Though he cannot see, Fitzville Martin maneuvers the keyboard and levers on the control panel expertly, quickly assessing what button performs what function. He was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease. As a child, he could still see through his peripheral vision. One time, while riding down the street on his bike, he…

Mark B. is a lawyer in New Rochelle, a northern suburb of New York. Tysaun is a 14-year-old from nearby Mount Vernon, and is what some would describe as an “at-risk” child. In September 2021, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Westchester County matched them together, making Mark a “Big” and Tysaun a “Little.” The charity…

His early life was no crystal staircase. Mister Harriel grew up in a single-family, low-income home in a South Sacramento neighborhood. Drug dealing and gang violence were commonplace. That and his father’s absence became an on-ramp to a street life of drug dealing and property crime. Meanwhile, Harriel played high school basketball mainly to calm…

The picture of a volunteer of America may bring to mind older, seasoned citizens imparting the wisdom of their years to a younger generation. But who thinks of the benefit an 11-year-old “mentor” can have on even younger children, who would be more impacted by someone close to their age? Duff and Bonita Rowden have,…

In Southern California music pastor Duff Rowden was riding a bike trail when he came upon an orange orchard loaded with fruit. “They were beautiful, large, ripe, and ready to eat. I thought I might take a couple, but they weren’t mine so I rode away.” Two weeks later he came by the orchard again….

When he was 11, Terrell Blue’s mom was in prison, his 3-year-old brother had just died, and his dad “was in and out of jail.” Knowing he needed a role model, Blue’s aunt enrolled him in Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, one of the oldest and largest mentoring programs in the nation. That was…

Each one of us needs someone we can look up to, learn from, and lean on for support. You’re never too successful, or too old, to benefit from a mentor. In fact, the moment you stop learning from others is the moment you stop growing. You might be thinking, Okay, Ken, I’m all in. But how do…