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Dave Van Patten, President and CEO of Dare Mighty Things, has worked to create restorative programs for prisoners, designed mentoring initiatives for at-risk youth and has helped build the organizational capacity of faith-based organizations.
My life was forever changed by a college football coach who taught me on the field and mentored me in life. This experience led directly to my efforts to start an informal mentoring program between college athletes and abused children at a nearby residential facility.
My college football coach. He made time to get to know me as a person. He used the most important aspect of my life at the time – college football – and transformed my experiences on the football field to a set of principles for living a successful life.
The Book of Ecclesiastes. It is the autobiography of Solomon – Israel's wealthiest and wisest King - in search of the meaning of life.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to attempt glorious triumphs, though checkered with failure, than rank with those poor spirits who neither suffer much, or enjoy much, because they to live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat." (Teddy Roosevelt)
One of the most important films for me is "Dr. Zhivago." In the film, Yuri and Lara's love deepens and endures in the midst of the Russian Revolution and World War I and in spite of every possible cultural and logistical barrier. It reinforced my belief in the power of intimacy as the basic ingredient of any meaningful relationship.
Nothing.
Fox News.
To see a "culture of mentoring" take hold; where adults and kids self organize to form effective mentoring relationships without outside organizational support.
