{"id":26125,"date":"2013-09-10T16:47:27","date_gmt":"2013-09-10T20:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=26125"},"modified":"2013-09-10T16:47:27","modified_gmt":"2013-09-10T20:47:27","slug":"the-power-of-mentoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/09\/the-power-of-mentoring\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Mentoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Power of Mentoring<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lehigh Elementary 5th<\/sup> grader Justin\u2019s mother died last year, shot in front of him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dunbar Middle School 7th<\/sup> grader Rachael is partially blind, so is her mother, and her grandmother.\u00a0 She gets picked on at school.<\/strong><\/p>\n

10-year-old Zack lives with his grandmother, both parents are in prison.<\/strong><\/p>\n

These are real stories from Lehigh Acres children on the waiting list in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.\u00a0 The stories are heart wrenching, and sadly all too common.\u00a0\u00a0 Their parents or guardians come to us, many times with desperation.\u00a0 \u201cIf only he had a Big Brother, someone he could look up to, someone to show him he is important,\u201d one of our child\u2019s guardians said.\u00a0 \u201cThen maybe he would see he can do better with his life. \u201c<\/p>\n

The idea is that a mentor or \u201cBig\u201d as we call them in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, can show the child another way, a glimpse into a life and a different path then the one they are currently heading on.\u00a0 The path is not always their fault, many times, it is a path already carved out for them, a path their father traveled, and their father\u2019s father.\u00a0 \u201cBigs\u201d show up at the right time, they help children make better decisions, and lift them up, and out of their current circumstances, by simply \u201cbeing there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mentors don\u2019t need any special skills.\u00a0 They just need to be a functional adult, for many of the children in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, they\u2019ve never seen one.<\/p>\n

Big Brothers Big Sisters has two programs.\u00a0 Either the volunteer visits the child during school, at a set day and time, or they visit the child out in the community, picking them up at their home and spending time with them.\u00a0 A friendship is quickly formed.\u00a0 ONE HOUR A WEEK IS ALL THAT IS REQUIRED.<\/p>\n

More than 43 children are sitting on the Big Brothers Big Sisters waiting list from Lehigh Acres alone.\u00a0 There are no adult mentors coming through the pipeline to help these children.<\/p>\n

If you have a heart for children, and you have even the slightest bit of wisdom you\u2019d like to pass along, please call Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast at 239-288-4224, or email at amelvin@bbbssun.org<\/a>. You can also learn more at www.bbbssun.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Power of Mentoring Lehigh Elementary 5th grader Justin\u2019s mother died last year, shot in front of him. Dunbar Middle School 7th grader Rachael is partially blind, so is her… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26125\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}