Coach tackles need for mentoring
By KAREN MIKOLS
Retired Kansas State University football coach Bill Snyder touted the benefits of mentoring during two stops Thursday in Hays.
During the joint Kiwanis and Optimist lunch meeting, Snyder shared that he began as half of boys currently do -- in a single-parent home.
"The youth of your community, our state and our nation need guidance and direction for the future," Snyder said. "It's so easy to give a few dollars and let somebody else do it.
"One of the problems nationwide is not having enough volunteers to do that task. To find the people that will commit themselves to having the commitment and relationship with young people is difficult."
Lois Keller and her husband, Jerry, live in rural Trego County, but their purple pride drew them to Fox Pavilion for Snyder's speech.
"We are huge K-State fans," Lois Keller said. "This was an opportunity to hear Bill Snyder speak. Plus we support Big Brothers Big Sisters through donations."
She was familiar with the concept of mentoring, but surprised at the statistics Snyder shared, which include:
* Fifty percent of all young male children are brought up in a single-parent home.
* One third of all black young males have been or will be incarcerated during their lifetime.
* In the last five decades, suicide rates have increased 5,000 percent.
* By the year 2010 in Sedgwick County, Big Brothers Big Sisters will need an additional 30,000 male mentors.
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Earlier in the day, Snyder addressed about two dozen people at the Kansas Mentors Training workshop at the Holiday Inn.
"This is the most complex and difficult time in our nation for the youth of our nation," he said. "If I were around 20 years from now, we might be able to say the same thing, unfortunately.
"The greater guidance, greater assistance, the research shows it helps with drug and alcohol issues and violence -- you name it -- mentoring helps assist the youth."
Snyder is part of the statewide Kansas Mentors group, which was established in January 2006. Since then, Snyder said the group has contributed $800,000 worth of grants.
"That helped create in excess of 1,200 additional matches," he said. "It is productive, but creating new matches is an expensive proposition."
In attendance were members from agencies across northwest Kansas.
"We provide support for programs throughout the state," said Amy Link, director of Kansas Mentors.
A plethora of agencies mentor about 50,000 children in Kansas, she said.
"We'd like to provide more children access to mentors," Link said, and added the regional workshop is beneficial to address local needs. "Running a program in Topeka is different than running one in Norton. So having similar demographics meet together is helpful."
Kansas Mentors serves about 300 agencies throughout the state and makes mentoring information easily accessible to someone searching for the volunteer opportunity.
For Mary Kay Woodyard, affiliate director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norton County, the workshop was a valuable experience.
"There is lots of good information, especially on how to retain and recruit volunteers," Woodyard said. "This inspires us to go back to our community and try new things."
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Snyder said he embraces the philosophy that "it takes a village to raise a child."
"To me, the bottom line is you're helping young people in many, many positive ways in their life," he said. "We want to do what we can do to create an opportunity for every child to have the opportunity for quality mentoring.
"As you move on in life, you have the opportunity to be one of those individuals and make life better for others. That's exactly where you are today. You are in the position to make life better for others , in particular the young people of your community."
Additional information is available online at www.kansasmentor.org.