My son has the most awesome mentor, his tikwondo coach. With Bens encouragement and interest in his life, my son is almost a black belt. My son and Ben spent a day in MPLS, and all night at a rock concert at the Target Center.

Mentors are very important. They give him a different perspective to how he views things. He has been very fortunate to have made the aquaintance of another couple in town, Terry Nord and his wife. My son has a real interest in music, he writes songs, and he plays guitar and drums. A couple weeks ago, he and his friends were treated to a full weekend of recording the songs he wrote and got to design their own label. Terry and his wife are not his official mentors, but they mentor very important and genuine interest in him. Sometimes as adults, we get too busy or think we don't really have anything to offer one of our areas youth. Just about everyone has something they can mentor to a youth. A woman who crochets, a man who likes to do things with wood, ice fishing, trips to the library, helping a youth with homework, inviting a youth to the movies, including an area youth in a fun family activity.

A neighboring town took mentoring one step farther and matched a youth with a local business person. The youth work at the business and the business owner helps teach a work ethic to them. Many businesses participated in this type of mentoring. It's a new way to think about mentoring. It makes a difference.