Events and Relationships

Every Monday night Julie and I open our house to kids in Homewood from 5-7pm.  There were 46 people in our house last night.  We're really starting to explore some other options for where and how we can host a group that big (our living room definitely isn't cutting it anymore).  This past Friday night over 1,000 people signed up to attend the Harvest Party in Homewood.  I don't think that many people actually showed up, but it was a different paradigm for us as we planned for an event with potentially over 1,000 people.  It's cool that kids are showing up to planned activities.  However, while a large number of kids showing up to something is a gauge of success in many organizations that work with kids, I still feel that the best way to impact kids is one child at a time.  I truly wish I had enough mentors to match with every child in Homewood that actually needed a mentor.  I know that that type of support would really make a long-term, transformational difference in my community.

I think that our Monday night group is a nice thing for some kids in Homewood.  I think that the Harvest Party is a very nice thing for the kids in Homewood.  But between Monday nights, and between events for kids in Homewood, I run into many, many children in Homewood who just want to have somebody to spend time with them and invest in them.  Events can be a very positive thing for a community, but I believe that lasting impact starts with relationships.  Mentoring is not a fix-all for Homewood, but mentoring is a great place to focus efforts because it is focused on building one-to-one relationships.  There is just something about mentoring, which many people call the "magic of mentoring," that leads to amazing outcomes for children over time.  I love events that impact children in Homewood.  But I love mentoring matches that impact the children in Homewood even more.  Maybe some people who volunteered at the Harvest Party will want to become a mentor?  I guess I'll find out soon enough.