“What’s one of the most encouraging things about seeing RBI Austin grow?”
I’m asked this question often, and to give an answer, I want you to meet my friend Bryan and his mentee Landon, who just celebrated their two-year mentor/mentee anniversary on November 5th.
As the child of an incarcerated father, Landon is six times more likely to be expelled or suspended from school than other children.
And as a black male, Landon has a one in three chance of going to prison in his lifetime.
Our prayer is that Landon will overcome those odds.
RBI mentoring and baseball are slowly transforming Landon — tempering anger, building self-esteem, and growing in the ability to maintain positive relationships.
RBI Austin has provided Landon a consistent, year-round mentor whom we’ve seen God use to point Landon to the truth that there is One who will never leave him, never walk out, never stop showing up.
Along with his mentor, baseball is a mechanism we’ve seen God use to shake Landon’s leadership skills to the surface.
“We gradually introduced him to baseball, and I think he surprised himself. You could see self-esteem building up in him because he challenged himself to do something he hadn’t done before. I don’t think he’s had an opportunity to display his leadership characteristics, and baseball helped him tap into those characteristics that he didn’t realize he had,” shared Bryan, Landon’s mentor.
Thanks to your support, Landon is not the only RBI Austin kid engaged in a transformative, year-round relationship.
Through our mentor match program and baseball/softball programs, 142 of our 1,171 RBI Austin kids (12%) are engaged in a year-round relationship with an RBI coach or mentor. But that still leaves the majority of our RBI Austin kids who direly need a consistent relationship like Landon has with Bryan.
How you can help combat the odds:
- Please join me in praying for the Lord to DOUBLE the number of RBI Austin kids engaged in a year-round coach/mentor relationship in 2018 from 142 to 284.
- Make a year-end gift to help us reach our goal! As of today, $31,220 of our $82,542 Going Going Give goal has been raised – thank you!! We still need $51,322 and would love your help in meeting our goal.
Thank you for believing in RBI Austin, in Landon, and in our 1,170 other RBI Austin kids.
We’re grateful to have you on our team,
Matt Price
Founder & Director, RBI Austin
P.S. If you haven’t done so already, I invite you to make a year-end gift by December 31st through one of the giving links below.