Destiny, 10, is a mentee. She loves dance. Her mom, Ruby Garner, who volunteers at Health People as a peer educator, tells about an important conversation she heard among the kids.

One boy was sitting to the side listening to the other kids talk about how Mommy has Aids and their friends tease them and say “Your mommy has the monster.”! The boy said to the girl who was talking, “Doesn’t that make you mad. Don’t you want to fight them?” The girl said, “Oh, I used to, but now that I have others kids to talk to, what I care about is my Mom.”

“When I heard this,” Ruby recalls, “I said ‘Wow’. This is a common ground where kids can have a different view. It’s a forum for them---for their development.”

Shannon Reynolds, 33, has been raising her brother, Tarik Carr, a High School senior at Cardinal Hayes High School, since their mother died of cancer a year ago. In his five years with Health People, Tarik started as a mentee and is currently a mentor in the program.

Tarik
I love the kids, I love being a mentor. There’s a lot of kids in this world who have lost a lot of people…then they’re not doing the right things, they’re dropping out of school. I was in that position, myself, when I lost my mother. I thought my life was over. I thought I had nothing left but I was offered to be a mentor and I realized as I long as I keep doing that, I can be able to make a difference.

Shannon
I’m very proud of my brother for all his accomplishments and being there for his mentee and being such an example to our youth. Raising him has its ups and downs, but if it wasn’t for our mother instilling in us a love of God we wouldn’t be where we are today and be able to live together. The mentoring program is so good because now that he has someone looking up to him, he’s not going to make thoughtless mistakes. He needs this program!

Iretta Rivera, a High School senior studying music at the Bronx Performing Arts Conservatory. Iretta lost her own mom when she was six and she has a great sense of the importance of helping other kids.

Being a mentor means responsibility. You’re responsible to be a leader and role model to your youth/mentee. Mainly being a mentor is like: a friend, an older sister or brother, a person to talk to, a person for help, an educator, a tutor, a person the mentess can be themselves around. I am all these things because I am a mentor at Health People.