Want to help your community? Then help a kid, and one of the best ways to do that is by volunteering to be a mentor.

Thanks to a partnership with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, residents of Western North Carolina will hopefully be hearing a lot more about mentoring opportunities. Partnering with this nationwide organization should provide a huge boost in resources for those in the western counties who have been trying to help troubled and at-risk children in this area.

The office for Big Brothers/Big Sisters is located in the federal building in Waynesville, and right now it officially serves Haywood and Jackson counties. But those in charge say they hope to develop partnerships in all counties west of Buncombe to establish effective mentoring initiatives.

Robin Minick has been running the Governor’s One-on-One program, a mentoring initiative that helps youths who have already made some mistakes and have ended up in the juvenile justice system. As much as she and others try to recruit volunteers to spend time with troubled youths, the waiting list never disappears. There are never enough mentors.

Minick hopes the recent partnership with Big Brothers/Big Sisters, for which she will also be the executive director, will help attract adults looking for ways to help their community.

Many people have misconceptions about mentoring. While the One-on-One program is for youths involved in the juvenile justice system, Big Brothers/Big Sisters will serve any youth who is having problems. Either program requires only a couple of hours a week, and the adult and the youth decide for themselves how to spend the time. It could be as simple as watching television together, doing homework or perhaps taking a walk in a park. Minick says she discourages activities that entail the mentor spending money on the youth.

There are other programs besides the One-on-One and Big Brothers/Big Sisters. There are a number of organizations that provide after-school services for children who are looking for adult volunteers. Again, a few hours a week is all it takes. The goal here, says Minick, is to help children, not elevate one particular program over another.

Minick will tell you that volunteer mentors gain as much from the experience as the youths they are helping. As for the youths, study after study validates the effectiveness of a relationship with a caring adult in helping kids grow into mature, responsible adults. It may be legal or emotional problems of a parent, a death in the family, or maybe just work-related financial woes, but many children aren’t getting all they need from their parents or caregivers. In many cases the parents realize the problem and look forward to finding a good mentor as much as the youth.

If you worry about the future of our mountain communities and want to help, look into mentoring. Nurturing positive traits in our youth is perhaps the best imaginable way to make this a better place to live.

(For more information on these programs, contact Robin Minick at 828.452.9644.)

 

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The Smoky Mountain News