Mentors befriend disadvantaged kids

The BUDDY (building unique, dynamic and diverse young) mentoring program, which serves children in Nassau County whose parents are incarcerated, met for a back-to-school picnic and school supplies fundraiser in Eisenhower Park on Sunday.

According to the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, LICADD, mentors “provide guidance and support with the goal of establishing a trusting relationship between each child and a caring adult mentor that lasts for no less than one year, and hopefully for a lifetime.”

“The goal is to stop the intergenerational cycle of incarceration,” said program coordinator Lauren Ventimiglia. The children just need stability and support that they are not getting at home, said Ventimiglia. The mentors are not expected to replace teachers, parents or guidance counselors, they are simply trusted friends.

A young boy said his mentor took him to The Cradle of Aviation Museum. “It was the best thing I ever did,” he said.

For the first time in their lives the children are able to attend many events like Mets, Jets and Yankee games, ice-skating and going to the circus. Their guardians are focused on working enough jobs to pay the bills, said Ventimiglia. Without mentors the children would not be exposed to these opportunities.

Joan Mary Weber, who recently completed mentor training, said she wanted to get involved in the program because the children are victims and “their crisis can be averted,” she said.

After the event on Sunday, the children went home with new backpacks and notebooks for school. Ventimiglia said everyone was very excited, but more importantly “they are stigmatized at school when they don’t have school supplies.”

With more than 40 children matched to mentors in the last year, Ventimiglia said that when the grant money runs out at the end of September, they are hoping to use fundraisers to expand the program to western Suffolk. Ventimiglia said the program might expand to include children who are close with siblings or aunts and uncles who are incarcerated.

The BUDDY mentoring program matches each child with a same-sex mentor and is in desperate need of male mentors, said Ventimiglia. If you have an hour a week, contact Lauren Ventimiglia, lventimiglia@licadd.org, and learn how you can get involved.