The Best Recognition

I received an email yesterday from the Giraffe Heroes Project telling me of a private Facebook group they were launching in an effort to connect past Giraffe heroes to each other. I had received the recognition in 1997 which I show with the badge at the left. You can find my Giraffe profile here.

I've received many other awards in the past. Here's a list.  I appreciate the Giraffe label more than most because it's one that keeps on drawing attention and support to help me keep doing this work. It recognizes that the work we do is on-going and needs on-going support. 

Below is another type of recognition that I value. I spent time today talking with Darcel Washington, the founder of Mentoring You, LLC, who had contacted me last fall, asking for some ideas. We spoke for an hour on Skype today. Below is a reflection she posted on Twitter following our talk.

I just finished a @Skype video call with Dan @tutormentorteam, he’s a wealth of information! If you’re an organization that works with youth please visit his website https://t.co/lGdx8KWSeH . He has strategy maps, articles, blogs etc... you’ll thank me later 😘!

— Mentoring You, LLC. (@mentoring_you) January 15, 2019

Maybe the best of all are the things students and volunteers have said to me over the past 45 years.  I posted this Thank You Dan card on Slideshare last year.   I invite you to scroll through this collection of articles to see more like this.

Another form of thanks comes from the many types of reciprocation and idea sharing that takes place daily in a Twitter community that I've been building relationships with since 2013. I wrote about it in this post. Search #clmooc and #modigiwri on Twitter and scroll through the posts and see how this is on-going.


Below is a post made on Facebook in December 2018, encouraging others to read a blog article I've posted.  This is another form of thanks that I appreciate, because it shows alumni beginning to take part in the work I've been doing.

I appreciate all of this, but there's much work to be done to rebuild the Tutor/Mentor Connection to where it was before the recession that started in late 2008.  I've not had funds or staff to do that since 2011. 

Thus, another form of thanks comes in the form of contributions that help me pay the bills and continue doing this work. Click here if you'd like to offer that appreciation.