In the fall of last year, I began to mentor a boy named Orlando. Orlando, like many of the children we serve at Crown Valley Youth Ranch, had experienced pain early on in his life. He’s a child of a single mother, as his father had passed away. With no male in the house, CVYR was a new experience for him. It is a place where kids are expected to work with their hands, and they are surrounded by mentors who are able to step in when a father or mother is not around. Kids need that support, and I realized quickly that it left Orlando wanting more time here. During our devotional time one day, I asked for his prayer requests. Orlando immediately responded, “Pray that we can come to this place more.” It was in that moment where I was reminded that Crown Valley is a sanctuary to so many kids in the community.

Many come from difficult home lives and look forward to being in a safe place where they can confide in their mentor while having fun.

Not only that, but his request to God for more time here had made me realize that we still have kids on our waiting list. Unfortunately, there are not enough mentors to serve the amount of kids that would like to join our program. So many children like Orlando are in need of a mentor who genuinely cares for them. So, a prayer request of my own is that God would bless us with more mentors, that way we can serve children like Orlando more and more.