 Are you going to be a chef when you grow up? Mentoring is such a simple concept, but it can have a huge impact on a child's life. That is the goal of Kinship Partners' lunch buddies. Lunch buddies is when someone in our community comes into the school over the lunch hour and has lunch with a child. In addition to eating lunch with their mentor, the lunch buddies also make a craft every session. This week, they made reindeer ornaments just in time for Christmas. The lunch buddies program takes place twice a month and allows community members to be introduced to mentoring. For the children, they feel very special. And so to have someone show up, and it is the same mentor that shows up every two weeks per month, after a couple times, already the kids are overflowing with things to talk to their mentor about. And it's actually a real big support system. I just like visiting with the children on a kind of a small group basis and meeting lots of different kids. Many of the mentors work for area businesses that sponsor them to be able to take an hour out of their day to mentor. We have people who are working that get to take a break. And then we also have other people in the community. We have some people that are retired. That's kind of common. The program has had a huge impact on the students, as well as the mentors. There's a benefit both for mentors and for the kids. For the mentors, their benefit really is to come in and have an impact on their community in a very real way. I think they just like having another adult around to hang out with and to talk to. And it's not trying to teach them anything or we just can enjoy our times together. I have been with her. Research indicates that successful children can identify one adult in their life that has made a difference. Mentoring is very important. I think there are plenty of kids that don't always find that person, or that person doesn't find them. And so what we like to do at Kinship is intentionally find people who say, well, sure, I'd like to do that. And then match them with a child. And in just a very real way, a real living way, they have an impact on their lives. Though with such a simple gesture, the students having lunch with their lunch buddies has a lasting impact. Reporting from Brained with This Week's Golden Apple, Rachel Johnson, Lakeland News.