From staff reports
Youth Connection Day will be celebrated Thursday in Venango County.
The celebration will include a push for gaining new mentors in the program that matches area youths with adults who will spend time with them and be a role model.
To help raise awareness for the need for mentors in the community, Venango County commissioners issued a proclamation making July 1 Youth Connection Day.
Walters said youths who are matched with a caring mentor are more likely to avoid risky behaviors such as drugs and alcohol, make more responsible decisions, attend school more regularly, achieve higher grades, and have a better relationship with their parent/guardian and peers.
They’re also more likely to become volunteers for local organizations, participate in community events and activities, and even become mentors themselves, she said.
Mentors in the program also see many benefits, Walters said.
“They feel as though they are making a difference in a young person’s life,” she said. “They also are able to see life from a whole new perspective,” she added.
Dr. David Wagner is the president of the advisory committee for Youth Connection and has been involved with the program for nearly 20 years.
“I have seen how this organization greatly aids mentors to impact the lives of children in our community,” Wagner said. “Youth Connection is instrumental to connect, support, and maintain healthy mentor relationships for our community’s at-risk youth,” he said.
Wagner points to the evidence he has seen with his own eyes.
“We have seen, as a committee, kids (who were) at risk for not finishing high school who graduate and have successful adult lives and careers,” Wagner said.
He said kids have told him that their mentors gave them a feeling of self-worth and motivated them to finish high school.
Walters said there are many disadvantaged youths in the community who are on a waiting list to be matched with a mentor.
Rinda Miller and Joe Caffrey both have served as mentors for more than 10 years.
“There are so many children out there who need someone to trust and just share their feelings, dreams, and ambitions,” Miller said.
Caffrey said he became a mentor “to provide new opportunities for a youth that they would not otherwise experience.”
Besides adding mentors, Youth Connection is also looking for people to serve on its advisory committee.
Youth Connection is a program of Family Service & Children’s Aid Society and is supported by the United Ways of Venango County and the Titusville Region.
More information is available by contacting Walters by calling (814) 676-9940, Ext. 1228, or emailing at jwalters@fscas.org.
