Kids Hope program offers mentorship to WWES students

Eleven years ago, Mt. Tabor Christian Church began partnering with West Washington Elementary School to offer mentoring for students. Members of the Mt. Tabor congregation volunteer to spend an hour a week with a student who needs a little extra one-on-one time, to work on homework, do some creative play and just to talk about their lives with a responsible adult.

Principal Tom Rosenbaum went on a tour of a school for AdvancED accreditation in 2008 and saw the Kids Hope program in use at Knox Elementary.

“I thought it was pretty cool, so I talked to the board and Mt. Tabor, and the preacher and his wife said they would do it,” said Rosenbaum. “It was a go and went from there.”

Ross and Chris Logan were the ministers at the time and handed the program off to the current program director, Sal Sama and his wife, Kim, when they moved.

“Tom got up in front of the church and made an announcement about what it was and basically, it sounded really simple and I thought, ‘I could do that,’ and that’s one of the first mission-type activities I’d ever been involved in,” said current program director and West Washington board member Sama.

So was it as simple as he thought?

“Yes and no,” Sama replied. “Every student who gets recommended for the Kids Hope program has a need, whether they’re just very shy in class or they need a little extra help with academics or another reason. Maybe they come from a big family and need a little extra time from an adult who’s there every week. It’s a simple thing, but it’s a hard thing.”

The program currently has 27 mentors for students in first through sixth grades. The mentor stays with their student throughout elementary school and, if the upward trend in volunteers continues, possibly into junior high as well. Each mentor is assigned to only one student, with women being mentors for girls and boys and men being mentors for boys. Rosenbaum said teachers recommend students to Counselor Gail Wisecarver, who meets with the Samas to sort out mentors for the students. Students can join the program at any point in their elementary years and sometimes, parents ask for students to be paired up without a teacher seeing a need.

“Sometimes, you don’t see that need until they get a little older and they start acting out,” said Rosenbaum.

This is the most volunteers the program has seen at Mt. Tabor and Sama said volunteers have been getting younger and more balanced between men and women as well.

“In the past, we had more dad- and grandparent-aged volunteers, but now, we have some in their early- and mid-twenties,” he said. “That helps, too, when we’re trying to match up mentors with kids … We have a better mix of men and women now, too. It’s closer to two-thirds or a half instead of three-fourths women.”

Mentors receive a three-hour training session and go through background checks.

“They learn how to work through tough conversations, obviously the separation of church and state, making sure we don’t encroach on any boundaries from that perspective, making sure they understand the commitment and responsibility,” said Sama. 

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