OAKLAND, Maine (WABI) – For years, the ShineOnCass Foundation has been making an impact in Central Maine in honor of Cassidy Charette.
The 17-year-old Oakland girl was killed in a hayride accident in 2014. The foundation now offers its Shine Together Youth Mentoring Program.
“Mentoring was Cassidy’s passion, among many other things, but taking care of the youth in our community was so important to her,” said Mother of Cassidy’s and Founder of the ShineOnCass Foundation Monica Charette.
Cassidy Charette was a junior at Messalonskee High School over a decade ago looking to bring a Big Brother Big Sisters program to the school.
Mentoring was something she loved going back to being a math tutor when she was young. Two weeks shy of meeting her first little sister through the program she helped pilot, she lost her life in a hayride accident.
Following her death, the program grew instantly.
“Over 100 kids came out and signed up to be bigs and littles, which was probably the biggest that we’ve had in that program statewide,” added Monica.
But last year, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Maine closed its doors.
“We knew we had to find a way to fill that tremendous gap for kids that really benefit so much from having a positive role model in their life,” answered Monica.
So earlier this year, the Shine on Cass Foundation partnered with the Alfond Youth and Community Center to begin the Shine Together Youth Mentoring Program.
They match Messalonskee High School students with Atwood Primary students.
“A lot of our kids are coming from maybe a broken home, maybe have some trauma going on in their lives, and so what this does is it helps them to have a positive role model in their life, someone that they can look up to, someone that they can build trust with,” commented Mentor and Volunteer Programs Manager at AYCC Heidi Sumner.
Leaders of the program and the mentors themselves say it’s a two-way street. The bigs get just as much out of the weekly meetings as the littles do.
“I did the Big Brother Big Sisters program before this was created and it was just something I really enjoyed, and it was like one of the best parts of my week, and I think it’s a really good way to give back to the community, hanging out with kids and trying to make their day better,” answered Mentor Grace Moody.
“I didn’t really know what it was until now and I really like it because we get to hang out a lot, and it’s pretty fun actually,” added Mentee Owen, who is matched with Grace.
Charette says they hope to expand the program as there’s been interest from other schools.
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