochester, reading with youth most in need.
“Having meaningful connections with caring adults is among the best barometers of future success for all children,” says Chad Campbell, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester. “It was a thrill to have Mayo leaders spend time with our club members. We appreciate the many Mayo Clinic employees who devote hours of volunteer time each year.”
The Boys and Girls Club provides a safe and enriching place outside of school for more than 4,750 school-aged children in Rochester every year.
Such was the case for a 9-year-old child who recently found himself alone outside an empty school because of a scheduling mishap. The school’s principal knew of the resources at Boys and Girls Club and took him there, where the boy had the benefit of caring adults, comfortable surroundings, healthy meals and snacks, and variety of fun and enriching activities until his parents were off work and could pick him up.
Mayo Clinic has supported the Rochester Boys and Girls Club financially for many years and recently provided an additional $10,000 grant as part of the traditional “Season of Giving” outreach to local communities.
If you’d like to join in the “Season of Giving” by volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club of Rochester or other organizations in need, visit United Way of Olmsted County’s Get Connected website.