KINSHIP OF AITKIN COUNTY

Kinship is a comprehensive youth development program that has been in existence for 19 years. This programs growth over the last 5 years has been astounding. At the end of 2005, we were serving just 36 children and their families today we serve 100+ children and those numbers continue to grow. With the growth of the number of children in our program has come the need for growth of our programming to continue to provide quality services to the children and families we serve.

The mission of Kinship of Aitkin County is to support youth and their families through positive mentoring experiences, education, and healthy community connections. Our goals are to:

o Provide new opportunities to youth that would otherwise not be available.

o Engage youth in shaping their future and the future of the community.

o Promote positive community involvement through service learning initiatives.

o Educate youth following the T.E.A.M method of teaching, enforcing, advocating and modeling utilizing the framework based on the Six Pillars of Character; Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship.

o Offer positive guidance by providing a dedicated adult mentor to each child enrolled in Kinship of Aitkin County.

As a small rural program, our challenges are many but our accomplishments out way those challenges. Today, we see the difference we make in the lives of the children and families we serve. Brady (9), one of the many children we serve, lost his father in a tragic motorcycle accident a few years back. Today, he has a wonderful mentor who meets with him weekly spending time fishing, building things, raising vegetables he shares with his family, all things his father did not have the time to teach him. Brady also is excited to begin participation in our Good Character Club for grades 4-6. After a meeting with our youth on how they can further do good work in our community, he now participates in “Helping Hands 4-H Program” another outstanding program in our community that focuses on community service learning projects, and turns his report card in each time he receives one working for good grades because he says, he likes to go bowling and this organization provides healthy incentives for good work.

We’re excited to participate in the Bremer Give-to-the-Kids Challenge. Please support us by making a donation through the Bremer Give-to-the-Kids Challenge Project Page (http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Bremer-Kids-Challenge-Kinship-of-Aitkin-County). Only donations made through the Bremer Give-to-the-Kids Challenge Project Page between 8am Tuesday, September 28 and 4pm Tuesday, October 5 are eligible to be matched by The Otto Bremer Foundation.