Mentor Loses All In Storm But Still Helps Kids
Though Betty Irving lost all in the storm, she still finds time to mentor. Irving is a volunteer in our Mentoring Children of Promise program, which reaches out to youngsters with incarcerated parents.
These children are innocent, but they face tough challenges. Without intervention, they have a 70 percent chance of
ending up behind bars. Volunteers of America is working to change this
tragedy.
The program’s heroes are mentors such as Irving, a local retired math
teacher, grandmother and group home staffer. She mentors because she
has compassion for young people and wants to help break the vicious
cycle of imprisonment that draws in so many.
“Listening to kids gives them the opportunity to express themselves and breaks the barriers they have with adults,” Irving says.
She mentors 17-year-old Wendell Millro, who attends John McDonogh High
School and is being raised by his grandmother. Both he and Irving
attend Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Wendell, who has five brothers and a
sister, is a typical teen who enjoys football and riding his bike and
aspires to be a computer engineer. Irving helps him see that he has a
great future ahead.
Irving’s heroism is even more apparent in that she hasn’t let her own
crisis keep her from mentoring. She and her husband lost their New
Orleans East home and belongings in the hurricane and, until recently,
were living with relatives. Irving says she feels blessed to be alive
and able to reach out to children, whose losses during the disaster were
so great.
New Orleans is blessed to have such caring citizens as Irving among its many saints.