news-record.com

GREENSBORO - President George W. Bush visited Greensboro on Tuesday to recognize volunteers in the waning days of his second term.

As he stepped off Air Force One onto the chilly tarmac at Piedmont Triad International Airport, he met with Donna Turner of High Point to give her the President's Volunteer Service Award, recognizing 25,000 logged hours of service with Hospice of the Piedmont.

Then his motorcade wound through Greensboro to a roundtable discussion with children, volunteers and workers in a program targeted toward children of prisoners that's run by Big Brothers Big Sisters.

The national program, which he announced during a 2003 state of the union address, had a goal of pairing 100,000 children of prisoners with volunteer mentors.

"And I'm pleased that as of September we've exceeded that goal," he told a group of national and local media after the meeting - which was closed to press. "And I want to thank you all for being a part of a program that hopefully is bringing hope to people's lives. I think it is."

His remarks on the Mentoring Children of Prisoners program lasted just more than 2 minutes and were his only remarks to the press during his visit, except for his participation in a segment for the national news show "Nightline."

In Greensboro that mentoring program began with a $57,000 federal grant and 40 children who needed mentors. Since then, their grant money has increased to $120,000 along with United Way contributions. Meanwhile, the number of local mentor matches increased to 147, with a goal of reaching 360 by 2010.

"We were very thrilled and honored to have been selected for a presidential visit," said Chuck Hodierne, Executive Director of Youth Focus, which oversees the program.

"He made the point during the interview about setting goals and reaching goals," Hodierne said of Bush.