Helping Kids Dream Big and Succeed: My Non-Profit Passion

By Erica

There are so many non-profits doing fabulous work in this country that it can be hard to find the right fit. I got lucky. Over ten years ago, through an online search of organizations needing volunteers, I found Friends of the Children. 

The animating mission of Friends is simple and compelling: a constant one-to-one relationship with an adult can change a child’s life. Sadly, that’s not a given for so many of our children, especially those who are grappling with life’s biggest challenges—poverty, housing and food insecurity, foster care. But we all know from our own experiences just how life altering those relationships are. And so Friends fills that gap for kids most in need by pairing them with paid professional mentors from kindergarten through high school—12+ years, no matter what. This video tells our story.

Friends’ metrics for success were also compelling: graduate from high school (83%) without becoming a teenage parent (98%) and not getting involved in the juvenile justice system (93%). Have a plan—school, armed services, a job (92%). These stats are all the more remarkable when you discover that most of their parents could not meet these criteria.

And so I got involved, slowly at first helping kindergarteners and first graders with their homework (no doubt, I learned more than they did), then serving on the Board of the New York chapter for over a decade, and now serving on the Board of the National organization. Since those early days, Friends has grown from a handful of chapters to 41 locations in 21 states, from serving 24 children in Portland, Oregon to thousands of kids facing challenges across the country.

We have expanded our reach to include Indigenous communities (e.g., the Pine Ridge Reservation, in South Dakota) and families experiencing foster care. We are committed to reducing the number of five years olds in foster care by 10% by 2030. Simone Biles, who spent time in foster care, has become a national ambassador for Friends and a passionate supporter.

We are on the move.

Let me close with one story. Cardeana graduated from Friends in Portland, Oregon in 2013 and went on to earn her undergraduate degree at Jackson State University in Tennessee. She’s now a high school teacher and volleyball and basketball coach in East Memphis. A few years ago, she was awarded Teacher of the Year. Cardeana credits her Friend with her confidence and her success:

[Ms.Rena] kept me going. And when you have other people who are there for you, they make you want to do better. They count on you to do your best, even when you feel like you don’t want to.

Cardeana is just one of the many children whose lives were changed by having a Friend. Friends of the Children is making a difference, one day and one child at a time. If you’d like to get involved, please do reach out at info@lustre.net and I will help connect you to the right folks. And check out our new Impact Report—there are chapters all across the country.