Match Spotlight
Recent Match Spotlight Posts
One Year Anniversary: Match Spotlight
"It’s been a great year building a relationship with my mentee, Elijah. We’ve shared some really fun experiences and built a strong connection along the way. Trying new things together has been especially meaningful — playing WhirlyBall, for example, was a first for...
THREE Year Anniversary: Match Spotlight
My Mentee is also My Mentor by Charlotte Cleveland Nearly three years ago, I picked up my new mentee armed with hammocks so we could enjoy the late summer afternoon. Setting up a hammock is something I had done before, yet on this day, with 11-year-old Keidi...
SUN ThisWeek Article
We're grateful to the SUN Thisweek for helping us share how Kids 'n Kinship has been connecting mentors with exceptional youth for more than five decades, including this incredible story of how both Quentin's mentors the Haydens as well as his mom Cameo's mentor Chris...
Lauren Lupkowski wins Mentor MN Award
On Friday, June 27, MENTOR Minnesota hosted an inaugural celebration to recognize incredible individuals and programs that support mentoring in Minnesota. Lauren Lupkowski, a Pen Pal and alumni mentor of two previous mentoring connections with Kids ‘n Kinship, won an...
Two Year Anniversary: Individual Match Spotlight
Happy 2nd Anniversary to this Amazing Match! From the Mentee: “One of the highlights with Joe this past year would be I got to experience building a computer with him. It was a fun project to work on with him and I really enjoyed it. I’m really grateful to have...
SIX Year Anniversary: Match Spotlight
Happy 6th Anniversary to this Incredible Match! This match is still going strong after SIX years! A typical week for this match includes dinner and games. A fun new activity this year has been going to the gym together. We are so grateful to Sara and Don for the...
Three Year Anniversary: Family Match
Celebrating 3 YEARS! Three years goes by in a blur, but it's this year when Khasiem is turning into a teenager alongside our two older kids that I've started to appreciate the longevity of our match. One day we picked Khasiem up, and we'd been on vacation and hadn't...
Don & Jerehmiah – One Year Matched!
Thanks, Don, for sharing what this first year matched has meant to you! Volunteering as a Kid's and Kinship mentor has offered me a meaningful, low stress way to stay engaged and contribute to my community. This involvement has provided an added sense of...
Allen & Gio have been matched for FOUR years
Allen & Gio have been matched for FOUR years. We love to hear the perspective of both the guardian and mentor and what the match has meant to each of them. From Gio's mom: I know for myself, and Giovanni, we see Allen as a significant support in his life. Everyone...
School-based turned Community-Based: One Year Anniversary
Hear from this adorable match who's celebrating their one year match anniversary: Meeting weekly at Kate's school, we were able to enjoy time together by playing games or doing art crafts while we talked. We played games that Kate already knew like Uno and Mancala. We...
Recent Posts
One Year Anniversary: Match Spotlight
"It’s been a great year building a relationship with my mentee, Elijah. We’ve shared some really fun experiences and built a strong connection along the way. Trying new things together has been especially meaningful — playing WhirlyBall, for example, was a first for...
Kids ‘n Kinship National Mentoring Month in Sun ThisWeek
We are so grateful for the press from the Sun ThisWeek. We have many mentors tell us that they heard about us in the local paper. Thanks for helping us spread the word about our need for mentors. Read the article...
Kids ‘n Kinship on KARE 11
How lucky are we to get KARE 11 TV coverage and have the most amazing program representation from Silas and Mark for National Mentoring Month? Not luck at all when you have the support of amazing resources like Media Relations Agency helping spread the word about...
Kids ‘n Kinship on WCCO
Allen & Gio, we are so proud of how well you represented Kids 'n Kinship on WCCO! Thanks for sharing your story and helping us get the word out about local youth mentoring so we can find mentors for the 47+ youth on our waitlist....
Kids ‘n Kinship Winter 2026 Newsletter
CLICK HERE for our Winter Newsletter 2026