Celebrating Mentoring: Contributing your time and talent

By Larry Coppock*

Forming a trusting relationship with a caring adult can make all the difference in improving the lives of at risk children and teens.

Now more than ever kids need mentors to help them navigate the difficult issues of their lives- from drugs and sexual activity to gangs and pressures at school. In many cases, teachers and parents are either over burdened or not present in a child’s life.

Mentors provide young people with support, advice, friendship, and reinforcement. Mentoring doesn’t require a huge time commitment, special training or expertise to be effective. Simply being a good listener and caring about children are all that’s necessary. It’s easier than you think to make a difference in a young person’s life.

An unfortunate fact of our current society is that we spend less and less quality time with the people who are the most important to us – our children. Increasing divorce rates and dual worker families mean fewer children receive full time parental supervision. They have fewer positive role models in their lives. In fact, studies show that as our media choices have increased since the early 1980s, our time spent together as families has steadily decreased.

Since the inception of the Boy Scouts of America in 1910, one of their main objectives has been to provide strong role models for youth during their formative years. In past years, these people were called neighbors, teachers, and community and religious leaders, as well as Scouters or Scoutmasters. Today, we call them Mentors. No matter the name or title, what our youth need are caring adults who are strong role models. Each year, more than a million adults dedicate themselves to the betterment of our nation’s youth by volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting and Venturing.

In fact, adult Scout volunteers provided more than 60 million hours of community service above what they normally spend with their youth in packs, troops and crews across the country.

However, adults are not the only mentors. Earlier this century, the BSA pioneered the concept "peer to peer mentoring", or "letting youth lead other youth". When older boys lead and plan activities and campouts, younger Scouts learn for their example. Today, that same concept –peer-to-peer mentoring- is being used in our nation’s schools as well as Scouting activities.

Too many wrong choices are available to our nation’s youth. They desperately need, and want, our guidance to successfully navigate the difficult years of adolescence. Being involved in Scouting and mentoring may have a powerful impact in the lives of the youth. The bottom line is mentoring improves decision-making, builds confidence, and teaches life lessons.

United Methodist Men Mentoring Opportunities: Utilizing your talents

Absolutely Incredible Kid Day

A Camp Fire USA initiative, held the third Thursday of March each year

Ask your pastor and congregation to write a letter to the congregation's children and homeless and shelter- bound children on Absolutely Incredible Kid Day and then share them the Sunday prior to Absolutely Incredible Kid Day. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People notes,’ “I have found that letter writing is an effective, non-threatening alternative that can touch kids in ways nothing else can. That’s why I support Absolutely Incredible Kid Day. ”For further information visit the web site at www.campfireusa.org

Boy Scouts of America

Serve as a merit badge counselor for your church- sponsored Boy Scout troop. Sign up is easy and it gives you an opportunity to interact with scouts who have an interest in earning a merit badge in your vocation or hobby area.

Spiritual Counselor

Serve as a God and Country mentor. Mentors go through the program alongside youth. The program is age-appropriate (God and Me, grades 1-3, God and Family, grades 4-5 God and Church, Grades 6-8, and God and Church, grades 9-12). Youth have service/mission projects and interact with their church’s pastor from beginning to end. United Methodist youth earned 8200 of these awards in 2001, the most of any Protestant denomination For more information visit the web site:www.praypub.org.

*Source: Network for Good web site

and UMMen magazine, Winter, 2003

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