Fairview Lakes Health Servicesí ìFriends Make a Differenceî program is looking for volunteers to help mentor children in the area.

More than 250 students have benefited from the friendship and support of an adult mentor since the program began in 1998.

Studies have shown that students who have an adult mentor increase their confidence in school, improve their relationships with family members and are less likely to begin use illegal drugs and alcohol, skip school or engage in violent behavior.

Adults who volunteer for ìFriends Make a Differenceî come into the schools twice a month, have lunch with their students, maybe play a game or just visit.

ìOften, an enduring relationship is formed between the mentor and student,î says Carla Norelius, director of Fairview Lakes Community Health Outreach Services, who coordinates the program. ìSome of our mentors follow their students from grade school through high school, even helping them choose a career.î

Norelius explains that the program is currently recruiting volunteers to meet during the lunch period with students at the Wyoming, Forest View, Scandia, Lino Lakes and Forest Lake elementary schools, Southwest Junior High, Century Junior High and the Forest Lake Alternative Learning Center.

ìFriends Make a Differenceî is funded, in part, by a grant from the United Way.

For more information on ìFriends Make a Differenceî or to sign up to volunteer, contact Carla Norelius, Fairview Lakes Community Health Outreach, at 651-257-8806.

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Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605