Event presenter says California Men's Service Challenge aims to recruit 10,000 male mentors

A presenter at an Anaheim event promoting the California Men's Service Challenge said the statewide initiative aims to recruit 10,000 men to serve as coaches, mentors and volunteers.

“We're here for the California Men's Service Challenge, which is a statewide initiative to really lean in to getting 10,000 men to be coaches, mentors, and volunteers,” the presenter said.

The presenter said local fire and rescue personnel supported the event by allowing organizers to bring “over a 100 young men” to the venue to learn about fire and rescue work and to meet mentors. “Today in Anaheim, we have fire and rescue who have allowed us to bring over a 100 young men into the space to really get the opportunity to understand what fire and rescue is all about and to also meet tons of other mentors,” the presenter said.

The presenter also noted that assembly members and community members were in attendance and named partner organizations involved in the effort, including Mentor California and Big Brothers Big Sisters. (Known proper name normalized as California Volunteers was provided for related materials.)

Organizers portrayed the event as both a recruitment push and an opportunity for young men to meet volunteers and learn about public-safety careers. The presenter framed the initiative as a statewide campaign to expand mentoring relationships; specifics about program funding, timelines for reaching the 10,000 goal and follow-up steps were not specified in the remarks.

The event continued with partner activities and mentorship interactions, according to the presenter's remarks.