Thanks to a grant from the Thief River Falls Area Community Fund, Little Brother Little Sister of Pennington County produced 12 more matches between kids (mentees) and adult volunteers (mentors), which positively impacted local families.
“Each match … helps a child with allowing them to have a positive role model in their lives,” wrote in a final grant report by Ginger Alby, the coordinator of the program.
The LBLS Program helps young people by matching each of them with a mentor to experience the positive example an adult can make in their lives. The kids and their mentors will meet at least once a month to share fun activities or work together to solve a problem.
“Whether it is a child who struggles to have friends, needs guidance to stay out of trouble, needs help with schoolwork, or simply just needs someone to build their [self-esteem] up,” Ginger wrote.
Besides the kids who grew through the mentorship, their families also benefit from the program.
A mentee’s mother wrote in a letter to the LBLS program that, through the program, her child was able to spend ongoing, quality time with a mentor doing activities that the child truly enjoys. This would have otherwise been difficult as the mother has been battling Stage 3 breast cancer, with years of treatment resulting in an extremely tight budget.
“Knowing that my (child) gets to spend at least four hours a month with (their) mentor is priceless to me during this time,” she wrote. “(They have) been provided with a friend, confidante, a cheerleader, and a wonderful role model.”
