Debra Holt, Teresa Williams and Joetta Polk hope to help young girls embrace their unique strengths, make positive choices, respect themselves and go after their dreams as part of their non-profit organization The Cookies and Milk Project.
The women hosted a kick-off for the mentoring program on January 20 at Hampton Inn and Suites, 2220 S. Main St., Mansfield. The decorative room was filled with all things feminine which included lots of pink, sparkles, glitter and shimmer.
“This is the dream child of [Holt] and [Williams],” said Polk, of Jo Polk Consulting. “They wanted to do something to give back to the community in memory of Teresa Williams’ daughter who passed away some years back because of a car accident. They didn’t want her demise to be in vain so they wanted to do something to make a difference in the lives of young people.”
The 25 girls who attended the event were treated to giveaways, dress-up fun, arts and crafts, fun and of course, milk and cookies.
“The Cookies and Milk project is a mentoring program to help young girls between the ages of 5 and 18,” Polk said, “to help build their self esteem, self worth, to help them reach their goals and their dreams and to partner them with other women in the community who can help lead and guide them in a very positive way.”
The group plans on meeting twice a month for mentoring and fun. The next meeting is planned for the first week in February.
As the event began, the girls were encouraged to get to know each other by learning each other’s names for a prize. After the introductions, they were asked questions about their thoughts on mentoring.
“The purpose of you being here is so that we can match you with a mentor that is really going to take out time with you and be someone you can talk to,” Polk said.
And then she posed this question, “How many of you know that it’s very important to have someone in this world besides your mom or dad that you can trust and that you can talk to?”
As they all raised their hands in agreement, Octavia Hilliard chimed in to say she agreed that it’s important to have someone to talk to about her life.
“It’s always good to have a different outlook from other people,” the 17-year-old said. “Especially being a teenager and us being girls, we always go through the drama. …It’s always good to have someone other than mom, dad, or grandma to talk to.”
Polk said the program will be tailored to the girls. The girls will be broken into two age groups of ages 5 to 9 and 10-18.
“This program is basically going to be created by you,” she told the girls. “We’re going to be talking to you about what it is you want to do, where you want to go, and what you want to learn about.”
The name “Cookies and Milk” came from something all children can relate to, Polk said.
“It’s a very unique name and when you think of children and what they enjoy, they enjoy cookies and milk,” she said.
Polk, Williams and Holt all agree that investing in the lives of young women is an important job.
“We truly believe the Cookies and Milk mentoring project is going to make a difference in the lives of our young ladies,” Polk said.
For information, contact Debra Holt at 419-612-8334 or Teresa Williams at 419-961-8334.
“The purpose of you being here is so that we can match you with a mentor that is really going to take out time with you and be someone you can talk to,” Joetta Polk said.
