Richmond, VA – (Monday, January 14, 2008) – The Richmond Kickers are pleased to team up with MentorMatch Richmond, a new volunteer mentoring service provided by Lutheran Family Services of Virginia.

“The Richmond Kickers are pleased to partner with MentorMatch Richmond, a program that strives to make a difference in the lives of underserved children in the metropolitan area,” said Kevin Goolsby, Richmond Kickers Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “A partnership between our organizations makes perfect sense, given our focus as role models for area youth.”

To help celebrate National Mentoring Month in January, MentorMatch Richmond and the Richmond Kickers will present two “Get a Kick Out of Mentoring” events for National Mentoring Month, from 5 to 7 p.m., Thursday, January 24, at Virginia Center Commons Mall and from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, January 25, at Willow Lawn Mall. At each event there will be games, door prizes, information on mentoring and the opportunity to meet a Richmond Kickers pro player (January 24th event only).

MentorMatch provides traditional one-on-one mentoring between adult volunteer mentors and children ages eight to 18 from the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Mentors meet weekly for two hours for one year and participate in off-site activities planned by the mentor, focusing on the interests of the child. MentorMatch Richmond provides training, screening and year-round supervision. For more information, call 804-288-0122 or visit www.mentormatch.info.

“We look forward to collaborating with an organization that has been wonderfully active in supporting underprivileged youth in our community,” said MentorMatch Coordinator Philip Day. “The Kickers’ success on and off the soccer field is inspiring.”

Lutheran Family Services is a non-profit corporation that offers therapeutic foster care, international and waiting child adoption, case management, community-based services, therapeutic mentoring and developmental services for autism at seven locations in Virginia.