Be the Difference in a Teen’s Future
Your support can have a lasting impact on a young person’s life.
At Open Arms Youth Initiative, we believe every teen deserves more than a place to live. They deserve hope, encouragement, meaningful relationships, and the opportunity to build a successful future.
Many teens in foster care are still waiting for the love and security of a permanent family. While they wait, they need caring adults who will stand beside them, encourage them, and remind them that they are valued and never alone.
Whether you choose to become a Mentor or a Sponsor, your support can have a lasting impact on a young person’s life.
Become a Mentor Become a Sponsor
Become a Mentor
A mentor is more than a volunteer. You become a trusted adult, a positive role model, and a source of encouragement during one of the most important transitions in a young person’s life.
Mentors are matched one-on-one with a specific teen and commit to building a supportive relationship while that young person waits to be adopted.
As a mentor, you may:
Spend Quality Time
Spend quality time with your assigned teen on a regular basis.
Encourage Goals
Encourage educational, career, and personal goals.
Build Life Skills
Help develop practical life skills such as budgeting, interviewing, cooking, and problem-solving.
Celebrate Milestones
Celebrate milestones, achievements, and successes.
Listen and Encourage
Listen without judgment and provide consistent encouragement.
Build Confidence
Help your mentee build confidence and prepare for independent adulthood.
You don’t need to have all the answers. What matters most is your willingness to show up, listen, encourage, and care.
For many youth, one caring adult can change the course of a lifetime.
Become a Sponsor
Not everyone has the time to mentor, but everyone can help change a life.
Sponsors provide financial support that allows teens to access the everyday resources they need while waiting to be adopted. Your generosity helps remove barriers and gives young people the opportunity to focus on building a brighter future.
Individual donors, families, businesses, churches, civic organizations, and community groups are all invited to become sponsors.
Sponsor contributions may help provide:
Clothing and Shoes
School Supplies and Educational Expenses
Transportation Assistance
Personal Hygiene Items
Cell Phone and Communication Needs
Driver’s Education and Licensing Fees
Career and Job-Readiness Resources
Life-Skills Classes and Workshops
Emergency Assistance
Recreational and Enrichment Activities
Sponsors may choose to support one teen or contribute toward the needs of several youth participating in our programs.
Every gift—large or small—helps provide stability, dignity, and hope.
Why Your Support Matters
Youth aging out of foster care often face adulthood without the family support many of us take for granted. At Open Arms Youth Initiative, our goal is to ensure that every young person has someone who believes in them, invests in them, and walks beside them as they prepare for adulthood and, whenever possible, a permanent adoptive family.
Together, we can help every teen discover that they are valued, supported, and never alone.
Make a Difference Today
Join Our Mission
Whether you choose to mentor, sponsor, volunteer, or simply share our mission with others, you are helping create brighter futures for teens who deserve every opportunity to succeed.
Become a Mentor. Become a Sponsor. Become the reason a young person believes in tomorrow.
Together, we can open hearts, open doors, and open arms.