Lost connection: Former mentee looking for the college student that helped change his life 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — A previous Big Brothers Big Sisters mentee is asking for help searching for Gary, his mentor from almost four decades ago.

When Jason Kerrick was a child, his mother added him and his brothers into the program.

“My parents divorced back in 1976 and my mom was worried we needed some male contact,” Kerrick said. “My grandparents were doing as much as they could and so was my uncle, they had families too.”

At the age of 12, Kerrick and his brothers were paired up with a Brown college student from Illinois, who made a great impact on the family.

“He was always very positive. He had a lot of empathy towards me and my brothers, and he truly cared about us,” Kerrick said. “I always felt really comfortable around him. I felt like it was someone that I could go to and talk to him.”

“I think that’s the heart of our program and the heart of mentoring. You don’t always see the impact right away,” said BBBSRI Director of Marketing Tina Santos.

Santos said the non-profit’s records of mentor and mentee pairs don’t go back to the early 80’s, but said she’s hopeful the two will be reunited.

Kerrick said that as he grew up and had a family of he own, he realized the value of giving back and wanted to say thank you to his mentor.

“I’ve been on Facebook, Instagram. I’ve been on social media, I’ve tried different variations of his name. I tried to look at some yearbooks,” Kerrick said.

Santos said Kerrick’s success story is the program’s goal.

“For me it’s so inspiring that ultimately these two people who are paired together, who were initially strangers are still connected or slider,” Santos said.

If you think you know who Jason’s mentor is, please contact Big Brothers Big Sisters Rhode Island here.