The Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce’s Hal Kaplan Middletown Mentor Program asks our Community’s business people, retirees, parents, and anyone in between to consider making a lasting impression in a child’s life by becoming a MENTOR. Your generous time and dedicated commitment is very much needed. MENTORS are good listeners, people who care, people who want to help young people bring out strengths that are already there. The need exists for “a trusted friend” who will commit to listening, sharing, and understanding.

Established in 1992, the Hal Kaplan Middletown Mentor Program, is an active partnership between the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce and the Middletown Board of Education. The Program runs only during the school year, and there is no other obligation. Mentors meet with their students weekly or bi-weekly for 30-40 minutes, usually during lunch-time, on-site, at one of the Middletown Public Schools. All eight of Middletown’s elementary schools, as well as Beman Middle School, Middletown High School, and Vinal Technical High School participate in the program. All meetings with the Mentor and Child occur on “School Grounds Only”, thereby providing all participants with a convenient and safeguarded way to spend time together.

It is hoped that mentors will continue with their mentees from elementary school through high school. All it takes to become a MENTOR is a small amount of time, a big heart, and a desire to become a valuable part of a child’s life. Most importantly, a MENTOR is an adult who has time for a child, and who truly believes in that child.