by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Aiding the youth of the community is one of the missions of the Meninak Club of Jacksonville and Monday the organization brought in an expert in the area to speak.
Warren Grymes, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida, was asked to speak at the weekly luncheon as the club begins to develop its Meninak Mentors Club.
Grymes joined Big Brothers Big Sisters as CEO in 2004 and had about 30 years experience coaching youth sports prior to joining. He was encouraged to seek out his passion after he found himself without a job following work on a political campaign.
“I was a fundraiser for (mayoral candidate) Matt Carlucci,” said Grymes. “After the campaign was over I needed a job. My wife’s counsel was to do something I was passionate about.”
With her advice, Grymes decided to use the business experience he had gained from 30 years in the travel and retail industry in the nonprofit sector to help Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida(BBBS).
“When I started the organization served about 600 kids. That number is well over 2,000 and covers Duval, Baker, Clay, Flagler, Nassau and Putnam counties,” said Grymes. “We had a staff of seven when I joined and now we have 32 people on staff. It’s to the point where we need volunteers to step up to the plate more than we need money.”
Grymes has taken a business approach to running the BBBS. Two of the principles involved in running the organization include the need to respond to investors, the people and organizations who donate money to BBBS, and the need to respond to the children the organization is serving.
Grymes joked that it may not be easy to work with the organization at times, but it’s all in the best interest of the children.
“Bunky joked that his security clearance in the Navy was easier to get than getting cleared to mentor,” said Grymes. “We may take some more time to make sure we have a good match between the child and the mentor, but its all in the children’s best interest.”
The BBBS has both community and site-based mentoring programs with children of all ages. The community-based program is the traditional BBBS program, where a mentor meets with a child for a couple hours a month and participates in activities that both enjoy, like sharing pizza, shooting some hoops or going to a park.
Site-based mentoring involves visiting a child at school, library or community center to talk about what’s going on in their lives.
Grymes estimated that 45,000 children in the public school system are in need of a mentor. The importance of being a mentor was reaffirmed from some sobering statistics that revealed Florida has one of the highest divorce rates in the country.
Duval County ranked sixth in divorces in the State in 2007.
“We have a way to change things in Jacksonville through mentoring and providing a positive role model in these kids lives,” said Grymes, “but we can’t change it a little at a time. We need large numbers because they will be influenced by their peers on a more regular basis.”
Meninak President-elect Robert “Bunky” Johnson plans to develop a mentoring program through the club during his term in office next year.
“Our mission is lending help where none is possible,” said Johnson. “This is a great area to carry out that mission.”
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