COACH Kids had been unable to have any kind of a celebration until Tuesday night when the organization held its Spring Celebration at the brand new Prairie Creek Park in downtown Frankfort.
“After missing year of being in-person, this night is important to celebrate our community, our kids, our mentors, our donors and our friends,” said COACH Kids Executive Director Susan Grasham. “Everybody being able to come together to tell our stories and recognize what’s going on in the community.”
Grasham said missing last year hurt the organization.
“It went from being our biggest year ever with 260 kids getting mentored in the county to last year when we had about 90,” said Grasham. “That was just coronavirus. The opportunities just weren’t there. We’re excited about the next year with those numbers. But we know what every mentor is giving up to this process. Their time is not cheap and we just appreciate everyone who comes out.”
COACH Kids had three Local Heroes High School Scholarship award winners who were Emma Dennison from Rossville, Allie Marchand of Clinton Prairie and Austin Orem of Clinton Central.
The Local Heroes Mentor of the Year was Rita Barnett and the Community Hope Mentor of the Year was J.R. Dover.
Local Heroes is school-based only where mentors meet their mentees usually over lunch with activities and resources provided and can expand outside of school with permission. This is for 30 minutes a week.
The Community Hope program is community-based that has regular group events and activities with trainings and resources being provided for a successful match. This is for 4-6 hours a month.
Grasham said they are looking for mentors.
“Right now, we have five kids waiting on our Community Hope,” she said. “Mentoring changes lives.”
The 2021 COACH Kids Board of Directors include Joyce Jacobs, Jo Ellen Clark, Kelly Kurth, Cheryl Pass, Steve Burkhalter, Shelbi Fortner, Joel McKinney, Mark Mitchell, Joel Tatum, Brett Todd, Steve Walter and Todd Whitlock.