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Don & Keoni

It’s one o’clock recess and it’s clear to mentor, Don Nichols, that in this game of wallball, he doesn’t have a prayer. Don’s mentee, Keoni, is a wallball titan at his local elementary school and he doesn’t go easy on amateur players.

Don and his mentee, Keoni, have been meeting weekly since January 2004.

“Now when you roll the ball like you’re bowling, you’re out,” Keoni explains earnestly. “And, if you catch it, that’s ‘handsies’ and you’re also out, understand?” Don nods patiently and is soon walloped by the game’s curiously changeable rules

and Keoni’s powerful

right arm bounce.

The game is one of

many the two have shared in their year and a half together. Since January of 2004, Don, a retiree and veteran of other mentoring relationships, has helped Keoni understand the mentoring commitment.

“I showed Keoni the ‘What a Mentor Is’ sheet and pointed out the word ‘advocate’. ‘I am your advocate and I advocate for what’s best for you,’” Don explained.

Don has proven his dedication to Keoni’s well being by exercising his advocate role a number of times. When Keoni was moved from one foster home to another in November, Don wasted no time in finding him and reestablishing their relationship in a new family, new school, and new city.

“It’s important for kids like Keoni to have some consistency,” Don remarked humbly, failing to point out that he now travels 30 miles out of his way to visit Keoni in his new home.

Through changing families and surroundings, the one constant Keoni can count on is Don. Keoni, an active and rambunctious nine year old, doesn’t necessarily vocalize his gratitude for Don’s presence. In the casual, confident way he introduces Don to the school staff around him, however, it’s clear that Keoni has come to rely on Don’s dedication as surely as anything in his life. There is no doubt that Keoni has benefited from the consistent, positive role model Don brings to his life.

The rewards of the relationship for the mentor can be subtle, often hidden by the more immediate needs of the mentee. For mentors like Don, even small improvements are great rewards.

“I hear he’s doing better in math and reading,” Don said. (Actually, Keoni has come from being two years behind in reading to reading at a level close to that of other kids in his grade). “He’s also improving and getting his ethics. He used to fib to win at any game we’d play and he doesn’t do that anymore.”

Don sought out Portland Impact Mentoring after years of mentoring in California (a mentoring relationship he still maintains by phone), searching for a way to engage youth in his community. Honest and energetic, Don is a high caliber mentor with impeccable mentoring talents.

“Don is very nice,” says Keoni’s school counselor. “It is obvious why there is a comfortable bond between Keoni and him.”

“He always exercises great judgment,” one family friend said of Don. “Don has often worked with challenging youth, is respectful and effective at building positive relationships. Everyone likes Don.”

Certainly, Don is a volunteer many youth-centered programs would like to clone – a dedicated, talented, gentleman from the community interested in helping youth. Mentoring programs are often chagrin about the lack of male volunteers. It is a great pleasure for our program to provide a child with a mentor like Don. For Keoni, the pleasure comes in a handily won afternoon ball game.

“So, that means that you’re out, right?” Don asks as Keoni holds a ball overlong.

“No, no, I’m still in. We’re going to play non-school rules and in non-school rules, ‘handsies’ is okay. I’m still in.”

Don grins and follows Keoni’s new interpretation of the game rules with his usual aplomb.

If you'd like to know how you too can positively impact the life of a child in your community, click here to learn more about the Mentoring program.

-Jeff Gierer

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