Lets face it, not every child is placed on this earth with a stable home. There are
many problems with families today. Divorce, death of a parent, substance abuse, or even
being homeless is just to name a few. Children today deal with more stress then they did
years ago. Also kids have stress from their peers. They could feel unaccepted and
rejected by friends and not really have a peer group to be in. So what do can they do?
How can they get help? In some cases, just a friend that will listen, hang out, teach,
accept, and just have fun with them can have a big impact. What are these people
called? They are mentors. Mentoring is when a role model, or mentor, offers support to
another person. A mentor has knowledge and experience in an area and shares it with the
A mentor can do many things. They go from helping kids with homework to just
hanging out. A mentor can be like a big brother or sister. A mentor is someone for a
young person to look up to and rely on. For some kids this could be the only stable thing
in their lives. Having a mentor or being involved in a mentoring group, can really relieve
anxiety and stress in a child's life. In our community there are several mentoring
The first program I came across is called W.Y.N.G.S. It stands for When Youth
Need Guidance and Support. Their mission statement is Creating and Opportunity for
Success. W.Y.N.G.S. is a mentor program that gives youth the chance to have a
friendship with a person who is older than you. These people will take you places and
teach you new things. There is also group activities that involves the whole program.
The new friendship is also there to help the younger individual with guidance and
decisions concerning work, education, family relationships and more. They will meet
twice a month for about two hours or as much as you want. This can last for around
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