For over three years that ministry has been mentoring at-risk children. Together with wife, Jessica, and co-director, Kathy Schmidt, Richard founded A Better Tomorrow, Inc. (ABT). In an eight-week curriculum aimed at middle and high schoolers, Richard works with parents and school staff in mentoring students in the areas of character development, life skills, decision-making, visioning, relationship building and conflict resolution.
Although the public school setting precludes the inclusion of sectarian messages in the curriculum, questions raised by students frequently give Richard and his staff opportunities to share their personal testimonies.
Each year, the organization serves 300 to 500 students in some of the toughest schools in the city--schools with graduation rates of 35% in neighborhoods where less than 5% of homes have both biological parents.
As to the success of the program, consider this: 75 percent of seniors who completed ABT’s eight-week course are now attending college; 20 percent are learning a trade, starting a business or are, otherwise, gainfully employed. But perhaps the best measure of success is in the words of dozens of students, like these:
“Being in A Better Tomorrow, I learned a lot and now I’m ready to go out in the real world and become a better person than I was before Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Kathy came here.”
“A Better Tomorrow program helped me maintain my focus and now I feel more confident and have higher standard.”
“A Better Tomorrow program helped me do better in school, with my teachers and others.”
“I will encourage more people and let them know how this program can help save and change their lives, it did mine.”
If you desire a brighter future for the next generation consider mentoring a young person, supporting an organization like A Better Tomorrow , or starting an organization in your own community. It is an investment that promises eternal returns.
“Fellow-citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth, and take so little care of your children, to whom one day you must relinquish it all?” --Socrates
