After the February 14th shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 high school students died needlessly, a lot of people started hollering "Somebody needs to do something!"Meet Joe Sigurdson...a man who is doing something. Joe's Co-Founder of Boys to Men Mentoring, and spoke yesterday to the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club about his efforts.
Joe's a big guy, and not one you'd normally think would really open up about his feelings (that's him on the right on the surfboard). He used to be a drug runner, an enforcer for criminal enterprises, and made a living regularly beating up people and taking advantage of them.
Alcoholics Anonymous turned him around from a life of drugs, alcohol, and violence, at which point Joe helped found Boys to Men, dedicated to helping boys understand they have a choice in the direction their lives can go. "Over the past 40 years there's been an epidemic of fatherless boys in this country," he explained "and 85% of youths in prisons grew up in a fatherless home."
Then he dropped the bomb: "93% of incarcerated Americans are male."
Boys To Men is now helping mentor "at-risk" middle school boys in San Diego. Participants improve their grades an average of 27%. Discipline incidents are down 85%.
The organization has helped hundreds of boys at dozens of schools, all free of charge, and have so many requests for help that they could easily double their presence overnight. Their model is also being used throughout the country.
Joe came seeking volunteers, mentors, and donations. Given the math ($47,000 to house a prison inmate, $500 to turn around a boy's life), the investment is critical and the return to society is unquestionable.
More to the point, helping Joe and his group obviously has an immediate impact! We're pleased to have hosted Joe, appreciated hearing his story, and are grateful for a chance to help spread his message.
For more information about how you can help improve a young man's life today, visit www.boystomen.org. To learn more about the most dynamic breakfast meeting you'll experience all week, sitting with our community's leaders and influencers, visit www.rbsunrise.org.