The Friends Youth Mentoring Program has 169 reasons for you to pick up your golf clubs Sept. 10.
The program serves area children in need of assistance by connecting them with mentors in the community, and Sept. 10 marks the 15th annual golf tournament benefiting the program. The event will be held at the Concord Country Club, beginning at 8 a.m.
Last year the program successfully paired 169 youngsters with mentors in the community.
“We deal with an awful lot of kids that come from very difficult socioeconomic situations,” Jerry Madden, executive director of the Friends Program and a former chief of police in Concord, said. “They're all good kids, but their prospects sometimes can be limited by the fact that they are not in a situation where they get to see what a lot of other kids might be able to see. The strength of the program has been that we really put a lot of emphasis on making sure the match we put together is a good match.”
Mentors are asked to commit to one year at the beginning, though most do several, Madden said, and many have stayed with the same youngster for six years or more, guiding them into adulthood. Madden is a mentor in the program himself and is in his third year working with a rising sophomore in high school.
“It's rewarding, I think at times more for me than him, even,” Madden said. “It's a different type of thing. It's not parenting; it's just trying to be a friend to someone.”
The program initially began with a spotlight on youth already in the juvenile justice system but switched its focus to better serve the area's youngsters, with an ideal of “not helping them after they've already stumbled but to really try to provide some direction before they encounter those types of pitfalls,” Madden said.
The difficulty has never been finding youth – referrals come from a variety of schools in and around Concord – but rather finding enough mentors willing to do what amounts to three or four hours of volunteer work per week.
The golf tournament has become a signature event to raise money and awareness for the program, as teams from a variety of local businesses take part (the major sponsors are Merrimack County Savings Bank, New Hampshire Distributors and the Sulloway & Hollis legal firm.)
For taking part, tournament golfers are recognized with a goodie bag sporting items from area businesses such as Rite Aid and Rath, Young & Pignatelli. They are provided a continental breakfast that includes items from the Works Bakery Cafe, Starbucks, and Hood Inc., and lunch catered by Alan from Alan's Restaurant. The event also features a raffle, with a variety of prizes that include an overnight stay at The Inn at Mills Falls in Meredith, a Jed Lowrie autographed baseball, a foursome with carts from the Concord Country Club and a handful of gift certificates from local merchants.
There are prizes available for hole-in-one competitive play, including a car from Lincoln of Concord and a diamond ring from Capital Craftsmen, and there's a putting contest, as well.
The registration fee is $115 per play, with foursomes welcomed. Contact Kelley Potenza at 228-1193, ext. 223, for more information, or visit friendsprogram.org.
