 I'm Sheboygan Mayor Mike Vanderstien, and I'm honored to be the second mayor in the state of Wisconsin recognized by the National Mayors for Mentoring Program. My thanks to big brothers and big sisters for nominating me for this award. In my eyes, it's essential to invest in our community's well-being and strive for continuous improvement to make a better life for all of our residents. As many of you know, I began my community service as a member of the Sheboygan JCs, serving as president. I've also served on the boards of several important community organizations, including the board chair of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the board of the Downtown Rotary Club, the Sheboygan YMCA Board, and the United Way Campaign Cabinet. During my time as mayor, I've supported mentoring by issuing a proclamation each year during National Mentoring Month and scheduling a mentoring organization to receive this proclamation and speak at the Common Council about their program. And this year, we're recognizing big brothers and big sisters of Sheboygan County, who joined me at the council meeting on Monday, January 4th. I ask you to take a moment and watch the following video from Big Brothers and Big Sisters, which highlights the big little matches, the goals that can be achieved, and the impact of this friendship. My son, Javon, he hasn't had his dad around since he was very young. He needed some guidance and a mentor to kind of give him some direction. My background is not so different from Javon's. I didn't have a relationship with my dad, but I was fortunate enough to have a lot of mentors that I could look up to. Mike is somebody he can rely on, so if he is having anything that he doesn't want to talk to me about, he can talk to Mike and come by to Mike. Whenever I'm struggling and I need him to talk to me, I'll talk to him and ask me a few questions about it. My life has changed actually quite a bit since being matched with Javon. Him exposing me to the things that he's most interested in and me having a chance to expose him to things that I'm interested in so we can find common ground on things. I think it's probably opened us up both quite a bit. Since being matched with Mike, he's become more responsible. I think he just has provided him a different perspective and that he can have a future if he makes the right decisions and follows the right path. I encourage city staff members to participate in mentoring programs such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters. We are currently promoting a program called Bigs with Badges. And I encourage you too to think about getting involved. It's amazing to see the difference that this mentoring activity will make in the lives of the youth in Sheboygan. Thank you very much.