Mentoring

The Lincoln/Lancaster County Royal Family Kids mentoring program and club began in August 2012. Generally, camp staff and counselors were not able to see the campers from the summer camp until the next summer at camp. Many close relationships are formed at camp, only to say goodbye on Friday. With a mentoring and club program we were able to provide a way to keep those positive relationships going throughout the school year. This not only made a difference in the lives of the children but also in the summer camp program. The children were familiar with the staff and counselors and the overall behaviors at camp improved.

One of our local supporting churches provided the cost for a mentoring director and club coordinator to be trained in California with national Royal Family Kids leaders. The national leadership indicated we could start a program if we had 12-15 children and mentors. In the first year we mentored 25 children, with 25 mentors and 10 club staff. The program grew every year, and prior to the covid pandemic over 50 children were being mentored! The mentors commit to 4 hours of 1:1 mentoring per month and once a month all mentors and children meet on a Saturday for 2 hours for RFK club, where they see friends from camp and continue to build relationships. Mentors are required to have spent at least one full week at RFKC, similarly, mentees come straight from our camp list.

Children in the foster care system often are fostered in multiple homes prior to adoption or being reunited with family. Sometimes a mentor works with a child that has changed homes 5 or 6 times throughout elementary school. Placements change, caseworkers change, but the mentor is often the only consistent person in the life of that child, to see them through those hard changes. We are blessed to be able to offer this program to the foster children in our camping program. Mentoring does make a difference!