Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
You Can Mentor is a network that equips and encourages mentors and mentoring leaders through resources and relationships to love God, love others, and make disciples in their own community. We want to see Christian mentors thrive.
We want to hear from you! Send any mentoring questions to hello@youcanmentor.com, and we'll answer them on our podcast. We want to help you become the best possible mentor you can be. Also, if you are a mentoring organization, church, or non-profit, connect with us to join our mentoring network or to be spotlighted on our show.
Please find out more at www.youcanmentor.com or find us on social media. You will find more resources on our website to help equip and encourage mentors. We have downloadable resources, cohort opportunities, and an opportunity to build relationships with other Christian mentoring leaders.
Welcome to the You Can Mentor podcast. This is Zach, and I am with Alyssa Bryant from Save Our Youth in Denver, Colorado. Alyssa, say hello.
Speaker 2:Hi, Zach. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you guys reaching out.
Speaker 1:Oh, of course. It is my pleasure. I'm so excited to get to learn more about Save Our Youth. I've heard awesome things. But first, I wanna find out about you, Alyssa.
Speaker 1:So how's it going today?
Speaker 2:You know, it is going well on my end. I cannot complain. I personally am from Los Angeles, so that's been a lot on, you know, my mind, my heart, collectively with family and friends out there dealing with these wildfires and losses of homes. So it's just, you know, it puts things into perspective. You know?
Speaker 2:So today, I'm very grateful.
Speaker 1:Yeah. For sure. Yeah. I have been keeping up with those wildfires, and it's it is just about the worst thing that I've seen in a while. I mean, it is just absolutely devastating out there.
Speaker 1:It is. So, why don't you tell us a tidbit about yourself,
Speaker 2:Alyssa? Yeah. So as Zach mentioned, my name is Alyssa Bryant. And, specifically, right now, I'm the marketing and events coordinator at Save Our Youth Mentoring. And I would just love to share a little bit about how I found the organization because I'm sort of unique on our team in that I did not come from a ministry or nonprofit background.
Speaker 2:In fact, I actually come from the music industry. I ran a music company, and I had been doing that my entire career. So I actually made the jump from Los Angeles to Denver. And through the process, I had started my own company, and so I run that, and that's what I was focusing on. But one day, my husband and I were at our church that we go to, and they had allowed Savor Youth Mentoring to come on stage and to make a presentation simply to share the message about what they do and to let the congregation know they're looking for mentors to come in and mentor the youth that they have in their program ages 10 to 17.
Speaker 2:So my husband and I were sitting there listening to what they had to say, and it was just so inspiring first and foremost, and it was pretty profound, you know, just the way that they were telling us how they had over 90 kids on their wait list who were waiting for mentors. And these are kids who aren't forced into the program. I mean, they're all in the program on their own volition. You know, they want to be there. They have specifically agreed and said, I want to mentor, and I need a mentor.
Speaker 2:And so we went out to the lobby, and we're chatting with the team out there. And, it was just it was one of those things where you just know in that moment, we have to do this. So he and I both signed up to become mentors. And, you know, as I mentioned, I was working on my own thing, do my own company and all of that. And through the process of interviewing to become a mentor, I was so impressed with how this organization was running as a whole.
Speaker 2:The entire system from them reaching out to me, from recruitment team, from the communications, emails, it was so streamlined that I had never ever worked with any other nonprofit as seamless as this, especially as a volunteer. Right? Because we get the good and the bad on that side. And throughout that process, I was matched with a youth, and she was 12 at the time. And we're still together, and she's absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2:She's now 14. But during that process, I had also learned that they were looking for someone to do their marketing and events. And that's what I do now with my company. And so it just made sense. I was like, hey.
Speaker 2:I mean, I would love to kind of help out with this effort if that's something you guys are looking for. And I just came on board, and it has been absolutely incredible to see this organization not only from the perspective of a mentor, but also now the perspective of someone in the organizations. And through my role, I actually put on all of our events as an organization and do the marketing. So, specifically, what I mean by events is we have quarterly events that we put on for the youth in our program. We have things like family fun day where we have the mentors, mentees, and all of their families come, and we just have this really fun party and food and gifts and things like that.
Speaker 2:Then we do a graduation ceremony for all of our outgoing seniors. We also do a back to school barbecue where we provide backpacks full of supplies for our mentees as well as their siblings, and then a Christmas party at which we, share the gospel. We also, give out gifts, specifically gifts that the kids have requested, and we just have such a great time. And so coming to this organization, it's been my goal to really elevate the experiences Because, you know, as nonprofits, sometimes we can fall into this trap of just saying, okay. Well, we're just doing a public service, and we don't need to make our events that great.
Speaker 2:And, you know, it's sort of like a free for all. You guys can come and just do whatever. Yeah. But I personally don't have that attitude, and our organization has really been great about spurring me on to say no. Like, bring your gifts and talents from putting on large scale productions and allow our mentees to have a similar experience.
Speaker 2:Allow them to have an experience that they will remember. Things that they just cannot forget. They can say, when I was 12 years old, I went to this event and it was x, y, and z. And not only was it a super fun experience, but it just makes them feel like they're worth the effort to put on a very great event for them and also a place where we can, quite frankly, just share about the Lord. So that is our that's at least my goal within the organization.
Speaker 2:So that's what I've been doing here for almost two years now.
Speaker 1:Well, Anne, one thing that I love about you guys, Alyssa, is your vision statement. You know, it is every young person embraces their god given worth, and it is events like that. It's experiences that show them that they are worth so much more than they could, you know, ask or that they they could even imagine. And so by giving them this amazing experience, you're telling them, hey. You are worth it.
Speaker 1:We have put time into this. We have put money into this because you are worth it. And that's such a powerful message, especially to a kid who might not hear that every day.
Speaker 2:Definitely. And to sort of jump off that point, thank you for bringing up that vision statement. We actually just had an all staff, team meeting yesterday. It was all day, and we really just honed in on that phrase. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, what does it mean to have God given worth, and why are we here? Why are we doing this work? And at the end of the day, just so you and your audience are aware, a Savor Youth Mentoring specifically is a Christian organization. And so we work with Christian mentors, and we do not require the mentees nor their families to be Christian, to have any sort of faith background, beliefs, and we do not force any beliefs on them. We don't proselytize anything like that.
Speaker 2:It's only there if they have interest. So it's something that if if a kid comes to their mentor and says, hey. I would love to learn more about God. I mean, I've had this happen with my mentee. She asked me for a bible.
Speaker 2:I did not push that on her. She asked me, and then we can sort of take it to that next step. And so we are there just as guides to say, hey. We want to show you what the love of Christ looks like. We don't need to use flowery words or anything.
Speaker 2:We just want to show you what that looks like. And if you happen to be interested, we will take that further. The only times in which, as I mentioned, we do actually share the gospel is at our events. And all of the families are aware that that happens, and they still choose to come, and they love it. And it was very interesting to me because I've started doing these surveys at the end of every event to understand what they like, what they don't like.
Speaker 2:And at one of our events, you know, it's really hot outside. It's dead of summer, and things were just getting a little crazy. And I decided, okay. Let's let's cut the message short because people I wanna allow them to go home. The survey gave me insight to know that people wanted to hear more of the gospel.
Speaker 2:And to me, you know, as someone where we're thinking, okay, we don't wanna push this on you. We sort of take that for granted and say, we'll cut this out and let you guys, you know, feel more comfortable. And the response was not that. They said, we want more of that. And so it was just super confirming to me to say, okay.
Speaker 2:You know, this is not something that we're ever gonna put on the chopping block again. This is going to be first and foremost at these events. And the reason that that's important for us is because a lot of these kids, like I mentioned, they don't have any access to God or knowing about him. And so if they only hear it four times a year, then those four times a year are worth it to us. And simultaneously going back to this vision statement about, you know, we want to instill a God given worth is because we are of the belief that if you don't have something to anger you, then your worth will change dependent upon your circumstances.
Speaker 2:And so for us to be able to help remind young people that whether or not they believe in god, they were born with an intrinsic worth. And to remind a kid that over and over again, when they might be told from their peers, from anybody around them in their circle that they're not worth it or whatever it might be. To have at least one person come alongside you and to remind you that you're here for a purpose, that is such a profound thing to be a part of. So that's why, we're very, very focused on simply sharing that message with our mentees.
Speaker 1:Well, Anne, I was taking a look at your website, which is amazing. Such a cool website. You guys got great photographs and everything like that. But I think it was your vision statement that said connecting young people to hope through long term mentoring relationships. And if a mentor does nothing else other than share the gospel, share the good news, I mean, that within itself is hope.
Speaker 1:And so
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:You never know what our kids are hearing. Right? Like, they, but I'm I'm pretty sure that kids aren't hearing, you know, the good news often. I am pretty sure that most of the things that they hear are not instilling in them, confidence and self worth and value and positivity and joy. Right?
Speaker 1:But when they connect with your nonprofit, when they connect with their mentor, when they connect with the people who are who are at Save Our Youth, there's just something different. And the thing that I love about kids, kids can feel like, kids pick that up. Like, kids know whenever you're for them or when you're not, and you don't even have to say a word. And so, so, yeah, that's that's that's spot on. So thanks a lot for sharing that, Alyssa.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah. For sure. So it it says that you guys have been around since 1994?
Speaker 2:Correct. We just celebrated our thirty year anniversary last year. So I have put I organized a very large thirtieth anniversary celebration, and it was just a beautiful time of reflecting on all that God has done over these last thirty years. And like I mentioned, I obviously haven't been there that long. However, looking at the track record has been astounding just from my perspective.
Speaker 2:And one of the things that has really stuck out to me is the fact that there are so many young people who were in the program in that 94 time who now have kids of their own, and they've also put their kids in the program. And it's really cool to see how they stand by the fact that it changed their lives or it made such a big impact that they want to do the same for their kids. Or we've also had people in the program who were in it in that 94 time who are now mentors themselves. And so it's their way of giving back to that next generation, and it really is this beautiful snowball effect, and it just keeps giving. That's what we like to say.
Speaker 2:Like, there's really no other way to put it, and we're just so grateful that the people within the program, one, recognize the value, but also come back to add their own.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it it, it says that you guys serve about two two hundred and fifty some odd youth every year and, which is, I mean, just an amazing number. But do you think that you could kinda share tell me two things. Tell me where you find the kiddos, and then tell me where you find the mentors.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So for the the kids, the mentees in the program, we have a variety of ways of doing that. One, there's word-of-mouth. Right? It's been around for thirty years, so people tend to know us as a resource, and they refer youth that they are aware of who might need services in the program or benefit from them.
Speaker 2:We also have many church partners, and we work with, youth leaders. So if there's youth in their program who they feel might benefit from it, we usually get information from them. We're also actively working to create school partnerships, and the school officials, will be people who actually refer us to students on their program. And it's really just a wide variety of youth all over the city. There's not specifically one area that we focus on.
Speaker 2:It's the Denver Metro Area as a whole. So it's not even just Denver, the city. It's the entire metro. You know, we do Aurora, Thor like, all of these bigger cities within the one. And that's how we get our mentees.
Speaker 2:And then for the mentors, it's similar just on the flip side. So the church partners, some of them allow us to, as I mentioned, do presentations during their Sunday services. And the recruitment recruitment team will come, share a little bit about what the program is, what we do, and then just interact with people at church and see if they're interested in signing up. So churches are a big way that we get our mentors. I've also started doing a lot of radio ads on stations around town, like WayFM, K LOVE, you know, KLTT, things like that where we can get the word out.
Speaker 2:And that's been working really well for us in terms of just recruiting quality mentors, and overall, word-of-mouth. That is a big one for us.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, whenever a mentor comes into your, organization, you said earlier that there's a, you know, multistep kind of process to get them on, to get them prepared to mentor. Can you just kinda share what some of those steps are?
Speaker 2:Yes. So first and foremost, it is important to know that we put the safety of the youth above anything. Right? So that is going to be our North Star. So whenever we have mentors interviewing in the process, we do background checks.
Speaker 2:We there's fingerprint. There's all of the safety regulations that we do. But then there's reference checks. You know, we want to make sure that people in your community can trust you, and just a lot of understanding who you are as a person on that front. Aside from the safety, once we feel like you are a good fit safety wise, we also do an interview with each mentor.
Speaker 2:This is sort of their onboarding in in or interview just to understand, you know, why they wanna be a mentor in the first place. What's their heart behind it? And separate from that interview, we have an in person interview where it's a deep dive. Let's just say one and a half, two hour interview to understand what your likes are, your dislikes, your upbringing, what has made you you. And it does get kinda deep, but it's necessary to understand who you are as a person.
Speaker 2:And that's not just to understand, you know, you or to get behind you as a person, but really it helps us inform our decisions as to what mentee we're going to pair you with. Because if you are someone who loves hiking outdoors, the last thing we wanna do is pair you with a kid who is absolutely afraid of going into any sort of hiking path. Right? So we wanna make sure that the two of you gel because that increases the likelihood that the relationship will last, and we really wanna focus on long term mentoring relationships. So we want to try to set you both up for success.
Speaker 2:And on the flip side, we also interview the mentee. This isn't just us interviewing mentors. We interview the mentees to understand, hey. Like I mentioned earlier, do you really wanna be a part of this program? Because if your mom or dad are forcing you, it's not really going to be successful because, one, you're not gonna be willing to listen.
Speaker 2:You're not gonna be willing to go try fun new things or go to different restaurants with your mentor. And it really is so that we pair two individuals together who we think are going to be set up for success. So that's a big, big part of the interview process. And furthermore, once you get matched, a really helpful thing to know is that we have professional mentoring specialists on our team. And these mentoring specialists are people who are trained to be there for you at any time.
Speaker 2:If you have any issues that you might run into with your mentee, this is the person that you talk with. This is the person that you know I can go to for help if you feel like, hey. This is a really heavy situation. I don't know how to handle this. This person will help you navigate that, and they may take over if necessary.
Speaker 2:And we want to make sure our mentors are aware. You don't have to have experience. You don't have to have kids. You don't have to know how to be a parent. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, you just want to make a difference. That's all we ask of you and that you would be consistent in this child's life. And on top of that, these mentoring specialists want you to know that you don't have to be a therapist because oftentimes, we sort of equate the two. And we think to become a mentor, you you have to know how to be a therapist and how to respond to all these life questions. And quite frankly, that's not your role.
Speaker 2:Many of the youth in our program are already paired with the therapist. We've already gone over their mental health history. We understand. We wanna make sure that they're safe. Right?
Speaker 2:We talked about first and foremost. And so they already oftentimes have plans with their doctors, if there has ever been, instances of suicidal ideations, things like that. And you as a mentor are really simply there to be an outlet, to be a person, to go have fun with them. We as an organization provide free tickets to all of our matches for things like professional basketball games. We have nuggets tickets, you know, NHL Avs tickets.
Speaker 2:We send families to the Botanic Gardens and the Denver Zoo. I mean, the list just goes on. And throughout the year, we are also getting donated tickets so that our matches can simply just go have fun. Because a lot of the times when you think about these mentees, their lives are hard. Right?
Speaker 2:They're going through some hard stuff. And quite frankly, we just wanna give them the the space to have fun. And a lot of the youth in our program have wonderful parents. This has quite frankly nothing to do with their parents. It just so happens maybe they're one of six siblings, and maybe they are the oldest child and they've had to take on that role of being the kid that everyone has to answer to, and maybe they don't feel like they have a childhood.
Speaker 2:This is a time for them to escape and go have fun. And one of the stories that has always stuck out to me is one of the mentors in our program told us that one of her mentees, or her mentee specifically asked her, hey. You know, what's what's a favorite memory you have from your childhood? And she thought about it for a moment, and she responded. And then she asked her in return, what is yours?
Speaker 2:And her mentee said, when you took me to it was a a location here in Denver. So when you took me to this location and we spent the day together, and that had only happened about a few weeks prior to her asking that question. So when you pull back and you think about your childhood memories and the things that stuck out to you, you're actually helping them form those childhood memories in real time. And so for her to say that that was her favorite childhood memory, it it was beautiful. And she's a teenager, you know, for her to say that she still considers herself in that time frame to make a childhood memory was pretty impactful.
Speaker 2:And we just love love the fact that our mentors and mentees just have fun. You know, this isn't supposed to be some super intense program where you have to share your feelings every single day. It really is a place where you can just go and understand that there's hope out there. Right? Because if all you're seeing is negative this, negative that, if your mentor can go and take you to a really nice restaurant and you guys can experience a fine dining experience together, that's a new experience for that kid, and they may have never even known that that was possible.
Speaker 2:You know, we've we've brought families into private Rockies suites before, you know, for baseball. And just the look on their faces is overwhelming. It's like, wow. I've never seen this side. Right?
Speaker 2:Like, there's just such cool opportunities out there. So we want to make sure that we are giving them, fun experiences.
Speaker 1:Well, one of my favorite things about, Save Our Youth is your average match time is fifty two months. And so one of my questions was, you know, how in the world do you have mentorment team matches that last that long? And I think that that, you just kinda answered that. I mean, you're preparing them from the very get go. You're supporting them with people who can, if they have any issues, they can call up, you know, people on on staff to kinda help them out.
Speaker 1:You're providing them fun experiences, you know, going to baseball games, going to basketball games. And a mentee's just gonna bond so much, so much better with their mentor if when they hang out, they're having a blast. And joy and fun, I mean, that is that is one of the key components to mentoring because if a kid doesn't like you, if a kid doesn't like to spend time with you, it's just not gonna work out. And so that's so awesome that you guys put that much effort into having fun because it it really is a big deal. And for a guy like me, I don't know what happened, but ever since I turned 40, I am just not that much fun anymore.
Speaker 1:And and so it is it is so encouraging, to hear someone be like, hey. Today's goal with your mentee, it's not to talk about grades. It's not to talk about this. It's not to to talk about that. Even though those are important, today's goal is to have
Speaker 2:fun.
Speaker 1:And so Yes. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:And there is a time and a place for that.
Speaker 1:Of course.
Speaker 2:You know, if if you are out there and you feel you're boring, we will help you be fun with your mentee. You know?
Speaker 1:So Thank you. Yes.
Speaker 2:There's no issue there. We we know how to facilitate that.
Speaker 1:That's great. I think the last thing that I would really like to talk about, Alyssa, is can you just kinda share some of the, some of your, different kinds of programs? Like, I I saw that you have a life transitions program creating different kinds of pathways. You have a scholarship. I mean, you guys are up to some awesome stuff.
Speaker 1:So do you think that you could just kinda share just a tiny bit about those?
Speaker 2:Yes. So one of the great things about the program is that although we are focused on youth ages 10 to 17, once they hit 18, it's not, okay. You're done. You're out the program. You know, we really wanna help them, especially during a time of transition.
Speaker 2:If you give me one second. I'm so sorry. Alright. I need to let my dog go.
Speaker 1:You're good.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:You're welcome.
Speaker 2:I think someone is at the door, so he's going a little crazy.
Speaker 1:I understand. I do too anytime that phone comes to the door. Is it
Speaker 2:is it loud on your end, or is it okay?
Speaker 1:I think it's loud. Yeah. I think it's loud. It's okay if we just wait a second.
Speaker 2:Okay. We can cut that one out?
Speaker 1:Yes, ma'am. Sure can.
Speaker 2:Alrighty. Give me one more second. I'm trying Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Of course.
Speaker 2:Alright. I think he might be good right now. So Yeah. Let's hope on that. So would you remind just repeating that last question?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Sure. Yeah. So, some of the different kinds of, different kinds of programs that you guys do? I saw that there was, like, a life transitions.
Speaker 1:There was, like, creating pathways, different kinds of, like, scholarship, just anything that you guys do in regards to putting on some progress.
Speaker 2:So so one of the wonderful things about the program is that although we really focus on youth ages 10 to 17, right when they hit 18, it does not mean we say, alright. You're good now. You're off to the races. I mean, we really want to help them transition, especially at that crucial time where they may either be going right into college or the workforce, whatever it might be. So if a youth has been in our program already and they are about to graduate out of the program, we do have something called scholars or, we really just allow that to be a space where they focus on understanding how to apply to college, FAFSA, all those things.
Speaker 2:We have someone on our staff. Her name is Angela, and she is our education manager who really works with these students one on one. If they say, hey. I don't even know how to fill out this form. She actually goes and sits with them and helps them fill out the form to get financial aid.
Speaker 2:She helps them with their applications. It's a very hands on experience for them. And furthermore, we also provide scholarships for these youth. So the incredible thing is we've had many students in our program. You know, let's say they went off to college and they've been there for a semester, and they call call Angela up and they say, hey.
Speaker 2:You know, I might be at risk of having to drop out of college because I can't pay for this next semester. The amount of times that, say, Reeve has come in and helped bridge that financial gap, I can't even count because I hear it quite frequently, and it is just beautiful that this is a program that exists to help them during that critical phase of their life. And for those who choose not to go to college, we still encourage them to do something that they want to do. It doesn't matter if they don't know exactly what they wanna do for the rest of their life. But if it's a trade school or if it's, if it's going right into the workforce, you know, we will be there right alongside you to make those decisions and hopefully help you make an informed decision at that point in time of your life.
Speaker 2:And even before the students in our program become seniors, we have so many resources available. We do annual check ins, you know, other than allowing the mentors to call their mentor specialist at any time. So we have scheduled annual check ins with the mentor and mentee to understand what the goals are, what is something the mentee wants to work on throughout the year, what's something the mentor wants to work on, and it's sort of like an accountability process where we have worksheets for them. We teach them about financial planning and understanding the basics of life, like, whatever they feel that looks like for them or, how to be organized, you know, how to present yourself and and talk to people. So it's just incredible that there's so many resources in this one program that these youth just have access to year round.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. And I I I just think that what you guys are up to is so cool. And one of my favorite things to hear about, from from our time here today was just the fact that you recruit mentors from the radio. Like, man, what a great idea. Like, that was just absolutely genius.
Speaker 1:So, well, cool. Well, is there anything else that you would, that you would like to share about Save Our Youth today on our podcast?
Speaker 2:Yes. And I would just say to anyone out there listening, especially if you are in the Denver Metro Area because that's the area that we serve, if you find yourself near us and you just feel like, hey. I I would like to be a part of something. I would like to make a difference in our next generation. Please please visit us.
Speaker 2:You can visit us at saveouryouth.org/mentor if you wanna go straight to that mentor page. And there will be a no commitment interest form there that you can fill out. Just send in your information, your name, and that will just give us a way to have contact with you, And then we can take the next steps from there. If you get on that first call and you say, this is not for me. No harm.
Speaker 2:No foul. But if it happens to be something where you say, wow. This really is still speaking to me. I feel convicted of making a difference. I would love to continue.
Speaker 2:Then we will handle everything. It's also a free program for our mentors, and I wanna make sure that that's clear. We do not charge you for anything during the process. The only thing that typically gets charged is the fingerprinting. And when I did it, it was about $15.
Speaker 2:But even that, if it's too much, we have ways to get around that for you. So we don't want anything to be cost prohibitive. And like I mentioned, we do have free tickets and activities. So if you feel that you do wanna make a difference, that you're not necessarily sure if you're in a financial position to meet with a mentee once a week, you know, for a year and take them on fun experiences, we got you covered. So we also encourage our mentors to simply go to the library with your mentee.
Speaker 2:Every experience doesn't have to be some crazy expensive fun experience. And if I might just add one more last story on this, my mentee, as I mentioned, she's 14. They've been together since she was 12. In the very, very beginning, she was super, super quiet, really reserved, and we would be in the car, take her to one place to another, and I could barely hear her. And I wasn't sure if she just didn't like me.
Speaker 2:I wasn't sure if I wasn't communicating effectively with her. But things just weren't really clicking in the beginning, and I, again, just wasn't sure where we stood. Over that first year, I would say it really took a year. She has opened up so much, and it is so beautiful to see how she has grown up just from 12 to 14 and that pivotal age. And one of the moments that has really stuck out to me was just a couple of months ago where she's home alone often because her mom works jobs to help provide for them.
Speaker 2:And she was over, and she basically said, I I don't really feel comfortable going home right now because I don't wanna be alone at nighttime. And so I said, okay. Well, do you wanna just hang out here for a little bit longer? And I was in full communication with her mom, and her mom said, yeah. That's fine.
Speaker 2:She could stay there for longer. And we just sat on our couch and watched movies, and she even fell asleep at one point on the couch with my dog. They were curled up and just sitting there. And I looked over and it made me realize she's comfortable. You know, she has a place that she feels comfortable and that she can let her walls down.
Speaker 2:And that to me was so pivotal. Like, that spoke more words than anything she could have ever said to me. And after that day and we were with each other for about eight hours a day. And it was so fun because we didn't have to talk about any crazy deep feelings. We just sat there.
Speaker 2:You know, at some point, she was just on her phone. She was doing this, doing that, and it was just simply having that presence there. And I mean, when you think about you being with your family at home, you don't have to talk every second of the day. You can just sit on your couch and relax, and that's what this is. So I'm super honored to be in her life and to have her in mine, and, I do consider her family at this point, and it's such a beautiful relationship that we've built.
Speaker 2:And even me and her mom and my husband's mentee and the mentee's mom, and it's just sort of like growing your family. So I just appreciate you allowing me to share a little bit more about Save Our Youth Mentoring at this time. And like I mentioned, if anyone out there is interested, you can visit us at saveouryouth.org/mentor.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Alyssa. That's a fantastic story. Like, if you can show up, if you can encourage, you can create a safe environment for your mentee to feel loved, to feel valued, to feel like they have worth, I mean, that is just going to open up doors, for them to to open up to you, for you to love them, to care for them, to support them, maybe to talk about your faith faith with them. I mean, just it's all about relationships. And to build relationships, it takes time in a safe environment.
Speaker 1:And it sounds like Save Our Youth is, doing a great job of all those things. So thank you so much for sharing on our podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank
Speaker 1:you. Super thankful for you. So,
Speaker 2:Likewise. We appreciate this time.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you, got anything from this podcast, please feel free to reach out to Alyssa, and I hope that you remember you can mentor. Thank you.