Font Size:

Divine Shelton had a script in front of him but he was at a loss for words.  The freshman at Creighton University was on stage in front of a crowd of 750 people trying to explain the impact that his mentor has had in his life.  The fact that Divine momentarily choked up brought message home.

Divine was a 7th grader at Monroe Middle School when he first met his TeamMates mentor Tim Schmad.  Schmad has long been active in our community and currently serves as director of the Omaha Playhouse.  He is also on the Metro Omaha board for TeamMates and he serves not only with oversight but on the individual level as well.  As Tim describes it, "I struck in rich with Divine."  They have differing views on politics and sports teams but agree their friendship is genuine.

In Divine's words "Mr. Schmad is a unique person that helped me through a time when I was trying to find myself."  Over the term of their relationship,  Divine was elected Senior Class President at Northwest High School, became a member of the National Honor Roll Society and earned a medal at the State Track Meet.  Tim was there to celebrate those accomplishment with Divine.

Over the last six years and a half years they've met for one hour a week with no agenda other than to share life.  It's one of many success stories that are a part of the overall success of the TeamMates Mentoring Program.  It was founded in 1991 by Tom Osborne with 21 youth in the Lincoln Public Schools.  Now over 3,000 youth in 95 communities across Nebraska and Iowa are involved with the program.   

Are you ready to share your time as well? 

www.teammates.org