CCO Mentors in the Lives of Kids (MILK)

Community Partner: Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence

"Mentors in the Lives of Kids (MILK), a service organization a part of KU’s Center for Community Outreach (CCO), has the mission of promoting positive influences in the lives of children by providing safe spaces for mentorship that create meaningful relationships based on shared life experiences. In collaboration with the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, MILK organized the MILK Holiday Party with the goal of providing over 500 local elementary students the opportunity to forge connections with their classmates and volunteers. Ensuring an increased likelihood of fostered relationships meant increasing the variety of activities and people for youth to engage with. Therefore, MILK additionally partnered with Project Bridge and Helping Unite Generations (HUG), whose respective emphasis on literacy education and creating connections with the elderly diversified the experiences of the youth. For instance, Project Bridge led a holiday card making station, where KU student volunteers aided the elementary schoolers in thinking how to construct and convey messages of appreciation for those in their life. HUG brought similar value by bringing an intergenerational choir that saw the elderly lead the youth in singing and dancing to holiday songs. MILK led stations that involved pairing volunteers and youth together to decorate cookies and play various team games. Ultimately, this event revealed the importance of collaborative efforts towards creating wide reaching connective youth engagement opportunities, as the elementary schoolers, KU students, and elderly community were all able to share and learn from one another."