 Dee Hale, Gloria Mitchell & Diane Ruano |
Gloria Mitchell has been a bail agent for close to 20 years and she has been a grandmother for just a little over 7 years. It was 8 years ago that her then 16 year old daughter told her she was pregnant. It was through helping her daughter continue her education that she started the Tea for You event to support pregnant teens and teen mothers in the Inland Empire. As a member of Soroptomist International, a women’s organization with over 90,000 members dedicated to helping women, she began the event with just a handful of contributors, sponsors and volunteers. “These young women need to be encouraged and told that their lives are not over, just because they are becoming a mother at a young age,” said Gloria Mitchell when talking about the event.
Fast forward 8 years, and Gloria’s annual Tea for You has nine participating schools and is attended by almost 200 young women who are either already mothers or are pregnant. New to the event this year: the fathers. 2010 is the first year that fathers were allowed to attend the tea and scholarship award ceremony. Speaking at this year’s event was Alison Benson, Principal of Sierra Vista Elementary School in Upland, CA and Chairperson of A.K.’s Loved Ones, a non-profit organization founded by Mrs. Benson in 2008 to assist teenage parents with their continuing education, parenting skills, job placement and housing assistance. The subject of teen pregnancy is very important to Mrs. Benson, as she too was a teen mother; she graduated from Pomona Catholic School in 1987 while 8 months pregnant. Speaking to the crowd of young mothers and fathers, she told them to believe in themselves and to be compassionate and kind to others.
While the event was meant to serve as an inspiration to these young men and women it was also a moment for them to be honored with scholarships. Each mother or father in attendance wrote an essay on what they aspire to do in their lives as parents. All of the essays were amazing and very inspirational to show how they have overcome the challenges that have come their way. AIA was very happy to participate in this event and award two $500 scholarships to two of these young adults.
 Diane Ruano, Irma Levya, Jennifer Moreira & Dee Hale |
Please read our first scholarship winners essay, Paramount High School’s Irma Leyva who aspires to become a social worker. Our second scholarship winner was Jennifer Moreira of Pomona High School who wants to work with special needs children. We congratulate both of these mothers on their bravery and persistence in continuing their education. And AIA also salutes, one of our family, Gloria Mitchell for taking time to give back to a community that she works in to help shape the future of America.
If you are a bail agent who has a program that you volunteer for or have a story of how you are making a difference, please email [email protected]. We want to hear your story and we may share it with your fellow bail agents.