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An excerpt from a letter on the work of Interages from a mentor's perspective:
"Eight years ago I saw a notice for Interages in my local library. I had been retired, and except for helping my grandchildren, life had become quite humdrum. I met the other mentors during training and never would have guessed how tough and resilient they were to do it year after year and how important they were to their student mentees. During my working life I had managed squads of salesmen and survived a storm at sea. What could a nine year old boy say or do over the next three school years that I could not handle? I had yet to meet “The Turtle.” The students at this elementary school called him The Turtle because he would cover his head with his shirt and crouch down when he did not want to respond to anyone. He used bad language and was always getting into fights. His teachers were concerned about him becoming involved with gangs.
As the weeks went by he started talking about having no dad at home and a mother who was out working. He was alone and only had the TV as company. He still had dark moods and covered his head, but we were now friends and he looked forward to coming. The Turtle told me that he loved a program on TV that had a master of ceremonies that made him laugh.
The students in our program were going to perform a play at the end of the year. He resisted the idea that he should be the narrator of the play, but finally agreed. We practiced together and he received cheers from the group for his supreme effort. The Turtle was history; the real boy had emerged with a smile.
During our second year, we read books together and I helped support learning and writing deficits. At the end of year two his teachers agreed that he might have a chance to survive when last year they thought he was only gang fodder. During my third year of mentoring, this young man showed me a cartoon he had done and said that he loved to draw, but had no paper or pens at home. I bought him a box of pastels and drawing paper. By shear chance, I met an artist from DC Marvel Comics who was teaching a “Cartooning” class near the elementary school. The instructor was not excited about having an elementary school student in her class, but changed her mind when she saw some of his work. The Interages Program Coordinator worked with Montgomery County Public Schools to help and I was responsible for getting him to the class and home.
Our sessions together now concentrated on homework with less of a one-on-one need. He now had friends! During our final session together I noticed that outside the school office was an easel with a pastel drawing of a tree in a snowstorm. I knew that this young man was beginning to learn who he was! This is my fifth year as a mentor and I am a better man for it. Interages volunteers know that, without appropriate English skills, these children cannot grow to be what they dream to be. I have seen it work through the experiences of so many of my fellow mentors that I meet each week."
We have Many more Turtles to save and you can help. Please make a contribution today.
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