KidStart mentoring helps children in need
The Record
Helping kids in need is a priority for Steven Braun. The 24-year-old part-time student has been mentoring a child through the Pacific Legal Education Association??s KidStart mentoring program for the last year — with great results.
Estranged from his father and picked on in school, Steven knows how valuable a positive role model can be in a child's life.
"There will be less kids on Hastings Street because of a program like KidStart," says Braun. "I've seen the positive results a mentor can have in the life of an at-risk kid. That's why I wanted to be involved."
Steven is currently mentoring Jeremy, a seven-year-old First Nations boy from a low-income neighbourhood in New Westminster — his name has been changed to protect his privacy. A witness to domestic violence, Jeremy has been in foster care for most of his life. When he began the KidStart program, he was prone to temper tantrums, hyperactivity and hitting.
"Jeremy has shown significant improvement since we started working together," says Steven. "He's more confident, he relates to his peers better, and the tantrums have stopped."
For more than 20 years, KidStart has helped protect kids and young adults, age six to 18, who are vulnerable to crime, addiction and exploitation.
In August, the program was chosen as a finalist for Vancity's annual $1-million award, available to non-profit organizations in the Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley and Victoria. The winner is chosen by Vancity members, who can vote online, by phone or in any branch up to October 15.
