Our Beginnings

In the early 1990’s, two women who understood the positive impact that one-on-one mentoring could have on the lives of children came together to combine their ideas and create Each One Save One (EOSO). Nationally-renowned television news anchor Sally-Ann Roberts and Cathy Harris, a small business owner and community leader involved in mentoring since the early 1980s, established Each One Save One as a mentoring resource for recruiting, screening, training, and matching adult mentors with school children in New Orleans area schools. Each One Save One quickly became the premiere mentoring organization in the New Orleans area, facilitating on-on-one mentoring relationships throughout the community in addition to providing mentoring enrichment sessions, training new mentors, and helping new mentoring organizations develop their programs.

From 1994-2005, with offices and training space donated first by the Kiwanis Club of New Orleans and then Gentilly Baptist Church, Each One Save One thrived, serving thousands of children and impacting the lives of mentors and mentees alike. The floods following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 dealt the organization a devastating blow that scattered mentors and mentees across the country and destroyed the physical office space. Despite these monumental challenges, EOSO slowly rebuilt the program to bring school-based mentoring back to the community. In post-Katrina New Orleans, Each One Save One continued to work with students in schools across the community, giving each child a better opportunity to reach their fullest potential by pairing them with caring, trained mentors.

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced Each One Save One out of schools and presented the organization with a new set of challenges, it also presented a new opportunity to ensure that Each One Save One’s legacy can continue to serve our community well into the future. After more than 25 years of programming, impacting thousands of lives with the benefits of mentoring relationships, Each One Save One is embarking on a new journey to ensure that the benefits of mentoring continue to serve New Orleans area students for years to come.

In 2021, Each One Save One took on a new role. While the organization no longer operates in schools, Each One Save One is committed to fostering the development of motivated, confident, and responsible children by providing grants, guidance, and training to organizations that continue to provide one-on-one mentoring programs. With the establishment of a donor advised fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation, Each One Save One will award annual grants to mentoring organizations that continue to bring the value of mentorship to young people in our community. We believe that with a mentor each child can have the opportunity to reach his or her fullest potential and will continue to support the quality programs in our community that make this programming possible.