David & Eliezer

Since the fall of 2009, David Beturne and Eliezer have met for lunch every week at McMahon Elementary School in Holyoke.  Whether they head outside to throw the football or just hang out inside over a game of Trouble, they always have a blast!

David is the Director of Program Services at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampden County, so he sees firsthand the sort of positive impact mentoring can have for children.  “I see the impact you can have just by having lunch with a child for 30 minutes each week.  Plus, it’s a really fun way to break up a Friday afternoon! [Eliezer] is a super nice kid, well mannered, and very humble and appreciative.  He’s just fun.  A cool kid.”

Eliezer is a nine-year-old aspiring police officer.  He says that life has been a little more fun since David came into the picture.  ” I always get excited when he comes to see me.  I’m always talking about him to my mom, telling her about the fun stuff we do together.  One time he brought a football, and it got stuck on the roof of the school!  I’m always being good now and doing all of my homework.  If I don’t, my teacher will tell David that I didn’t do it or that I wasn’t being good.”

In fact, that segues perfectly into David’s favorite moment.  “There’s a chart on the wall of Eliezer’s classroom with a list of homework assignments that are due.  He had missed a couple assignments.  I didn’t say anything, but when I came in the next week, Eliezer was really excited to bring me to the board and show me that his work was done.  Now he always takes me to the board to show me that he’s caught up on his work.  It felt good to know that he cared enough what I might think of him to make sure his work was done.”

Now in the month of July, these two are on their summer break.  One can only imagine how excited they’ll both be to meet up again for some movie talk and a few games of Trouble.