By Sherry Larson

People’s Defender

Jude Endicott is a native of Adams County. After busy careers, she and her husband, Rob, moved to Winchester, Ohio. She doesn’t seem to have slowed down. Endicott is the Coordinator of LINK Mentoring in Adams County. She has always been involved in volunteering her time and energies and spent time serving as a “Big Sister.” Although she serves in various volunteering capacities, Endicott found her home at LINK.

Her involvement started when Randy Chandler from the Adams County Drug Coalition approached Endicott about becoming an after-school instructor for Kid’s Club, which led to her leading the Kid’s Club for North Adams. She volunteered at North Adams Elementary School and the hospital when COVID hit, and things stopped. Chandler then mentioned that he thought LINK would be a good fit for Endicott.

In the summer of 2013, Sheriff Kimmy Rogers gathered people from 12 churches to provide group leadership and met children at the fairgrounds – they started the “Boot Camp.” Rogers and Tina Lightcap developed the LINK mentoring program.

LINK is a Christian ministry that creates positive mentoring opportunities for youth in Adams County who have been gravely affected by living in an environment with illegal drug use/misuse or other circumstances beyond their control. LINK is a nonprofit organization governed by a Board of Directors, includes a mentoring training program, and holds liability insurance. The members of the Board of Directors come from differing churches. The organization does not have a religious or political affiliation. Costs incurred include the expense of background checks. They are currently working on obtaining a grant to help offset the costs of running the program because LINK has relied solely on donations.

Endicott explains that she came on board in 2019, right before the pandemic, and that they couldn’t move forward. Now they are working with the schools; Endicott says, “Richard Seas, Superintendent of the Adams County Ohio Valley School District, has been phenomenal to work with to get this program started.” Mr. Seas is onboard and ready to go. Shane Young, who works with the Courthouse, is involved and prepared to start. Jill Wright with the Children’s Home is also on board with the project. It’s time to engage mentors.

The commitment is four hours a month. Mentors can spend more time if they desire, but four hours is the minimum. Endicott shares that it’s challenging to get mentors saying, “Everyone’s life is extremely busy now, and I don’t challenge that.” But she’s not asking anyone to do something she hasn’t done and knows possible.

How does someone become a mentor? Contact Endicott at (614) 266-0664 for an application. You must have a background check, but LINK covers the cost. They review applications and execute a training program. The next step is matching up a mentor and a child – women with girls and men with boys. Couples or friends can mentor together. The children will also have applications that a parent or guardian must sign. Endicott says, “Our goal is to reach the children and make a difference.” She will be a liaison between mentors and mentees.

Endicott says, “There is urgency – this is our future. We’re talking about these children growing up, and this is the only life they know. It’s up to us to help those children know they always have a choice, and LINK mentoring can be a viable conduit to provide children at risk”. She continues, “Adams County is a good county, and people help people. Once we get it started and get some great mentors in place, people will say, ‘This is worth four hours a month,’ and it will continue to allow our youth to know they have choices and a ray of hope.”