About Westwood SOS: Stefonowicz family
Stories of Service: Rob, Jody, Sam and Andrew StefonowiczAs a part of our ongoing commitment to sharing stories of Westwood individuals/families involvement in service, here is the story of the Stefonowicz family. Rob and Jody along with their sons Sam and Andrew are moving forward in the process of becoming Kinship mentors after initially expressing interest during our November 2011 pledge Sunday. Kinship is a faith-based mentoring program that connects individuals or families with young people in need of additional healthy relationships in their lives. Mentors meet with their young person around 1 a week for a minimum of one year. The Stefonowicz family is just finishing up their application and they hope to be connected with a young person in the next month or two. We hope to interview them later in the year to see how things are going. We interviewed Rob and Jody and asked them the following questions as they look forward to the start of this new relationship.
1) Why did you decide to move ahead with mentoring a young person through the Kinship ministry?
Rob: We had been thinking about ways to become more involved with the church and in the community and had heard only very positive things about the Kinship mentoring program. We think Kinship will be a very good fit not only for me and Jody, but also for our boys.
Jody: We feel that Kinship will give us an opportunity to positively impact the life of a young person, while at the same time helping our sons appreciate and understand the importance of caring for and serving the community.
2) How did your faith affect your decision to do this?
Rob: Kinship presents the perfect opportunity to put our core beliefs to action. The mentoring program gives us an opportunity to make a meaningful connection with the community and get involved in a young person’s life with the aim to make a positive impact.
Jody: We are very thankful for what we have been given in our lives, and Kinship gives us a chance to reach out and give back.
3) What are your hopes for the young person you mentor and the hopes for your family (especially the boys) at this stage?
Rob: At this stage, I think we are simply looking forward to getting to know this young person and develop a friendship. Hopefully the young person will like us.
Jody: Our boys are thrilled that they will be making a new friend through Kinship and have been telling everyone they run into about it. Our hope is that this is a very positive experience that turns into a life-long relationship.
If you’d like more information on Kinship and how to become a mentor please contact Pastor Jason. Please keep the Stefonowicz family and the young person they will be matched with in your prayers as they begin this relationship.
9(13*Off)11(2*2)&utmwv=1&utmn=7622112899&utmsr=-&utmsc=-&utmul=-&utmje=0&utmfl=-&utmdt=-&utmhn=westwoodlutheran.org&utmr=&utmp=/noscript&utmac=UA-27114567-1&utmcc=__utma%3D40428670.2108791913.1371533498.1371533498.1371533498.2%3B%2B__utmb%3D40428670%3B%2B__utmc%3D40428670%3B%2B__utmz%3D40428670.1371533498.2.2.utmccn%3D(direct)%7Cutmcsr%3D(direct)%7Cutmcmd%3D(none)%3B%2B__utmv%3D40428670%3B)