January has been declared "Mentoring Month" by new Duluth Mayor Don Ness, and this weekend's Omniumgatherum at Beaner's Central benefits Mentor Duluth.
Organizer Jen Wussow explains the two-day event's name: "Omni means all and gatherum, to gather. So it's a gathering of all. Like, it takes a whole community to support the kids of Duluth."
Wussow, 29, works at Mentor Duluth as a program advocate. She's the sister of Jason Wussow, the 31-year-old owner of Beaner's Central and one of the organizing forces of the Duluth music scene. Jen is a conduit between the two places, and outlines a close relationship between the coffee shop and the nonprofit.
"A lot of the staff at Beaner's have been mentors with our program, and Beaner's gives discounts to the matches [mentor/mentee pairs]," Jen explains. "So Jason was able to see, over time, what a difference it made for the kids." The annual fundraiser was built on this appreciation.
Mentor Duluth creates relationships between adult mentors and children and teens who could use a friend. Most children come from single-parent families or families with special needs.
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There are long waiting lists for mentors, Jen says. Girls can expect to wait three months to a year and boys up to three years because more women want to serve as mentors.
Mentor Duluth likes to provide other activities for kids who are on the waiting lists, but has no money to do so. Proceeds from Omniumgatherum, which raised $3,000 last year, benefit such activities and the event also publicizes mentoring.
A 1995 study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, another mentoring program, showed many benefits. Kids in the program were 46 percent less likely than peers to use illegal drugs, 27 percent less likely to drink alcohol, 52 percent less likely to skip a whole day of school and 33 percent less likely to hit someone. Relationships with parents and teachers were improved as well.
