The Litchfield Area Mentorship Program has had 12 children matched with adults this past year. Six of the children are now graduating from the program as they’ve reached the age of 18, and there are 25 children on a waiting list, so more mentors are needed.
Judy Hulterstrum says the program is for children ages 5-to-17 throughout Meeker County. She says she’s been doing both the fundraising and matching functions for LAMP the past few months, and they are working with Meeker County Extension Educator Cassidy Martin to start a 4H club in 2025 which will help to include more children in a type of group mentoring match.
Hulterstrum says Mimi Davis, Julie Rick, Deb Anderson and Sue Carlson will be helping to coordinate the new 4H Club for LAMP and they’ve received funds from PACT for Families and Walmart to get it started. She says they will still be doing one-to-one matches, but it’s getting harder to find mentors so the 4H Club will be a good solution to include more children in the program.
LAMP Board Chair JoAnn Kotila says the Lunch Buddies program is another way that they try to mentor more children and it’s not as big of a commitment for the adults. She says there are 25 matches in Lake Ripley and Dassel Elementary Schools.
Kotila says they are always looking for more people to be Lunch Buddies; and LAMP is looking at expanding that program into St. Philip’s School, ACGC, and EV-W. For more information about LAMP, call 320-699-1616.
