Friends First Celebrates Successful Year of Corporate-Based Mentoring

June 26, 2025

In the city of “Big Shoulders,” there are many young people who don’t have a positive role model or a clear sense of direction in their lives. That’s where Mercy Home’s Friends First mentoring program can help. Friends First provides opportunities, resources, and mentorship to young people living out in the community beyond Mercy Home.

The program matches well-trained mentors with young people from ages 9 to 17 years old, who could benefit from having a mentor to help develop their social and relationship skills, empower their self-esteem, and have fun together.

Friends First offers community, school, and corporate-based mentoring models. These programs are designed for young people who do not live full time in Mercy Home’s residential care, but they could still benefit from having a trusted adult in their life.

Additionally, the program serves as a lifeline for the community to prevent children from going down the wrong path.

In this year’s corporate program, mentors from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath Law Firm, and TransUnion were matched with students from St. Malachy School. These students are referred by their school as someone who could benefit from mentoring, or a student or their guardian could request to be a part of the program. Sessions are held twice a month for two hours at the corporate site, with all activities facilitated by Mercy Home’s First Friends coworkers.

“We focus on having sessions that allow the mentors and mentees to build a strong relationship and rapport,” said Friends First Program Manager Katie Gunter. 

“Our Friends First team has worked really hard this year to come up with fun and engaging activities that focus on socio-emotional learning and growth,” said Katie Keller Smith, Director of Ongoing Programs and Supports.” These included matches taking pictures at each session and doing a summary of their activity and what they gained from it; to create scrapbooks that the mentees took home at the end of the year. It’s really wonderful to see our matches creating and capturing memories with one another. What a gift!” 

Niko Spilson, a Friends First Mentor enjoyed mentoring Cherveris, a student at St. Malachy School.

“It’s super rewarding to see progress in my mentee, [and] how enthusiastic he is about being a part of the program. “It’s such an invaluable experience to be able to connect with these kids and to hear what’s going on in their lives, and to watch them grow.”

While in the program, Cherveris learned important life lessons and developed a strong connection with Spilson.

“This program has a lot of really good people,” he said. “It’s helped me understand [life more], and [my] emotions.”

Our mentors and mentees carry with them life-long memories and unbreakable friendships. To celebrate and show their appreciation to the corporate-based mentors and mentees, Friends First hosted an end of the year BBQ event.

“The End of Year Barbecue gives our Transunion and Faegre mentors and their St. Malachy mentees a chance to come together, play some games, share a meal and reflect on what they’ve done together over the course of the school year,” Keller Smith said. “It’s a celebration of the year and a way to mark and honor what they’ve meant to each other and how they’ve challenged each other to try new things and grow together.”

Jer’malah, a student at St. Malachy and mentee, reflected on how the mentorship program has helped her. 

“My favorite thing about [Friends First] is [they] help you to socialize with people and connect with people,” Jer’malah said. 

At the end of the event, mentors and mentees received awards for: Best Attendance, Best Karaoke, Most Engaged, Best Van Etiquette, Perserverance Award, Most Improved, Most Daring Yoga Pose, and Best Mentor Sub. 

Special thank you to our Friends First team and mentors for the amazing work they do, and helping provide genuine care, support, and friendship to our young people.