NEWS RELEASE                                   May 23, 2007

Lt. Gov. Owen receives “Champion of Mentoring” Award

SEATTLE – Lt. Gov. Brad Owen was bestowed the first “Champion of Mentoring” award by Washington State Mentors (WSM) during a special luncheon honoring mentors and mentee pairs aboard a cruise ship docked in Seattle on May 18.

Mentor Venus Veroneau, left, and her Girl Scout mentee Tetreanna with Lt. Gov. Owen on the cruise ship ms Amsterdam at a special luncheon May 18.

WSM, a non-profit umbrella organization for the state's mentoring community, said it gave Owen the award because of his ongoing commitment to “help kids grow up healthy in safe communities with opportunity,” the motto adopted for his office. The event was held on board the Holland America Line cruise ship ms Amsterdam.

Jim Marsh, president & chief operating officer of Washington State Mentors said Owen “truly does want to help our state’s young people and he will roll up his sleeves to make sure the work gets done.  The future of young people in Washington State is brighter because of him.”

WSM is a public/private partnership between DSHS and Costco Wholesale and the lieutenant governor has been the co-chair since its inception in 1999.  The organization has grown into one of the state’s strongest examples of what can be accomplished through public and private partnership. 

The Champions of Mentoring Benefit Auction and Luncheon which was attended by nearly 200 community members and advocates for mentoring presented an opportunity to acknowledge Lt. Gov. Owen and at the same time acknowledge twelve outstanding mentors and mentees. 

The event included an auction of experiential, once-in-a-lifetime auction items which were given to the mentor mentee pairs.  Auction items included throwing out the honorary first pitch at a Mariners game, a walk-on role as the grandmother in Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker, and spending a game day with University of Washington men's basketball coach Lorenzo Romar.

The auction raised $25,000 in support of WSM's efforts to help mentoring programs increase their capacity and close the mentoring gap in our state and will be an annual event for Washington State Mentors.

 For more information contact:

Peggy Gray, Washington State Mentors at (425) 416-2033                          

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