Mansfield police mentor Friendly House kids
MANSFIELD - Over 100 children filled the cafeteria Thursday at 4 p.m. at the daily after school program at the Friendly House.
Tuna casserole was on the menu and then it was time for homework, computer, recreation and knitting on this day.
Mansfield police Officers Thayne Telquist, Paul Garneret and Sgt. Toneli Webb were waiting on the kids to finish eating.
Dodgeball was all most the older kids could talk about and it was action packed with an officer on each team.
Police Athletic League Director Ginger Antrican told the energetic students there were be no head balls as the plastic balls were passed out.
While Mansfield police officers have been coming every Thursday to the facility on Mulberry Street to mentor youths for the past eight years, Garneret was talking one-on-one with youngsters about their day, which for most included no outdoor recess because it was raining.
"I like the interaction with the kids versus when I'm on a call," said Garneret. Telquist said officers come to the Friendly House on Thursdays on a rotating basis although Officer Paul Webb usually comes to play football or on the playground with the kids.
After the hot meal was served and kids had eaten, they divided into groups - including those headed for some help with homework and others to the computer lab.
Glenn Bond said he has been mentoring youth here for 13 years.
He recalled the children were busy and talkative the first time he came to mentor them.
"Now I don't think anything about it," he said with a laugh, as children lined up to go with him to a quiet room for some help with their homework.
A large group of teen girls headed to a room above the swimming pool for a special class called Chicks with Sticks led by retired Mansfield police Capt. Marijan Grogoza.
Some of the knitters have been coming to the class for three years and are quite skilled at making everything from scarves to wash cloths and blankets.
It was show-and-tell time and Grogoza had each one of them show what they have been working on at home.
Many girls showed their scarves, some in beginning stages and others half done.
Grogoza, said Antrican, make the class fun.
"Her mother heads up a sewing class alongside knitting and they teach the kids to mend and they make coin bags," she said.
Grogoza brought some new yarn to show the class.
"This is something you're all going to go crazy for. It's called the 21-color slouch hat and you've got 21 colors and I cannot wait to get this done. I think it's going to be a crazy cool project," she said.
Retired teacher Jan Henson said Janiya Hudgens, 11, re-taught her how to knit a scarf.
Colorful balls of yarn purchased for the youths from donations or grant money littered the table and made for quite a bit of conversation among the girls.
Hudgens said she is making a striped blanket as she untangled her balls of yarn. She showed the girls the colors she was using including pink and yellow yarn and soft green yarn, both multicolored and in large balls.
Jiselle Martinez, 11, was working diligently on a knitting project as she talked. She plans to give the final product to someone as a gift.
"It's a surprise," she said of the recipient.
Martinez and Brianna Lindsay told a visitor they could teach her to knit.
The girls taught a couple male police officers to knit, noting they learned in an hour.
Antrican said the mentoring program allows youngsters to see police officers in a different light so they are not portrayed as the bad person, which happens sometimes.
"The kids will ask me are the police officers coming today? They literally ask for them personally. They get so excited for them to come and play with them," she said.
lwhitmir@nncogannett.com
419-521-7223
Twitter: @LWhitmir
