Buckner International: News

(DALLAS/ FORT-WORTH, Texas) – KIDS HOPE USA is celebrating the importance of mentoring relationships between elementary students and local church members in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for National Mentoring Month.

“KIDS HOPE wouldn’t be possible without the efforts put forth by mentors here and across the country,” said Richard Roman, KIDS HOPE coordinator for Buckner International. “Thanks to their devotion to visit one child on a weekly basis, we’ve seen children’s grades go up, their self-esteem go up. We’ve seen lives changed through the work of these mentors.”

For three years, Park Cities Baptist Church has worked at Dan D. Rogers through KIDS HOPE. One friendship that has developed through it is the one between Brenda Richardson and Irving Casados.

Richardson met Irving when he was only 7. After several mentoring sessions, she invited him to a children’s sports camp where she met his mother and invited them to church.

And Eloy Casados, Irving’s father, said his wife was recently baptized.

“We’ve always believed in God but we were never very close to Him,” Eloy said. “My kids are learning about what is good. My kids want to please God.”

He went on to say that Irving is doing a lot better in school. “Before he started being mentored, Irving had problems concentrating. He would read and not process the information.”

KIDS HOPE USA mentors commit to meeting with a child for one year, but they can re-commit through KIDS HOPE and mentor that child through fifth grade.

Another church participating in KIDS HOPE USA is Iglesia Getsemani. Getsemani is one of only seven non-white churches in the program. There are 415 churches total.

Getsemani serves at Cesar Chavez Elementary, a pre-kinder-through-second-grade school where the student population is about 91 percent Hispanic.

Elizabeth Vasquez, principal at Cesar Chavez, said her students benefit from having role models who look like them. And that sometimes her at-risk students don’t know a lot of English. They need a bilingual volunteer with whom they can communicate clearly.

Julio Guarneri, pastor of Getsemani, said the lack of minority-church involvement may be related to a lack of funds in those congregations.

“A lot of ethnic churches are still struggling for survival,” Guarneri said. “But it is a minimal cost for the long-term impact. This is where we need to be now rather than coming in and doing crisis intervention in the future.”

KIDS HOPE USA is based in Zeeland, Michigan and works exclusively through local churches, equipping them to engage their own members in one-to-one relationships with public elementary school children in their neighborhood. Buckner helps connect churches with KIDS HOPE USA.

For more information on how your church can become mentors, contact Richard Roman at (214) 319-3414.

Learn more about KIDS HOPE USA.