Joe and his two daughters

Joe first heard about Faithful Friends when Chon, one of our program staff, got connected to him through his daughter *Emma’s teacher and asked if he would be willing to match her with a mentor. 

“Initially I was a little hesitant”

"Initially I was a little hesitant,” Joe says. “It was a weird time for me and I was scared and paranoid. I was like 'I don't know about all of that right now.' But after thinking about it I thought it could be beneficial. I looked at the website and checked out their Facebook and read lots of comments on the facebook page to make sure people were enjoying it. And everything seemed on the up and up. So I took a chance and decided to risk it."

He called Chon back and told him that he decided to move forward with the process but had a lot of questions.

"Chon did a phenomenal job,” he says. “Every time he came over, he was transparent and open and answered all of my questions thoroughly. And another thing that helped me with the fear is that I was a drug and alcohol mentor before, so I'm familiar with the whole mentoring thing and the background checks and all of that. And I knew that since I went through such an extensive background check, they would do the same for this."

“I’ve never really been into religion...”

"Also I've never really been into religion,” he continues, “so I was still a little hesitant in that area. I'm not anti-religion, but I want them to find it on their own rather than it being indoctrinated into them. But I also want my daughters to be able to experience stuff and learn for themselves. So I went forward with that fear and just trusted the process, and I’m glad I did."

When *Emma was matched with her mentor, she loved getting to go out with her and spend time outside of the house with someone who was just there for her.

“I remember [my other daughter] was super jealous because *Emma got a mentor first. Every time *Emma would hang out with Michaela, *Isabel was like 'I want to go!' So I said 'We'll get you a mentor too.'

They were stoked about having mentors. They are super excited every time they go out. Every time they hang out *Isabel will sit on the stairs and look out the little window waiting for Natanya's car to come.

"My fears have subsided drastically now from when I first heard about Faithful Friends.

I'm super grateful that the girls have Mikayla and Natanya to hang out with and talk with. It's nice for them to just get out of the house every once in a while. They love it and I love it."

Joe’s advice to other parents who are considering putting their kids in the Faithful Friends program is, "Do some research on the program. Ask a lot of questions. And don't let the fear paralyze you. In my opinion I think it was very worth it, and I'm glad I gave it a chance."