AUBURN – January is National Mentoring Month. The Child Health Center oversees the largest mentoring program in Maine, serving more than 600 mentoring matches throughout Oxford, Androscoggin, and southern Franklin counties.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters Program has been matching children ages 7 to 12 with volunteers since 1991. In 2007 the volunteer Bigs, who hale from local high schools, colleges, businesses and the community, realized more than 45,000 hours of mentoring.

The programs offered under the Child Health Center’s programs include site-based mentoring, traditional community mentoring and several after-school programs.

The Child Health Center’s Big Brothers Big Sisters Program offers a variety of mentoring partnerships, which help young people succeed in life. The mentoring relationships help give young people the confidence, resources and skills they need to reach their potential.

The site-based programs are structured and help form a relationship that brings young people together with a high school or college student or adult. The volunteer Bigs spend an hour a week with a child at a local elementary or middle school. The matches work together on the children’s school assignments, play games or talk and listen, offer guidance, support and encouragement.

The Child Health Center also offers a more traditional community-based mentor program in which adults from the local area share community-wide experiences with their Little Brother or Sister. In winter they may go skiing, sliding or ice fishing, while others may stay indoors for movies or football games.

Independent studies show that kids with “Bigs” are: 46 percent less likely to begin using drugs; 27 percent less likely to begin using alcohol; 52 percent less likely to skip school; and 58 percent more likely to get higher grades.

To learn more about mentoring in a community, contact Big Brothers Big Sisters at 743-7035 in Oxford County and 782-5437 in Androscoggin and southern Franklin counties.