Meet Samantha & her mentor Cathy!

Cathy and Samantha teamed up through the mentoring program with AASK, but they didn’t realize at the time that they were forging a friendship for life.

When they first met, Samantha was 17. Now, she’s nearing her 21st birthday and preparing to live independently, with the help of her mentor.

Originally, Cathy wasn’t sure how she could help Samantha, who was living in a foster home and in high school. “I thought she had everything taken care of and wondered what we would work on together,” says Cathy. “But this program is set up to meet the goals that the young adults have, and not our agendas. Samantha wanted to learn how to become more independent, how to handle finances once she had them.”

Cathy and Samantha worked on setting goals for her future, and they went over basics like meal planning, grocery shopping and comparison shopping. With Cathy’s help, Samantha learned how to prepare simple meals like cheese lasagna. Cathy helped Samantha fill out applications for a part-time job, and she was a person to lean on and go to for advice and help.

“If Cathy was not in my life, I'd probably be in the same bad situation I was in before,” says Samantha. “I'm really glad that I had someone turn my life around. She helped me get out of almost every bad situation, and she taught me to take one day at a time. That's what I've been doing, and it’s working out really great.”

For Cathy, becoming a mentor to Samantha was different than her expectations. Because she understands that youth, especially youth in foster care, can be unpredictable, she was prepared for that. But with Samantha, Cathy found that it was more than just a mentoring relationship: it was a friendship.

“Working with Samantha, she has become so much more to me than just somebody that I help. I don't help her as much as she helps me,” explains Cathy. “I'm here in Arizona, away from my family, and I missed being a parent. Now, Samantha's become part of my family. I see this as a life-long connection.”

Cathy says that being around Samantha has helped her remember to have fun. For her, teenagers are full of energy and spontaneity. At first, Samantha wanted to enjoy being a teenager a bit longer and wasn’t ready to be independent. But in the last two years, she’s started doing more things on her own and advocating for herself.

“In two years I'm amazed at the change,” says Cathy. “Kids who aren’t in foster care sometimes have the choice of living at home longer, but Samantha doesn't have that option. So she was forced to grow up in a real hurry.” Samantha realizes that having Cathy in her life has made a big difference, and she hopes to be able to give back in the same way.

“You can’t take life for granted, because you never know what's going to happen the next few days, next few hours, the next few minutes,” says Samantha. “You can ask and receive it. And then when they give, you give right back. That's the way I live.”

For more information about becoming a Mentor, please contact us at (602) 930-4900 or via e-mail at info@aask-az.org.

There are currently more than 100 foster kids waiting to be matched with a mentor. You can get involved today and make a difference!