November Match of the Month - Darrien & Khurum

Darrien is a 14 year old whose mom signed him up after his older sister left for college.  They were extremely close and she had always been his confidant.  He didn’t have a positive relationship with his dad, and mom really felt that having a Big Brother could help him build confidence, coping skills and with school.
 
Khurum came to us at last years’ Man2Man Big Brother recruitment event.  He was a retired police officer and was identified as a mentor to one of our current board members.  It was ‘the right time’ for him to step up and mentor in a more formal way through our program.
 
This match has been together since the summer, and is already developed a strong bond and had a significant impact on Darrien.  Darrien and Khurum spend a lot of time outdoors and eating!!  They’ve gone to the car show in Depot Town, hung out at Ford Lake and even spent some time on Darrien’s boat.  Darrien really likes his time with Khurum, which is not always what we hear from 14 year old boys first matched, but I think that Khurum is such a great guy, with a great personality, that it’s just easy to develop a friendship with him.
 
Besides just hanging out and having fun, they have some pretty serious ‘adulting goals’.   Darrien has his first job, so they are working on budgeting and money management.  And mom let us know that Darrien got his first progress report at school and had all A’s, B’s and one C, which was a significant improvement over his previous report cards….and she attributes it to the time and attention that Khurum has given him these last few months.
 
Which is why, Khurum is our speaker at this years’ Man2Man event.  Man2Man is a Big Brother recruitment Happy Hour.   With nearly 100 boys and young men on our waiting list, we need every guy who has ever thought about being a Big Brother to take the leap.