Paul Batson, Director of Mentoring for Camp War Eagle, is celebrating his retirement after seeing the mentoring program reach its one hundredth match. The match was met on October 26, 2010 between Springdale Ozone intern, James Mix, and Har-Ber High School sophomore, Christopher Magness.
The success of the mentoring program, Batson believes, comes from the families participating the program. “It is not just working with children, it is more working with children in the context of the family,” Batson said. “I have been working with children and families for over 40 years now and it has been such a rewarding life through all those years.”
Batson has been working in mentoring program administration for around ten years. He started working with Judge Finch in Benton County through a mentoring program for children in the organization called FINNS (Families In Need of Services). Then in 2003, he worked with a project of the US Department of Health and Human Services called HIP (Hope, Inspiration, Protection). HIP was a mentoring program for children with parents who were incarcerated. Batson said, “It was a wonderful program and some of our existing mentors and mentees were part of that program.”
Although this is a great accomplishment for the program, Batson hopes to see this program rise above in the future. Batson said, “In ten years I believe the CWE Mentoring Program will be bigger than Big Brothers Big Sisters. Why? Because the CWE Mentoring Program has the substance that comes with being a Christian mentoring program. If we work hard and continue to improve and promote mentoring it can't help but be successful. The program has too much to offer a child not to be successful.”
Even though he is retiring from the program, he will continue his work in the area of mentoring. Batson said, “I am hoping to work with churches outside this four county area who would like to start a mentoring program. I think churches are missing a tremendous mission field if they don't have a mentoring program in their church. I hope to help them get a positive start through consulting with them in structuring a strong and successful mentoring program.”
The mentoring program will now be lead by Brent Jensen, and newcomer Hannah Cypert. Jensen said, “It has been very rewarding and I have learned quite a bit. [Batson] has a great passion for not only CWE and the Mentoring Program, but especially for the kids and families in the community. It has been a lot of fun learning from him and seeing the positive things that he has done for these families.”
Since the hundredth match, the program has made seven more matches, and they are currently working on the eighth. To learn more about becoming a mentor with the Camp War Eagle Mentoring Program, contact Brent Jensen at (479) 530-1943 or Hannah Cypert at (214) 793-8893.
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| Here Paul receives a plaque commemorating the Camp War Eagle Mentoring Program's 100th match. |
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| Thank you, Paul! |
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