I See You. I Hear You. You Matter - Mentor Lorraine Petrozza
42% of youth served by Community Partners of South Florida live in low-income households; half of those live below the poverty line. The toxic stress that comes from living with higher rates of poverty, trauma, substance abuse and crime can have detrimental effects on child development.
Lorraine Petrozza, or Miss Lorraine as she is affectionately known, has been changing the odds for Palm Beach County youth for the last 13 years by volunteering as a mentor for Community Partners of South Florida (CPSFL).
This extraordinary volunteer continues to demonstrate her dedication to our community by showing her mentees in Lake Worth - “I see you. I hear you. You matter.”
To understand the depth of Miss Lorraine’s commitment, consider that the average mentor volunteers for about 18 months and CPSFL’s Mentoring program requires a minimum commitment of one year.
Miss Lorraine has continuously mentored every year since 2011. Eleven years of committed volunteering is extraordinary and, on top of this, Miss Lorraine maintains contact with her mentees beyond the school year and throughout the summer months through Face Time, Zoom, phone calls, and other approved meet-ups.
Last year, she furthered her commitment by mentoring at Lake Worth Middle School, meaning she is with her mentees from second grade until they go off to high school, building a relationship of unconditional love, trust and support.
Through her volunteer service, Miss Lorraine has been improving what child development experts call ‘protective factors’ for children by offering a caring, supportive relationship with a non-parent adult. Through the CPSFL Mentoring program, she supports the education and development of PBC youth so that they graduate from high school and succeed in life. She nurtures socio-emotional health and academic success in each one of her school-aged mentees by being a dependable and trusted adult presence. Miss Lorraine is an adult who models positive habits and is a person her mentees trust when they need to talk through challenges.
In a nutshell, Miss Lorraine’s influence improves her mentee’s chances for long-term success.
The biggest beneficiaries of Lorraine’s generous spirit are the school-age girls she mentors.
At 79-year-old, Lorraine is always up for a challenge. As she says, “Mentoring keeps me young at heart.”
Miss Lorraine loves doing whatever it takes to inspire curiosity, a love for learning, and to bring joy to her mentees.
For example, one of her mentees' biggest dreams was to go camping. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of camping opportunities in the alphabet streets of Lake Worth Beach, so Lorraine brought a camping experience to the Highland Elementary School campus – learning how to pitch a tent together afterschool in the school’s grassy area. Miss Lorraine listens and validates her mentee’s ideas and builds indelible experiences.
Lorraine’s passion for travel has inspired her mentees in various ways. No matter where she goes, she always makes sure to send postcards, maps, brochures and treats to the students in the mentoring program so they can take the journey with her.
A huge advocate of education and sharing knowledge, Lorraine wants mentees to know that one doesn’t need to be wealthy to achieve your goals. You just need to plan well and, “do your best today so you can dream tomorrow.”
Miss Lorraine can be described as a supernatural force for good in Palm Beach County. Her special powers make an immediate impact in places where guardians, social workers and staff members simply cannot.
Because of time, money, or job restrictions, the staff at CPSFL simply cannot be all things to all people, as much as we may want to be.
But as a trained mentor with over a decade of volunteer mentoring experience, Miss Lorraine looks beyond a child’s grades or behavior and takes the time to listen and learn about their dreams and aspirations.
Another super power, and a testament to the program, is her ability to recruit other long-term mentors! Miss Lorraine has acted as an ambassador and advocate for CPSFL’s mentoring program and has recruited at least 5 additional mentors over the years, which has led directly to more students receiving the benefits of mentorship in Lake Worth Beach through their elementary school years.
Service through mentoring is the engine that drives Lorraine. At 79-years-old, she could easily slow down but instead she chooses to connect with her mentees in Lake Worth Beach and asks them an important question - “What would you like to do?” and “What matters to you?”
She listens to them and shows them that there are no boundaries or borders. That life is a blank canvas for them to paint. That their needs matter and that she is more than happy to help them dream big.
“We have so much fun together playing games, painting, trying new STEM activities and talking about school,” she says. “It gives me joy to see them learn and experience the joy of life especially in today’s negative world.”
Tragically, Lorraine’s beloved husband passed away a few years ago. Even while her husband was in hospice, Lorraine never missed a mentoring session. Proving that the mentor-mentee relationship is a mutually beneficial one, Lorraine says that her love of mentoring and her mentees filled her heart during her darkest days and got her through her grief.
“Mentoring gives me an opportunity to continue to play in life and give back in a meaningful way that brings me joy,” she says.
When COVID forced the world into lockdowns, Lorraine saw an opportunity to connect with her mentees in a new way. She learned the nuances of telecommunications and started a Book-and-Movie program where she and her mentee would read a book and then watch the movie together over Zoom. Secret Garden was a much-loved favorite.
Lorraine’s commitment is iron-clad and nothing – not grief nor hurricanes nor a global pandemic – will keep her away from the students she has promised to mentor.
Studies report that youth who meet regularly with their mentors are 46% less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs and 27% less likely to start drinking. Also, reports show that mentoring reduces symptoms of depression and increases social acceptance, academic attitudes and grades in mentees.
As a dedicated mentor for 11 years (and counting!) Miss Lorraine is a positive guiding factor who volunteers because she truly loves children. She sees a bright light in each child even in their darkest moments.
Miss Lorraine is a role model for compassion and service and makes PBC a better place for everyone without any expectation of acknowledgement or reward.
She has made lasting contributions to our community by mentoring PBC youth consistently and dependably since 2011. Miss Lorraine possesses an unyielding appetite for learning which gives her a positive magnetic energy in each of her mentoring relationships.
The word “family” is thrown around a lot in many professional settings but for Miss Lorraine, she really has adopted the CPSFL Mentoring program as her second family.
A “snowbird” from Connecticut with no local family, Lorraine listed Mentoring Supervisor Millie Rodriguez as her Emergency Contact. She knows that just as she is always there for us and our kids, we will always be there for her.
Miss Lorraine just wants to serve and make sure that young women in Lake Worth Beach know they are respected, heard and loved.
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