Community Friends Mentoring Program: Mentors Are Local Heroes and Friends

The Community Friends Mentoring Program is an organization that matches children with adults for mentoring. Mentoring may be the formal term, but friendship and fun are two of the words you see more often. Energy and activity are other words, because the days when the pairs get together can be filled with activities the children might not ordinarily get a chance to experience. The Community Friends Mentoring Program is attached to the Howard Center with a mission "to improve the well-being of children, adults, families and communities." The program was started in 1982 by Mary Carol Massoneau and coordinated by Lynn Gardener and was called Special Friends. It received grant funding in 1996 and was renamed Community Friends. Since then they have witnessed more than 100 successful matches. Many of these mentoring relationships continue for years, as children become adults and active community members and continue the cycle of mentoring themselves. Do you know someone who mentors a child, giving of their time and energy to be a guiding force for another? Nominate them for next weeks AmericanTown's Heroes.