Kids Helping Kids Founder is Volunteer of Year

When it comes to Kids Helping Kids, there's only one person who's more of a driving force than the kids themseves: a mom.

Program founder Melissa Gibson of Morris Plains was given Volunteer of The Year Award by the borough's recreation commission April 26, and was given the key to the borough by Morris Plains council members.

Gibson was recognized for her efforts in the Kids Helping Kids program, which  she created a few years ago. The program provides mentoring to kids from ages 3 to 10.

Borough Councilwoman Suzanne McCluskey said the program has helped many students—including the mentors themselves.

"It has just been such an amazing program," McCluskey said. "Melissa has put her heart and soul into it."

McCluskey said having peer mentors work with children one-to-one is proven successful. She said that in many cases, kids respond better to other children than they would to adults or parents.

The mentors range from third-graders to high-schoolers, and are referred to as "big buddies;" the kids they work with are "little buddies." Gibson said having the mentors gives the little buddies more confidence and encouragement in many activities such as in sports and in reading. 

"The mentors are there just to support, encourage, and help them in all different types of recreational programs," Gibson said. "It just makes it really fun for them to have these bigger kids pay attention to them."

The kids participate in sports, build with Legos, have reading and writing activities, and do arts and crafts. The program is held in a variety of locations around the borough, such as the , the , and on sports fields. 

Gibson is a also member of the Municipal Alliance, the borough's organization to prevent drug and alcohol abuse. She said she first came up with the idea for Kids Helping Kids while being involved with the organization. She wanted a program that allowed students to participate in community service, and also provide support for kids in the community.

McCluskey said that when Gibson first had the idea, she was looking for a way to help children with special needs and challenges. She then decided to open it up to kids of all abilities.

Kids Helping Kids is modeled off Montville's Pathways program, which also focuses on having kids work with and help one another. Gibson said her kids had participated in some programs there, and she thought it was a great thing to bring to Morris Plains.

Gibson has two sons and a daughter—Jeremy, 12, Kyle, 10, and Kelly, 8—who are all involved with Kids Helping Kids, and who have served as both participants and mentors.

Over the years the program has had several hundred mentors trained. It hosts a training course twice a year, once in the fall and spring, that brings in 50 new mentors each year. The mentors are trained with the Pathways program.

Gibson said the program finds the mentors by advertising through the school and town. Lindsay Nahm, the principal of Mountain Way School, said the school encourages staff members to get involved in mentor training if they're interested.

Nahm has also noticed the positive impact that Kids Helping Kids has brought to the community.

"Kids learn empathy best by practicing it, and this gives them an opportunity to learn how to help children who are different than them and then actually put it into practice," Nahm said.