ABOVE: From left: Kinship of Martin County Directors Courtney Logwood, Katy Gonzalez and Jen Kahler show off how super they feel during National Mentorship Month.

FAIRMONT – January’s National Mentoring Month is giving Kinship of Martin County a chance to highlight their work alongside numerous others across the country and world.

Kinship’s Mentoring services currently work with 56 kids across Martin County. Executive Director Jen Kahler said the program is available for kids aged five to 15.

“They’re just looking for extra support and another adult that can be a part of their child’s life to give them that support,” she said. “We also are always looking for adult volunteer mentors to be a part of the program. They go through a process of vetting, background checks. We interview them and get a chance to have them meet with students that are a part of our program.”

Currently, there are 12 kids on the waiting list who need a mentor. Associate Director Katy Gonzalez said on top of full-time mentors, there’s a program called Rent-A-Ment. People unsure of committing full-time to mentor can be a kid’s mentor for a specific Kinship Event.

“They help us get to know the kids off the waiting list,” Gonzalez said. “They help them start to participate in Kinship events, try out mentoring, and see whether or not they feel like it’s a good fit. If it’s not a good fit, they can keep being a Rent-A-Ment and come when it works with their schedule.”

Kinship of Martin County has also recently opened a new mentorship avenue called Boost. Associate Director Courtney Logwood said this new program benefits kids for whom one-on-one mentoring is not the best fit.

“We have some kids who may have behavioral or learning disabilities or issues where it may not be safe for the kid or the adult to be matched one-on-one,” she said. “We set goals with the parent, and the parent brings them to these events. We teach them how to make friends appropriately, what appropriate boundaries are, how to speak to adults, how to speak to other children, etc.”

Logwood said the goal is to see personal growth in these kids, with potential one-on-one mentor opportunities in the future. She said the program has seen great success thus far.

“Kids are able to talk to the other kid’s parents,” Logwood said. “The parents interact with the other kids, they learn how to speak to adults, how to speak to each other, and they also don’t have to be nervous because this kid is struggling with the same thing you are. No one has to feel self-conscious.”

In addition to highlighting Kinship, Kahler said they take National Mentoring Month as an opportunity to highlight the mentors for all the good work they do.

“That has also included doing some sort of event or a show at the Red Rock Center,” she said. “This year we’re doing a little more highlighting the mentors and mentees themselves, by showing off some art projects and different things our mentors and mentees have created or done together.”

Kinship will also be running an online auction during the month of January, where anyone can bid on different experiences and classes, such as a month of piano lessons, learning to change your oil or how to bake a cheesecake.

For more information, visit https://sites.google.com/kinshipofmartincounty.com/kinshipofmartincounty.