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Kinship putting donations to good use

FAIRMONT — Fairmont Area Kinship recently received a $4,600 grant from the Knights of Columbus. Kinship director Anna Garbers notes that while the Knights have donated since the program’s inception, this was their largest donation.

Garbers, along with assistant director Katy Gonzalez, were available this week to talk about various donations to the program, and how those funds are directed into providing maximum benefit for the children they serve.

“For instance, the American Legion here in Fairmont is donating $1,000 for our activities, which is really exciting,” Garbers said. “Those donations for activities have allowed us to broaden our horizons as far as what we do.

“The other big thing that has helped with activities for the kids specifically is a grant we have through the Martin County Youth Program for scholarships for our kids, which are for any kind of productive type of thing, from educational, to recreational, to arts-based activities, or anything that’s productive which keeps kids involved, and engaged.”

Garbers noted the program recently received another big grant, also through the Martin County Youth Foundation, which will go for what is called the adopt-a-match program.

“That was $3,000, which is another huge donation for our program,” she stated. “That money is specifically used for finding mentors for the kids on the waiting list. So, that pays for things like recruitment, training and the screening process to get mentors ready to be matched with some of those kids on the list.”

“One of the big ways that we find new mentors is through our rent-a-ment program that we have for our activities,” Gonzalez said. “That program is for people who are interested in mentoring or just want to help out our program, but can’t commit to being mentors at this time. We still do the background checks on them, and they come to our activity, and hang out with a mentee on the waiting list just for that event.

“A lot of times with things like the money that comes from the American Legion, being able to do these activities means that we now can offer different things like a ‘Guy’s Night,’ where our mentors can invite their friends to come and they can kind of ‘try out’ mentoring. They get to meet kids on the waiting list and if they make a connection with one of them, then sometimes they’ll sign up and say this is something they want to do. It’s really neat, and even if they just decide to keep being rent-a-ments, we always need them to help provide insight into the kids and help make good matches.”

The duo say another fun activity that drew on the American Legion donation was held last weekend. It was “Girls pamper day,” in which girl mentees were able to try out lotions and sprays, and enjoy a mesmerizing chocolate fountain, which many of the kids had never seen before.

Gonzalez says all of the grants the program has recently received have really worked together to recruit and make matches, which is one of the crucial goals of the program. Garbers said the waiting list is one of the big things to keep working on, noting that there are currently 15 kids on it.

“We’ve got some kids who have been on the waiting list for a very long time,” she said. “Some of them for over a year. So that’s our biggest goal, is to get those kids matched. With our activities, a lot of times once people meet the kids they get kind of sucked in, which is really cool.

“The kids themselves are the best recruiters, because people get to see what their personalities are like, and once you’ve met a kid it’s easier to see what it would be like to be a mentor.”

Garbers and Gonzalez say this happens fairly frequently, and they encourage people who are curious but unsure to give the rent-a-ment program a try.

For those interested, one upcoming Kinship event will give them an opportunity to not only try out the idea, but have a fun summer day as well. Kinship’s Sherburn Park Day will be held from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday, June 3.

“We’re going to be grilling out; we’ll have some games and doing karaoke,” Gonzalez said. “We’re also going to have a cartoonist and a caricature artist come out.”

“We’re also going to have Mike Kuhlers with Comics4Children come out, and he’ll be doing superhero trivia,” Garbers added. “It’s going to be a superhero-themed park day, with plenty of things for the kids to do. It’ll be a fun day with a lot of things to try out, and we’ll also have upcoming events later on, including a boating day at our former director’s house, and at the end of July we always have a horseback-riding activity.”

As funds for the program come in and allow it to grow, Garbers noted that several exciting things will be happening this year, including the addition of a new associate director. In addition, the women said they are also looking for organizations, such as churches, that would like them to come and speak at meetings or events to help get the word out about the importance of mentoring.

The women note they are working on getting established in surrounding communities, and will meet with various city councils to accomplish that goal.

“Right now we have a mentee waiting in Trimont, one in Northrop, and two in Truman, and for a long time we had a mentee waiting in Ceylon, and we want to get the program solidified in those small towns so people know that it’s available,” Garbers said.

Both Garbers and Gonzalez say they are grateful for the mentors who dedicate their time to the kids, and are excited for those who are willing to give mentoring a chance.

To find out how to get involved by becoming a mentor or a volunteer, or to make a donation or get more information about the program, contact Anna Garbers by phone at (507) 238-4440 (office) or (507) 236-4514 (cell), or email fairmontkinship@gmail.com

Kinship also has a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/fairmontareakinship

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