TeamMates looking for more mentors

Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News
8@klkntv.com

Lincoln-based TeamMates, a youth mentoring program, is looking for more mentors as the new school year starts up.

TeamMates was founded in the early 1990s by Nebraska icon Tom Osborne and his wife, Nancy. The program is designed to offer youths with a positive role model, especially those that might have at-risk behavior.

"So I think that a mentor, having somebody who cares about you unconditionally. Somebody who’s in your corner, somebody who’s an advocate, is very powerful and so everybody at TeamMates is there because they want to mentor," said Osborne.

There are 1,200 kids in Lincoln with a mentor, but 700 are on a waiting list, some of whom have been on that list for as long as three years.

Osborne said that there are a third more kids who want mentors than there are mentors actually available. To combat this problem, they have come up with a contest to encourage people to become mentors.

Current mentors will suggest people to become a mentor. Their name is then put into the running for the grand prize. The more people they suggest, the more times their name is put in the running.

The winning mentor will win a grand prize four-day, three-night complementary trip to anywhere in the continental United States. Second place will receive two $500 airline tickets, also to anywhere in the continental U.S. The third place winners will dine with Tom Osborne and his wife, and they are paying for it.

If you want to learn more about TeamMates, visit their website at www.teammates.org