Volunteering...

Real Life Stories

Excerpts from June 21, 2008 Brainerd Dispatch
article by Jodie Tweed.

As a member of the Brainerd Lakes Sertoma Club, Bob Nibbe had learned about the Kinship Partners program soon after he moved to the Brainerd area in 1992 and signed up to become a partner. He and his young Kinship Partner shared a successful partnership for several years but it ended when the boy was in high school. When he heard about the "100 Mentors 100 Days" campaign, Nibbe thought it was a perfect opportunity to make a difference in the life of a child and signed up again.

Nibbe and his wife, Caroline, have two sons, Aaron, 10, and David, 8. He figured the boys would have fun with a Kinship Partner, too.

Three months ago, Nibbe was matched with Tristan Rossman, 7. The two have many shared interests, including fishing. Tristan lives with his father in Brainerd and he said he had wanted a Kinship Partner for a long time because his sister had one. Tristan said he was waiting for a Kinship Partner for "500 years" before he was matched with Nibbe.

Every Wednesday Nibbe picks up Tristan and brings him and his two sons somewhere fun for a few hours, whether it be to a park or out fishing. They plan to do a lot of swimming this summer, especially since Tristan is learning how to swim.

Affectionate, energetic and outgoing, Tristan fits in like one of Nibbe's boys.

"He's fun and nice," Tristan said of Nibbe.

"Everyone has got such a busy schedule but you just have to make the time and make it work," Nibbe said of a Kinship partnership. Nibbe himself is a Minnesota Department of Transportation civil engineer and owns a farm. "It takes you out of your routine and forces you to have some variety in your life."