By Chris Frost
EAGLE TIMES NEWS EDITOR
WINDSOR, Vt. — Members of the Windsor County Mentors are dedicated professionals who advocate for happy, productive youth.
The mentor program offers school- and community-based programs. In the school-based program, children are matched with a mentor who meets with the child for an hour weekly.
Funding for mentoring program comes from grant organizations inside and outside Vermont and the National Mentoring Project (Mentor NMP).
According to vcmentors.org, children with mentors are “52 percent less likely to skip a school day, 46 percent less likely to use drugs, are less likely to engage in risky behavior and 81 percent more likely to participate in sports, 55 percent more likely to enroll in College, 78 more likely to volunteer and 130 percent more likely to hold leadership positions.”
Executive Director Matthew Garcia said the program started in 1974 and serves all 21 Towns in Windsor County.
“In the Community program, they meet in the community and do whatever they want,” he said.
Garcia said the children benefit from relationships with the mentor and not a specific activity.
“It’s easier to get into school mentoring because, with the kids, you’re going to go into the school,” he said. “It’s easier to figure out an activity because it’s only an hour.”
In the summer, people say it’s the end of the school program and can rejoin in the fall, but the mentors segue into the community program to keep the relationship going.
“School guidance counselors, teachers, and principals traditionally refer Kids to the Mentor Program,” he said. “We don’t have any criteria and take any kid.”
In reality, he said many children are referred for a reason and need extra attention.
“We have parents that recommend kids, and we have one mentee, a little girl, who recommended herself to our program,” Garcia said. “We were at a community event and had a table, and a little girl asked what mentoring is. She returned with her grandmother and said I’d like a mentor.”
Parents remain involved, he said, and appreciate the child’s support.
“Parents may have three other Kids, two jobs, and a lot of stuff going on,” he said. “If the mentor can take a child for a couple of hours each week, it is a boon to them.”
Garcia said most feedback comes from the school program about kids being happier and making friends.
“The guidance counselor will say a child has been attending class for three weeks, and what’s going on, well, the child got a mentor,” he said. “It’s been a complete change, and we hear that a lot. Some parents are involved and love mentoring; others have their lives going on and are happy they don’t have to deal with it for five minutes.”
He said they create and support the kids and mentors and have coordinators who talk to mentors about their challenges and successes.
“Communication issues are our number one problem,” he said about mentor challenges. “You have to figure that out and talk to them (text, email, social media) in their way. Our mentors go through an extensive background check; we have initial training for two hours and have quarterly training and talk about mentoring issues and things they deal with.”
To become a mentor, Garcia said the only need is a desire to help the Kids.
“We do a background check, but if you robbed a bank in the 70s, doesn’t preclude you from being a mentor,” he said. “We do fingerprints, referrals and references.”
Windsor County Mentors is expanding into Claremont, meaning they need more mentors to meet the need.
“Most of the groups in Claremont that were talking about mentoring were groups for kids,” he said. “Mentoring is a two-sided coin, and you need adult mentors. It’s been a slower rollout there.”
To get involved as a mentor or mentee, call 802-674-5101 or visit vcmentors.org.
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