January is National Mentoring Month, but at Community Mentor Connection matching children with mentors is a daily business for more than 30 children in Freeborn and Faribault counties.

“The main goal for the mentors is to build the child’s self-esteem and get them exposure to things they’ve never been exposed to,” said Sue Wood, program coordinator. “We’ve had kids that have never been to Wal-Mart because their parents didn’t have a driver’s license.”

Part of this exposure is helping the children grow and gain experience and self-esteem, Wood said. Her favorite part of the program is seeing the children grow and mature. Many of them are timid at first, but Wood said in many of her yearly reviews, children tell her they’ve become more confident in their own voice.

“Their biggest thing was they now know they have an opinion and it counts, and they’ve learned how to speak up,” Wood said. “That was the most amazing statement. … Their mentors had taught them how to speak up and they were able to feel like they’re a person and they count.”

Some of these children don’t have many adults in their lives, said Carolyn Smith, program coordinator. The child and mentor must form a trusting relationship, Smith said, so the child has someone they can be open with and share their worries, goals and accomplishments with.

“A mentor can be someone to get together with and have a good time with – someone who will understand, someone who is not judgmental,” Smith said.

Interest surveys are used to match children and mentor, said Smith. Before a child and mentor are matched, Wood said she often has a match in mind, but she lets the mentor have a chance to pick, rather than just assigning them.

“I just did a match and the lady is a real nutrition person and really cooks nutritionally,” Wood said. “That was a real interest for the girl; she really loved to cook. Those two have created so much stuff, and they have had me come and be their taste tester. That is what my job is, to get them matched together.”

Aside from interests, Smith said location plays a role in matching a child with a mentor, but she said the relationship is worth it for all involved.

“It’s fun,” Smith said. “It’s fun for the mentors and the mentees, but I think mentors get as much back as they give. They get to watch this young person grow and mature. It’s just a lot of fun to be with them. It’s kind of like having another child but you’re not responsible for feeding them and stuff like that.”

Some children find matches quickly, and others have to wait depending on when they find the right match, Wood said. It’s more difficult to match boys, and Smith said 18 boys are currently waiting for mentors.

“The more the public is aware of the need, the better we’re able to service the kids,” Wood said.

One boy waited for a mentor for six years, and Wood said he was recently paired with a mentor who turned out to be a perfect fit, because both the boy and his mentor had father’s who died at a young age.

Wood said she tracks the children’s progress and meets with them at events or at schools if any problems arise.

On Jan. 22, the children and their mentors will have a game night at Wood’s house to celebrate National Mentoring Month. Other years they’ve held a banquet, but Wood said they couldn’t afford that this year. Other events include bowling nights, a race at Chateau Raceway, a day at Prairie River Camp’s climbing wall and a Albert Lea Thunder game.

Children and mentors are re-matched once a year and Wood said at that time she meets with the parents, the children and the mentor separately for feedback about the relationship. She said she was re-matching four partnerships during the month of January.

But it’s the initial match that Smith said is one of her favorite parts of the mentoring process.

“A big fun thing for both Sue and I is when you take the mentor to the mentee’s house for the first time and introduce them and the kids are just wowed,” Smith said. “Oh this person wants to be my friend. I always like to say this is Bob and he wants to be your mentor. They don’t know who this person is, and they’re a little scared but also very excited to think that there’s this adult – it’s not a relative, not anybody they know – who wants to get to know them and have fun with them and be their friend. That’s a big self-esteem booster for kids.”

Mentors are important because Wood said it can help the children translate that self-esteem into future goals.

“These kids are going to be our future,” Wood said. “We need to help them get to where they need to be. Most of them just need to be exposed to things. We’re helping some of our older high school kids get their college setup. Even saying, ’you can go to college,’ because they never would have thought they should even try. … Most of them are smart enough; they just don’t have the self-esteem to get them where they need to get. We need to help them look to the future all the time — who they’re going to become.”