The time was right to give back to the community. And in close to a year with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area’s community mentorship program Nick Navntoft and his youth mentee Jayden Fleck’s lives have changed for the better. “I was at a point in my life where I had an urge to help out a little bit, give back a little bit,” said Navntoft. “I didn’t have too many connections to my father growing up so I felt this was a good way to give back some of what I felt I lacked growing up.” Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary and Area, one of 10 charities benefitting from the Western Wheel Cares campaign, offers school-based and community-based mentorship programs in the Foothills. “Last year we had just over 115 unique clients served,” said Kristy Packwood, mentoring co-ordinator with BBBS. “What that looks like is 16 matches in our community and 85 in our school-based program.” The community based program is the traditional one-on-one mentorship with an adult and young person spending a couple hours per week. For Fleck and Navntoft, the activities range from going to movies, hiking in Kananaskis Country, climbing walls at Big Rock Bouldering to fixing an old dirt bike. The mentorship has helped Fleck to come out of his shell. “Nick has an outgoing personality and I was more anti-social and I wasn’t good at talking to people and Nick is. I think they put us together so they could help me get over that,” Fleck said. “Learning about the experiences of other people, that’s not something you do often, you don’t talk about what they’ve done in their life. “It’s always nice to hear what Nick has done in his life.” For Navntoft, seeing Fleck develop as a youth during their time together has been the most rewarding part of the journey together. “It’s nice to see him develop and our relationship grow stronger too,” Navntoft said. “That takes a little while before you’re comfortable with each other and it feels natural.” There are 23 children on the waitlist for the community program in the Foothills, six girls and 17 boys. They are waiting to be paired with adult mentors who can spend a few hours a week of quality time with a young person, Packwood said. “Everybody goes in thinking ‘do I have the time for this? Is it too demanding? You’re taking on too much,” Navntoft said. “To that I would say it’s really not a task, it’s joyful, it’s uplifting. The time you get to spend with each other is fun, it’s not draining, it’s the opposite it’s actually giving and it just becomes part of your routine. “Just like you could watch TV for two, three hours, you might as well go do something like this.” Big Brothers Big Sisters’ school-based programs have students at the high school and junior high age working with their counterparts in elementary school for one-on-one teen mentoring in a classroom setting. As well, the partnership with the Okotoks Jr. A Oilers has the players going into both Westmount School and Dr. Morris Gibson School for group mentoring. “They spend some time in the gym being active together,” Packwood said. “And then they spend some time working through a curriculum that focuses on developing leadership skills, self-esteem, being healthy, eating right, getting exercise.” New programming is also starting up at Foothills Composite High School which features staff members engaging with youth who are at higher risk or who need extra attention and then identifying adults and business in the area that would spend time with the youth. “Any funding allows us to maintain and increase our support of our current matches as well as just building a stronger base for supporting more youth in the community,” Packwood said. Other charities in this year’s Wheel Cares campaign are Foothills Country Hospice, Foothills SNAPS, Sheep River Health Trust, Magic of Christmas, Okotoks Food Bank, Rowan House Emergency Shelter, Habitat for Humanity Foothills, St. Vincent de Paul and Okotoks Pound Rescue. Donations to the Wheel Cares Campaign can be made via credit card, debit, cash or cheque (payable to Western Wheel Cares) at #9 McRae Street, mailed to Box 150 Okotoks, AB T1S 2A2 (please do not mail cash) or by calling 403-938-6397. Visit www.westernwheel.com to donate using Paypal. Donations of $10 or more will receive a 2018 official tax receipt at the end of the campaign. For more information call the Western Wheel office Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 403-938-6397.
