Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

Contact: Mai-Anh Kapanke                            For Immediate Release

Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota

612.370.9169 Direct

651.357.2823 Cell

mai-anhk@mentoringworks.org

NBA Legend Bill Russell Kicks Off National Mentoring Month in Minnesota at Jan. 19^th Timberwolves Game

(Minneapolis-January 19, 2007) Bill Russell, one of the National Basketball Association’s 50 greatest all-time players and Hall of Famer, will team up with the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota, the Minnesota Business Partnership, and the Minnesota Timberwolves to expand mentor recruitment efforts in Minnesota using National Mentoring Month (NMM) to launch the “Join the Pack” campaign.

The Mentoring Partnership and its partners will kick off NMM on Friday, January 19, 2007 at the Timberwolves home game against the Detroit Pistons. More than 1,000 mentors, youth, business and political leaders, and mentoring program staff will attend the nationally televised ESPN game. The campaign provides an opportunity to recruit volunteer mentors for 350,000 Minnesota young people and 17 million children nationwide who are in need of a mentor and are at risk of not achieving their full potential.

Russell has been a long-term advocate and champion of mentoring since his retirement from the NBA in 1969. Russell led the Boston Celtics to 11 championships, more than any other NBA player past or present. He is one of the greatest players in NBA history and his signature accomplishments include: five-time league Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 12-time All-Star Game participant (MVP in 1963), Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year in 1968 and The Sporting News Athlete of the Decade in 1970. He also won an Olympic gold medal in 1956.

The Minnesota kickoff of National Mentoring Month is sponsored by General Electric, the University of Minnesota, IWCO Direct, the Pioneer Press, General Mills, Ceridian, Emerson Process Management, BriteMedia, Northwest Airlines, and the Chambers Hotel.

###

The Mentoring Partnership is the driving force in the Minnesota mentoring movement. To find out more about mentoring, visit www.mentoringworks.org or call 612-370-9180.