one year. two lives changed FOREVER.

Mentoring Program Leader Sarah Benson

works to impact kids through mentoring

Words by ANNA HAGEN, Marketing Director, YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties and KRISTIN MILLER , Marketing Coordinator, YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties

t was an extra hot summer in 2006.

In Iraq. The sun, sandy wind and 120 plus degree days just made your clothes stick to your body and your skin taste like salt. Sarah Benson, a 21-year-old free spirit who spent nearly two years on active duty in Iraq, would normally be found plopped down under a giant stack of papers at her desk in the human resources office, located at Camp Adder near the city of Nasiriyah in the southern part of the country. As a sergeant in the military, her life was full of order and early mornings and she was constantly surrounded by t-barriers, steel freight boxes and camouflage.

Benson had been on active duty for five months when her heart started to feel heavy. She was trying to make a difference in the world, but she started to think that her time and talents were being used in the wrong place. It was when she saw a group of children playing hopscotch and some made-up games in the sand on one of those hot summer days that made her long for home. She described it as a true epiphany, and remembered thinking that when she got home she wanted to devote herself to working with kids, especially those who could use a little extra help.

“I felt like there was something making my life not quite whole,” Benson says. “I get my energy from kids. Working with kids makes me feel like I have a true purpose and I wanted that back.”

Benson, a native of Sandstone, Minnesota, who now lives in Moorhead with her husband, Tyler, and threeyear-old daughter, Vivie, grew up with three siblings, two of whom also served in the army. A spirit of serving others was always present in her household while growing up, with her dad working as a longtime volunteer for the Salvation Army. Benson says it was that dedication from her dad that first inspired her to make giving back a priority in her life.

“He always had a big heart,” Benson says. “There were several times when we had someone who was down on their luck, maybe without a job or without a home, who we would have stay with us. I saw that as the way you should be with people. If you have something to give, you should give it.”

Benson returned home to the states in August of 2007 and continued to serve in the Army National Guard until 2011. During that time, she completed her bachelor’s degree in family counseling from the University of Minnesota Duluth and her master’s degree in school counseling from Minnesota State University Moorhead. After finishing school, she went on to start her career in school counseling for five years, but found a new calling when she began working at the YMCA of Cass and Clay Counties in 2015 as the organization’s Reach and Rise mentoring program director.

The Reach and Rise mentoring program is a national YMCA program that was originally launched in 1992 at the YMCA of San Francisco and later expanded to Fargo in 2012. The therapeutic one-on-one mentoring program matches at-risk youth with caring and supportive adult mentors. Mentors are paired with mentees, which are youth ages 6–17 that lack role models and may be challenged by social issues like poverty, crime, substance abuse and single parent households. For a minimum of one year, mentors and mentees spend one to three hours per week together going on oneon-one outings like sledding, playing games at the YMCA or reminiscing about the school day over dinner. During this time, mentors focus on key emotional and developmental issues specific to each mentee. Sometimes the duos attend group events with other Reach and Rise pairs.

Unlike similar mentoring programs, Reach and Rise mentors provide more than just a buddy for their mentees. They are trained to address specific goals that will be impactful and have long-term outcomes behaviorally. There is an emphasis on individual growth, which looks different for each child. Mark Winkelman, one of the first mentors at the YMCA in Fargo, says “For me, the Reach and Rise program is an opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life. We’re helping them work on some issues they may have and working with them to improve in those areas.”

The youth in Reach and Rise are referred to the program by school counselors and other mental health professionals who identify their need for a positive adult role model. Benson says that she sees kids completely transformed by their involvement in the program — ending their year in the program much happier, more confident and better able to succeed in school and in interpersonal relationships.

She recalls one young mentee who had struggled with witnessing emotional violence in his home, causing him to have behavioral troubles in school and develop a deep uncertainty in himself. “He’s blossomed in the program,” Benson says about the child, adding that the relationship he developed with his mentor has allowed him to find the stable, reassuring adult presence he had been missing out on at home.

Benson takes joy in seeing her mentor/mentee matches grow together and hearing their stories of success. “We all become one big family,” she says, while adding, “I love seeing the progress our mentees take, and knowing that one small thing can be a huge step. I also find joy and fulfillment in really getting to know the kids on a deeper level,” Benson says about making the switch from school counseling to her current position at the YMCA. “You really get to know family dynamics and meet a lot of amazing people.”