Maggie Dyer

“A perfect fit for me.”

“I wanted to work with young girls because high school was a difficult time for me. I wanted to help young women learn how to be themselves, and be confident in who they are,” says mentor Maggie Dyer.

Five years ago Maggie attended a United Way presentation about volunteer opportunities. They mentioned mentoring resources listed on their website. Maggie clicked on the 4C Coalition.

“When I saw the 4C mentoring program, I felt like it was perfect for me. I went through the training, and then they matched me with Andrea. We hit it off pretty quickly. She was 15 at that time. I am 10 years older than she is,” reports Maggie.

Andrea’s mother has been in and out of her life and her sister has raised her and her five siblings. Her home life has been rocky at times.

“The cool thing about the 4C is that they don’t want you to be like another parent in the youth’s life. I think I have been able to help and coach Andrea not as an authority figure but more so as a peer: someone Andrea looks up to, who is setting a positive example for her.  I think I’ve been a stable person in Andrea’s life during a time where a young person needs stability the most. It feels good that I am able to be someone she can always count on,” says Maggie.

According to Maggie, Andrea, who is now 19 and a Garfield High School graduate, has always had a good head on her shoulders, and is very smart. “She’s a great girl. What she’s overcome in her life, and the outlook that she has on her life, is fantastic. I can’t really take any credit because she started out being a pretty terrific young lady. She’s even more amazing now.”

“Mentoring Andrea has been an incredible experience. I have gotten to know someone who I now consider family, someone who I would drop anything for. It’s a nice feeling knowing that Andrea feels the same way. We are both very grateful to have found each other through the 4C.”

Gary Tillery

“I told him to hang up his gloves … and, he did.”

At church, seven years ago, Gary Tillery, listened to a presentation about 4C’s mentoring program. Gary, retired after 26 years as a supervisor at Boeing, decided he’d give mentoring a try.

He attended 4C’s mentor training program. “The training program was very thorough as they went over the dos and don’ts of being a mentor,” says Gary.

After the training, Gary waited two nerve-racking months before being assigned a mentee.

Gary laughs when he says, “during the waiting period, I became very anxious about the commitment … I wasn’t sure that I would be up to the task. I thought that maybe when they called me with a mentee, I just wouldn’t answer the phone.”

4C finally called to let Gary know that they had found a good mentee match for Gary.

“My assigned mentee had a twin brother. Another man was going to take the other twin but he backed out. I felt bad for the other twin, so I agreed to mentor both of these kids,” states Gary.

“It is important to meet these kids at their level, but you have to be careful that you’re not their friend — you are their role model. I had to learn this the hard way. At first, in an effort to relate to them I became more of a pal to them,” admits Gary.

According to Gary, “you cannot be a total authoritarian person because they’re going to resist that. You need to find a way to balance the two approaches. And, of course, every kid is different so you have to be tuned in to them.”

Gary sites two specific impacts he’s had on the boys. “I taught them one of the most basic things —being on time. It’s an educational tool that you do to make your life a lot easier. I stayed on them constantly about being on time, and they eventually got it.”

Another specific impact was on one of the twins, a big strong guy, who could not seem to stay out of fights. Gary kept telling him to hang up his boxing gloves. Turns out this boy moved out of the area, and one day out of the blue, Gary gets a call from the boy, and the first thing he tells Gary is “I finally took your advice and I’ve hung up my gloves.”

Says Gary, “a mentor has to learn as you go along. I can’t give you a map or a book that can lead you down the path, you have to play it by ear. Oftentimes, they just need someone to talk to. The important thing is to be there for them.”

College is Next for Savannah

One of our mentees, Savannah, was the valedictorian for the 2015 graduation class at Rainier Beach High School in Seattle. She has been mentored by Meghan Arbuckle since she was a 16 year old high school sophomore. Savannah is planning on going to college and we at the 4C Coalition are helping her navigate the college application process.

Two years ago Savannah traveled with Seattle’s 4C Coalition to Washington DC for the 50^th anniversary March on Washington Memorial Youth Mentoring Summit. As if that participation wasn’t enough to do Seattle proud, Savannah then did one better and won first place in the “Spell it Like it Is” Spelling contest.

About the Washington DC experience, Savannah said, “I felt honored to be able to walk the same streets as people I look up to as heroes, such as Martin Luther King Jr., Barack Obama, former presidents, and congressmen and women.”

“Also, being in Washington, D.C. gave me a new perspective on life because I saw that even though we’re so far apart, Washington, D.C. and Seattle are more similar than different.  For example, Washington, D.C. having the history it has, I was surprised to learn that it has just as much poverty as Seattle.”

Savannah also participated in 4C Coalition’s Pen or Pencil group mentoring program that focuses on connecting young people with the educational system (the pencil) to head towards success and keep them out of “the pen.”