Mentors get into the swim of things
Three’s certainly not a crowd when it comes to hanging out at the pool with your little brothers and sisters.
That’s why these three Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors make the most of swimming time with their mentees.
The trio are South Taranaki District Council staff who, along with nine other mentors, spend an hour a week, one-on-one with a child each, for the Big Brothers Big Sisters programme.
Case manager Lee Cochrane said the aim of the programme was to give the children regular one-on-one bonding.
‘‘We want this to be a stable thing so they know next week ‘so and so’ is coming to spend time with them,’’ she said. The mentors go into the children’s school once a week and take them out of the classroom to do whatever they want - it might be netball, kicking a ball around, a couple of them even do baking.
Paula Murray, Nicola Hine and Peter Williams said they enjoyed their time with their mentees, especially this swimming day out which falls once a year.
Murray said her two children had grown up and she thought this programme was a great opportunity to give back to the community.
‘‘It’s amazing, you learn as much from them as they do you,’’ she said.
Hine agreed - she’d been looking for a suitable programme to support and came across this. She liked the 6-10-year-old age, and the idea that an input now ‘‘can help later’’.
Cochrane said the South Taranaki District Council staff have been involved for about six months, and usually mentors were involved with their mentees for about a year. The programme offers a school-based and community-based mentoring system, which involves either spending time with the children at school, or in the community. Cochrane said there was always a need for more mentors. ’’I’m after anyone between the age of 18 and 80, we love anybody. We only ever do same-sex matching, they get training, it’s all police vetted, so it’s all above board.’’
If you’re interested, contact Lee on 027 520 8337.