President Obama will host representatives from a Big Brothers Big Sisters military mentoring program and corporate sponsor Jack in the Box at a recognition ceremony at the White House on January 20 to celebrate National Mentoring Month, the nonprofit group announced on Tuesday.
The president and first lady will host Anselmo DeLaCruz, a Big Brother military mentor, and 11-year-old Andre Fernandez, his Little Brother. Anselmo was medically discharged from the Army following a combat injury sustained in Iraq. Jack in the Box chief executive Linda Lang will also attend the ceremony.
"We’re proud to support our nation’s youth who bravely share their parents with the rest of the country, and we commend the military personnel and volunteers for their efforts in filling the void created in a child’s life when a parent is deployed," said Lang.
Jack in the Box recently donated $1 million to support Big Brothers Big Sisters military mentoring programs. Past donations from the restaurant chain have supported expansions of the nonprofit programs throughout San Diego County.
President Obama recently proclaimed January to be National Mentoring Month, claiming that mentoring programs help children develop into responsible and productive adults. Big Brothers Big Sisters currently pairs 255,000 children of low-income, single or incarcerated parents with 255,000 mentors at 385 branches nationwide.
"Our screening, monitoring and individual match support enables our agencies to sustain long-term mentoring friendships that yield successful outcomes," said Big Brothers Big Sisters president and chief executive Karen Mathis.
The need for mentoring programs may increase as high unemployment rates send a growing number of children into poverty. Forty-one percent of U.S. children live in low-income families and one in five children live in poor families, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty.