Fletcher Friends
On Thursday afternoons shortly after school lets out, you can find several students from 3rd and 4th grades at Fletcher Elementary School not headed home but headed down the hall to yet one more classroom. However, this classroom isn’t for more book learning, this classroom is for games, music, snacks, a side of STEM studies and, most importantly, relationship building. Members of Tree of Life Lutheran Church, Jamestown are the adults in this classroom and they are there through the Chautauqua Striders school mentoring program.
About a year ago, the Director of Chautauqua Striders and a member of Tree of Life (TOL), Jennifer Swan-Leuze, approached her pastor, Rev. Tara Eastman, and TOL’s leadership team wondering what it would look like for members of TOL serve their literal neighbors – students at Fletcher Elementary. A few conversations, some space given in worship for learning and an invitation to serve, and Jennifer’s wondering became a reality. This past Spring adults from TOL mentored seven third graders.
After their first few months of “Fletcher Friends” TOL can say without a doubt they have seen God working in this new partnership. The relationships built and the confidence growing in adult mentors and student mentees alike, have made this small group a community. The young people are quick to recognize their adult friends out in the community and asking for when they will see each other next.
Why spend time with kids they aren’t related to? The answer is simple, relationship of course. While this is what everyone comes to value in the mentoring program, it was started to help at-risk youth develop a stronger connection with their school, develop goals for the future and break the cycle of poverty. Having the consistent presence of a caring adult in a young person’s life can make a world of difference as they grown learn, question and discover who God made them to be. We all know the phrase, “it takes a village to raise a child” and Tree of Life is committed to being an active part of that village for their young neighbors in Jamestown.