What is links mentoring?

I volunteer because I know that spending just an hour a week to talk to my little buddy about his day can make an impact that lasts a lifetime.
--LINKS volunteer Officer Davin Alsin
The LINKS program provides one-on-one mentoring for youth in the Lake Washington School District.  Volunteers are adults from all sorts of backgrounds, educational levels, and stages of life who can spare an hour a week to spend with a child. Activities vary, but one thing remains constant: the adult is there to support a child's social-emotional development. 

"From the get-go, my Lunch Buddy and I would do crafts together," recalls LINKS volunteer Laura Spencer. "She loves to do crafts so that was always what we do. But we’d sit there quietly and do crafts and we wouldn’t talk much. And then after a couple weeks she started really opening up and sharing and just talking to me and it was just amazing how much she would share with me."

Training and ongoing support are provided to the mentors to ensure that they interact with the mentee in a way that improves students' confidence and helps them acquire the skills needed for lifelong success, in school and beyond.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

You could be the one thing that changes the path for them for the rest of their lives.
--LINKS volunteer Laura Spencer, 2018

VOLUNTEER

LINKS volunteers spend one hour per week in the schools as lunch buddies. LINKS volunteers help students feel engaged, supported and challenged. 

If you step forward, you'll receive training and support to ensure your success. What will you get back? You'll get the joy of spending time with a child, and you'll know that you're making a real difference in the life of someone who needs you.

DONATE

Great mentoring takes time and money. Once recruited, our mentors receive rigorous training and ongoing support. Once pairs are matched, they are monitored and measured for progress in concrete ways to make sure LINKS is providing the benefits that we know mentoring can bring.
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Plenty of people aren’t able to volunteer an hour a week as a Lunch Buddy. But if you can't be there, support someone who can. 

INTERVIEWS WITH LINKS MENTORS
Every year, it’s amazing the amount of positive energy that comes back towards me from the Buddy without asking for it.
--LINKS volunteer Ken Goodwin
When you go in, they just light up, and you know that in that moment you’re making a difference with that kid individually.
--LINKS volunteer Emily Roe
It brings tears to my eyes now just thinking about how excited she is to see me.
--LINKS volunteer Laura Spencer
If you just like talking to kids, seriously talking to kids, I think it’s a great program.
--LINKS volunteer Rich Whitehill