Bergen Volunteer Center Seeks Mentors for Local Children

From Bergen Volunteer Center:

Each year in Bergen County, approximately 600 children are removed from their homes due to abuse, neglect or other factors that place them at risk of harm. These children are placed in foster homes, residential facilities, hospitals, shelters or in the care of other family members. The Bergen Volunteer Center’s Mentoring Youth program is recruiting volunteer mentors to work one-on-one with youth, ages of 5-18, who are facing these challenges.

Mentoring Youth has trained and supervised adult volunteers for more than 30 years to serve as mentors to children who are confronting adverse social, emotional and behavioral challenges at home or in their daily lives. Mentors serve as positive role models, providing guidance, friendship and support while advocating on behalf of youth when called upon to do so.

The next three-week Mentoring Youth training will begin on Wednesday, April 6. Each session is held from 7-9:30 p.m. at the Bergen Volunteer Center, located at 64 Passaic Street in Hackensack.

“Volunteers in the Mentoring Youth program improve the lives and experiences of children who need someone they can trust, someone to show them they are not alone,” says Lynne Algrant, volunteer center CEO. “There is an especially great need for men to mentor boys and for bi-lingual, Spanish-speaking mentors of both genders. There are not nearly enough volunteers enrolled so far.”

“These children are waiting for someone to step in and to believe in them, to encourage them to laugh and to succeed,” says Dr. Faith Samples-Smart, Mentoring Youth program director. “We consider time spent with mentors as free time: free of the challenges children confront in their daily environments at home and/or at school. What a gift to have this respite and safe zone with a caring adult.”

Mentors show children a different perspective, expose them to unexplored opportunities and help them to build trust. According to a study by Big Brothers/Big Sisters, youth who regularly meet with a mentor are 52 percent less likely than peers to skip school and 46 percent less likely to use drugs. Additionally, these youth are 33 percent less likely to hit someone or to start drinking. Mentors encourage positive choices, promote high self-esteem, support academic achievement and introduce young people to new ideas by sharing fun activities and exposing a youth to new experiences.

Mentoring Youth volunteer training is provided at no charge and covers such topics as the benefits of mentoring for volunteers and children, child and adolescent development, understanding child maltreatment, effective listening and communication skills, building rapport and developing strong mentoring relationships, the role of the mentor and the matching and closure process. Applicants are required to undergo a comprehensive background check and must obtain written letters recommendation as part of the training course. Further information is available through the Bergen Volunteer Center website.