By Rachelle Pavelko
r-pavelko@onu.edu
Elizabeth Betts is just one of many on Ohio Northern's campus willing to "StandUp For Kids."
StandUp For Kids is a branch of the national Don't Run Away program, and is currently in its first year in the Lima area. According to www.dontrunaway.org, in every classroom of thirty-five kids, seven of them will run away before they are eighteen. Programs such as Don't Run Away and StandUp For Kids are trying to combat those statistics.
"A program like this opens your eyes to the downfalls of our society," Betts said. "There are so many young children without a home, just in Lima alone."
Betts, freshman communication arts major, is currently involved with StandUp For Kids through the Lima City Schools. The program was enacted to get people involved with mentoring the homeless youth. As Betts explained, the definition for homeless youth doesn't necessarily mean that they have been placed in a shelter. She said that many children are in transitional periods, meaning that they have moved homes and changed phone numbers sometimes up to 12 times in one school year, and are therefore classified as homeless.
Currently, Betts said that she has 30 people from Ohio Northern on her roster, and has added 10 newly interested mentors in just the past month. Once mentors go through the training with the coordinators of the program through Lima City Schools - Barb Martin, Sarah Bowsher and Don Miller - they will be matched up with a homeless youth from the school district. Their child could range anywhere between elementary and middle school grade levels.
Betts said that the training mainly focuses on the boundaries that can and cannot be crossed when mentoring, especially in this special needs scenario. The children being mentored are high risk kids, so issues such as finances, time and emotional commitments are discussed to better prepare those interested in mentoring.
"The mentoring just doesn't benefit the child," Betts said. "Those who choose to mentor also grow. I think it makes someone more responsible, more caring, and just overall more aware of the world around them. Mentoring can definitely make an impact on your life."
Betts said that anyone can be a mentor, and that the most important part of the whole program is just to act as a positive role model for the child. And above that, act as a friend.
If interested in mentoring through the Lima City Schools program, please contact Elizabeth Betts at e-betts@onu.edu.