The SMILES (Southcoast Mentoring Initiative for Learning, Education and Service) Program of Fall River and New Bedford held its third fundraiser with a 3.6 mile walk/run/cycle/skate around the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth ring road Mar 13, 2011. Hundreds of Individuals and teams collected pledges for the event and organizers announced a gross total of over $72,000 in pledges at the end of the event. SMILES, established in 2003, works by matching volunteer mentors to students in the New Bedford and Fall River public schools. Mentors meet with their young friends for an hour a week at the students’ school. The goal is to increase the students’ chance of graduating high school and to deter them from drugs, alcohol, violence and gang involvement. SMILES has set a goal of attracting a total of 3,000 mentors by 2013. “I am always amazed at the number of people who turn out each year,” said Katje Fuson, director of Fall River operations for SMILES. Click here for a video of the event. Click here for photos of last year's event. Click here to see photos of SMILES mentors in action. Anyone interested in mentoring a child can contact Nicole Almeida, SMILES director of Resource Development and Retention, at 508-999-9300.

(Top row, left) People Incorporated CEO Robert Canuel pledges that his organization will do everything it can to make sure that the SMILES experience is as good as it can be. (Top row, center) SMILES Fall River Director of Operations Katje Fuson, right, cheers with the audience. (Top row, right) SMILES Executive Director Jim Mathes gives a special thanks to CEO Nicholas Christ of Citizens-Union Savings Bank for his support for the third year in a row. (Second row. left) Members of the Diamond Circus join the group warm-up following their earlier performance. (Second row, right) Karen Nunes, right, of the Fall River Municipal Credit Union joins the group in the warm-up. (Third row) Participants head out onto the ring road at UMass for the 3.6 mile event. (Bottom row, left) Fitness instructor Sue Dias-Cordeiro, right, leads the runners around the track. (Bottom row, center) Megan Lopes and Sarah Pedipas run the first lap of the event. (Bottom row, right) Paul DeCosta gives the thumbs-up sign as he rides his unicycle around the course.