Mentor of Month: Jim Roehrig

Congratulations to Jim Roehrig, February’s Mentor of the Month! Jim and his mentee David just celebrated their one year anniversary on Saturday. Their story began when Jim heard about our program from a friend and decided he wanted to help make a difference in a child’s life, especially with all the difficulties of growing up these days. As a child Jim was shy, and as a teen he hated school, and wanted to support a child with similar difficulties. Ideally, Jim was looking for a younger mentee who needed emotional support and would be excited to hang out with a mentor at school and off campus. His mentee, David, a fifth grader at the time of their match, fit the bill perfectly. He was very shy and needed help building his social skills and confidence. They also bonded right away over their love of dogs, and David was so excited to take Jim’s dogs on walks together. Since they have been meeting, Jim has been able to give David more than emotional support, but also the structure he needs during young adolescence.

Jim goes above and beyond the 1 hour a week, and meets with David multiple times each week, helping him with homework afterschool and taking him on educational and recreational trips around Santa Barbara. Although there have been challenges, Jim works hard to overcome them and find solutions, and is always the best role model he can be for David. As David grows from a boy into a young man, all of the valuable skills and life lessons Jim has taught him will carry on throughout his life. We can already see the great impact Jim has made when David smiles and looks you in the eyes where he once just stared at his shoes. Jim’s great dedication, consistency, and sense of humor are what have earned him February’s Mentor of the Month. Congratulations Jim, you deserve it!