Donate to SMYL, a Seneca County youth mentoring program, for free
By Sheri Trusty, Seneca County Media Relations Coordinator
Donating to the Seneca Mentoring Youth Links (SMYL) program is easy – and costs nothing – thanks to Kroger. The Kroger Community Rewards program links to customers’ Kroger Plus Cards, and, whenever the card is used, a donation is made to an organization of the customers’ choice. When a customer chooses the SMYL program, all transactions made with the card are applied to the organization. There is no cost to the customer.
SMYL is a program of Seneca County Family & Children First Council (FCFC). FCFC Program Assistant Becky Miller said the Kroger Community Rewards program generates about $40 quarterly for the organization.
“That’s not a lot of money, but the more that people sign up, the more donations we’ll receive. Every little bit helps,” Miller said. “A lot of people don’t know you can do this with your Kroger Plus Card, and it doesn’t cost you any money.”
The donations impact youths across Seneca County. The SMYL program, which is led by Mentor Coordinator Dawn Lykins, connects mentors with youths ages 6-17. According to the FCFC website, the mentors “provide a positive, stable influence in the youth’s life.” Mentors spend a minimum of four hours a month with their mentee. Those hours can be spent one-on-one and at SMYL-hosted events.
“SMYL makes it really easy. We have programs that mentors and mentees can go to together,” Miller said. “It’s such an important and successful program. We have so many success stories.”
Donating to SMYL through a Kroger Plus Card is easy. Customers should open their Kroger app, navigate to REWARDS, then navigate to COMMUNITY REWARDS, and search for “Seneca Mentoring Youth Link Fnd” or participation number, “TN383.” Then, the customer helps SMYL every time they swipe their card for a purchase.
According to the Kroger website, “Any transactions moving forward using the Shopper’s Card number associated with your digital account will be applied to the program, at no added cost to you. Kroger donates annually to participating organizations based on your percentage of spending as it relates to the total spending associated with all participating Kroger Community Rewards organizations.” For more information on the Kroger Community Awards program, visit https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards.
The SMYL program is looking for more mentors. Currently, about 30 children are on the SMYL waiting list. For more information on SMYL, visit https://www.senecacountyfcfc.org/listing/smyl-youth-mentoring/.