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become involved with the sisterhood
hosting an annual bowling party.
"It is incredibly worthwhile to bring
kids together with strong role models
. and subtle teachers," says Rabbi
Michael Moskowitz of Temple Shir.
Shalom. He also serves on the Mentor
Connection advisory board along with
volunteers, professionals, state legisla-
tors, judges and parents of kids in the
program.
"I can think of a number of families
who went out their way when they real-
ized there has been a missing role model
in the lives of their children," he said.
"You can see how much it has helped
the whole family and made a real differ-
ence for the kids."
With the Department of
Education grant ending in
September 2007, JFS is working on
"There are so many young people
craving for attention, looking for
someone to care about them," he
says. "By just spending time with a
young person, just listening to their
ideas even if you agree with them or
not, you let them know they are
important in this world. I never try
to force my opinion on him; I only
talk about experiences I've had that
could be factors in his choices. I
never try to tell him what to do, but
let him make choices.
"The rewards for the mentor are a
hundredfold. You don't even know
how it helps you, you just feel good
about it," Koenig continues.
He easily provides examples of how
he has benefited.
For instance, Koenig and his wife
recently became foster parents for a
13-year-old girl and Raphie helps
him with parenting. "He'd laugh at
some of the stuff that was going on
with me," Koenig says, "but he also
helped me make some decisions
about things. Here I am 59 years old
and I have a 16-year-old helping me
decide how to act. It's really good
having a friend like that."
When Raphie became a bar mitz-
vah, he asked Koenig to read Torah.
"I had never read Torah and it was
a real learning time for me," Koenig
says. "It was really a high point for
me because not only was Raphie cele-
brating something that he was
accomplishing, but I was accomplish-
ing something, too. We were doing it
together."
identifying new funding sources
needed to continue the program.
"We are already planning for the
future of Mentor Connection," says
Melamis. "We want to be able to con-
tinue to meet the need for mentors
when the federal grant ends. We
anticipate needing both an endow-
ment and grants to continue to deliv-
er the vital services that have already
proven to be a such a success." ❑
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Interested in being a mentor? Call
Katie Holden, program coordina-
tor, at (248) 592-2317 or e-mail
her at kholden@jfsdetroit.org
Also check ww.mentorconnect.org .
0
S001)1
Mutual Respect
The admiration and appreciation
runs both ways.
"It's been important to me," Raphie
says of his relationship with Koenig.
"He's been a model person for me to
wish that I could grow up to be. He's
trustworthy, reliable and honest. He
exemplifies what a great person
should be, and I look up to him.
"Sometimes, it's kind of awkward
to try to explain it to people who
don't grasp the concept of mentoring
because it's kind of hard to explain it,
but it's really not an issue at all,"
Raphie says. "I think mentoring is a
great idea, and it's really good for kids
to have another positive influence.
From the mentors I've seen at some
of the events we've had, they're all
great people. Others should give it a
shot."
Raphie's mom, Diana Kuper, is
very appreciative of Koenig's commit-
ment and how it has helped both of
them.
"I felt he needed a. guy, a man, a
father figure in his life," she says of
her decision to find a mentor for
Raphie.
Having adopted Raphie as a single
parent, "I just knew he needed some-
one to become connected to. It suc-
ceeded because of who Jim is; it was a
godsend. He was so reliable, exact
time, exact date; it established a lot of
trust. It's worked out better than any-
thing I ever could have expected. I
feel like it's one of the blessings and
miracles of the whole process of rais-
ing Raphie by myself." ❑
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