Phoenix-area group seeks volunteers to mentor vulnerable foster children

PHOENIX – A Phoenix-area nonprofit group is recruiting volunteers to change the lives of children in foster care by serving as mentors and role models.

“It’s really an amazing volunteer opportunity that has a huge impact on vulnerable children in foster care,” Laura Pahules, executive director of Tempe-based Arizonans for Children, told KTAR News 92.3 FM last week.

“We match volunteers from the community with school-age children in foster care to mentor them for eight hours a month and a year commitment.”

Pahules said all the children in the program showed improvement in four key areas after one year: behavior, grades, attendance and self-esteem.

“Because they now have someone in their life that cares enough about them to ask if they’ve done their homework, to show up when they’ve promised to visit, and it just changes the children’s lives,” she said.

Arizonans for Children interviews and does background checks on volunteers and also interviews the children so they can be matched with mentors with similar interests.

The mentors’ job is to pick kids up from their foster homes or group homes for outings in the community.

“We ask them to introduce as many life lessons as possible while they’re out on a visit, modeling behaviors that the kids may not see in their foster placement,” Pahules said. “Thinks like how to say please and thank you, how to order at a restaurant, things like that.”

Pahules there are about 100 kids on a waiting list for mentors, and the volunteer recruiting process is ongoing.

Anybody interested can find information and apply at the Arizonans for Children website.

“We’ve done this since 2002, and there’s never a shortage in kids who need a mentor in their life,” Pahules said.

KTAR New 92.3 FM’s Nailea Leon contributed to this report.

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