Denver Partners find joy in mentoring

'It's addicting to know you're a positive role model for kids'

By Robert Sanchez
Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer

Georgia Barker took custody of her daughter's twin girls nearly 10 years ago and immediately felt the pressures she never thought she would experience again.

She cooked and cleaned for a new generation. Her budget was tighter. There were late nights when she had to help with schoolwork.

And while Kiara and Tiara Miller were a handful, nothing prepared Baker for the pair's pre-teen years.

Earlier this year, the then-fourth-graders were struggling at Whittier Elementary School. They were bored and couldn't focus on their work.

"I knew they needed something that maybe I couldn't give them all the time," the 52-year-old Baker said. "I saw that peer pressure might really overwhelm them later, and I had to do something."

Baker turned to Denver Partners, a group that pairs volunteers with children. Baker, and her 10-year-old grandchildren, said there was an immediate change in their attitudes.

"My teacher says my grades are getting better, and I'm working harder," Tiara said. "I know that, if I work my hardest, I can do good things."

Eleven months after becoming "Junior Partners," Kiara and Tiara have separate mentors who take them skiing or bowling and help them with homework. Sometimes the girls and their mentors simply talk about what's going on in their lives.

"I want to expose my child to different things, things that she might not see without me," said Beth Yohe, 26, Kiara's mentor, who has been with Denver Partners for less than a year. "There has to be a way that I can make a difference in Kiara's life."

Since 1968, the nonprofit group has helped more than 13,500 youths throughout the Denver area. These children are often impoverished and need one-on-one attention that parents sometimes aren't able to give, said Karen Quinn, who heads the group's program for adolescent females.

The organization asks its volunteers to spend an average of three hours a week with their children. Mentors pledge one year of mentoring services, though Quinn said many eventually spend several years in the program.

"It's addicting to know you're a positive role model for the kids," Quinn said.

After the year is over, Yohe wants to stay with the organization, even though she admits it's a much tougher job than she initially thought.

At first, she just wanted to go out and have fun, not realizing that these children have family issues that might never be resolved.

"You jump into it and think you're going to change the world right away," said Yohe, a Colorado State University graduate who is an educational director for the Colorado and Wyoming chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.

"You realize that it takes time to make a connection with your child," she said. "With the help of Kiara and the program, I've learned a lot about myself."

Contact Robert Sanchez at (303) 470-3937 or at sanchezr@RockyMountainNews.com.

November 29, 2000