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They always said the best teachers get more from the students than the students get from the teacher. I agree, being a mentor has already taught me so much, and being a new father I need all the help I can get!
What is Plusone Mentoring?
It’s a project that the YMCA across Canada is trying out based on a program developed in Scotland to help their youth. Regina is one of the four cities across Canada to piloting the program along with Moncton (NB), Montréal (QC), and Surrey (BC). Once a week you meet with your match and hang out at the YMCA (whichever location you want). You have access to a gym, track, pool, kitchen, games room, spin, rock climbing, yoga, really anything the Y offers. It’s AMAZING!
How do you join?
You fill out a form, get a criminal record check, do the online training, attend a training session and BOOM you’re a mentor. It’s that easy! Literally less than a couple of hours of your time and you get a Y membership and start hanging out with your match.
What do we usually do when we meet?
We play a lot of Ping Pong, Foosball, Floor Hockey, Football, Basketball and we’re learning how to use the weight room. We lose track of time each week and we usually get told we have to leave because our couple hours is up. One week we even made my famous brownies, yup they have a commercial kitchen you are allowed to use (I was in heaven!)
Yes I was terrified the first time I showed up but the YMCA staff make you feel comfortable and the fear turned into excitement because the fellow I was matched with was just awesome! We got along instantly.
Why do I think you should join Plus One Mentoring?
Why I think you should become a mentor? I coached for Nine years, I loved every minute of it, but I was always pulled in different areas, rarely having time for one-on-one with a player. With Plusone you really get to know someone, they also get to know you, it’s a very rewarding process. I learn something new every week.
Every child deserves a positive influence to look up to
Other than the fact that adult males are the most difficult to attract to be mentors, Plus One needs more adults to help out. They get a lot of child referrals and it breaks my heart to know there aren’t enough adult matches for each kid.
So here are my top 3 reasons out of 1,000 I could come up with:
1. It’s a simple way to give back
I was brought up to care about my community and to appreciate those people who made my life better as a kid. I lucked out when I was young, I had amazing coaches, great sports teams and the coaches and teachers in my life made me the person I am today. I smile when I think about my favourite coaches or teachers, I still bring up lessons learned almost daily. I like the thought that one day someone may remember the time they spent with me in a very positive light.
2. You learn a lot about yourself
You can’t learn about yourself unless you try new things. Being a mentor where you’re trying new things each week is a great way to learn about what stresses you, what pisses you off and what makes you happy. I love competing, and love showing people how to compete at anything with a positive attitude. I like to practice things and get better at them, I’m currently getting a lot better at Foosball, Ping Pong and floor hockey!
3. You never know when you’re going to need a service like YMCA Plusone
Today you, tomorrow me.
On reddit one day there was a story about why one fellow always picks up hitchhikers (it’s a long story, I’ll post below) at the end of the story after he’d been stranded for hours, was helped by a very poor immigrant family. He pleads with them to take a $20 bill as a thank you. They refuse and the response from the gentleman that helped him I’ll never forget: today you, tomorrow me. Read the story, you’ll be in tears.
But that’s the human connection at work. We never know when we will need the help, we never know when we’ll be stranded on the side of a highway. It’s much more rewarding to live a life of service to others. Yes Plusone isn’t changing lives daily, but you never know when a life will be changed by your actions.
Two hours a week is a small price to pay to help someone navigate this world.
Three Stories From Three Different Plusone Pairs
“Today you, tomorrow me.” From reddit
7.5k points·7 years ago
x25·edited 7 years ago
Just about every time I see someone I stop. I kind of got out of the habit in the last couple of years, moved to a big city and all that, my girlfriend wasn’t too stoked on the practice. Then some shit happened to me that changed me and I am back to offering rides habitually. If you would indulge me, it is long story and has almost nothing to do with hitch hiking other than happening on a road.
This past year I have had 3 instances of car trouble. A blow out on a freeway, a bunch of blown fuses and an out of gas situation. All of them were while driving other people’s cars which, for some reason, makes it worse on an emotional level. It makes it worse on a practical level as well, what with the fact that I carry things like a jack and extra fuses in my car, and know enough not to park, facing downhill, on a steep incline with less than a gallon of fuel.
Anyway, each of these times this shit happened I was DISGUSTED with how people would not bother to help me. I spent hours on the side of the freeway waiting, watching roadside assistance vehicles blow past me, for AAA to show. The 4 gas stations I asked for a gas can at told me that they couldn’t loan them out “for my safety” but I could buy a really shitty 1-gallon one with no cap for $15. It was enough, each time, to make you say shit like “this country is going to hell in a handbasket.”
But you know who came to my rescue all three times? Immigrants. Mexican immigrants. None of them spoke a lick of the language. But one of those dudes had a profound affect on me.
He was the guy that stopped to help me with a blow out with his whole family of 6 in tow. I was on the side of the road for close to 4 hours. Big jeep, blown rear tire, had a spare but no jack. I had signs in the windows of the car, big signs that said NEED A JACK and offered money. No dice. Right as I am about to give up and just hitch out there a van pulls over and dude bounds out. He sizes the situation up and calls for his youngest daughter who speaks english. He conveys through her that he has a jack but it is too small for the Jeep so we will need to brace it. He produces a saw from the van and cuts a log out of a downed tree on the side of the road. We rolled it over, put his jack on top, and bam, in business. I start taking the wheel off and, if you can believe it, I broke his tire iron. It was one of those collapsible ones and I wasn’t careful and I snapped the head I needed clean off. Fuck.
No worries, he runs to the van, gives it to his wife and she is gone in a flash, down the road to buy a tire iron. She is back in 15 minutes, we finish the job with a little sweat and cussing (stupid log was starting to give), and I am a very happy man. We are both filthy and sweaty. The wife produces a large water jug for us to wash our hands in. I tried to put a 20 in the man’s hand but he wouldn’t take it so I instead gave it to his wife as quietly as I could. I thanked them up one side and down the other. I asked the little girl where they lived, thinking maybe I could send them a gift for being so awesome. She says they live in Mexico. They are here so mommy and daddy can pick peaches for the next few weeks. After that they are going to pick cherries then go back home. She asks if I have had lunch and when I told her no she gave me a tamale from their cooler, the best fucking tamale I have ever had.
So, to clarify, a family that is undoubtedly poorer than you, me, and just about everyone else on that stretch of road, working on a seasonal basis where time is money, took an hour or two out of their day to help some strange dude on the side of the road when people in tow trucks were just passing me by. Wow…
But we aren’t done yet. I thank them again and walk back to my car and open the foil on the tamale cause I am starving at this point and what do I find inside? My fucking $20 bill! I whirl around and run up to the van and the guy rolls his window down. He sees the $20 in my hand and just shaking his head no like he won’t take it. All I can think to say is “Por Favor, Por Favor, Por Favor” with my hands out. Dude just smiles, shakes his head and, with what looked like great concentration, tried his hardest to speak to me in English:
“Today you…. tomorrow me.”
Rolled up his window, drove away, his daughter waving to me in the rear view. I sat in my car eating the best fucking tamale of all time and I just cried. Like a little girl. It has been a rough year and nothing has broke my way. This was so out of left field I just couldn’t deal.
In the 5 months since I have changed a couple of tires, given a few rides to gas stations and, once, went 50 miles out of my way to get a girl to an airport. I won’t accept money. Every time I tell them the same thing when we are through:
“Today you…. tomorrow me.”
tl;dr: long rambling story about how the kindness of strangers, particularly folks from south of the border, forced me to be more helpful on the road and in life in general. I am sure it won’t be as meaningful to anyone else but it was seriously the highlight of my 2010.
**edit: To the OP, sorry to jack your thread, this has nothing to do with Hitch Hiking. I sort of thought I could just get this off my chest, enjoy the catharsis and watch the story languish at the bottom of the page. Glad people like hearing the tale and I hope it moves you to be more helpful in your day to day. **
