Mentors Make Life Better
Del meets with his protege. They were part of the school-based mentoring program last year.
Many Youth Horizons mentors ask themselves the same question: “Am I making a difference?” During the last school year, one of our mentors spent an hour a week going to a little boy’s school and playing with him over his lunch hour. He felt unsure about what to do with the boy.
He tried a variety of different activities. They played games together, played with play dough, read books and talked together. At the end of the school year he still didn’t know whether or not he had actually benefitted the boy in any way.
The answer was a big yes! He was making a huge impact on his protégé’s life. This mentor later discovered that each and every day, his protégé would ask the school’s social worker, “Is my person coming today?” And although the social worker would explain that his mentor only came once a week on a certain day, the boy would continue to ask every morning whether his “person” would be there that day.
The boy couldn’t remember the mentor’s name, and he didn’t know to call the person his mentor. What he did know was that there was someone—a “person”—who cared for him and took the time to come give him his undivided attention each week.
If you are mentoring, know that you make a child’s life better just by being part of it. Please take Paul’s advice in Galatians 6:9. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
If you are not involved in the lives of children, mentoring is a great way for you to make a big difference. If you would like to become someone’s “person” or learn more about mentoring opportunities, please email rodney@youthhorizons.net.
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