OFA works with some 300 young people each year. In helping teens transition to adulthood, the primary focus is on education. It's an on-line mentorship, and student and mentor are matched by field of interest and career. This year every one of the scholarship students is paired with a mentor, and OFA is training new volunteers all the time. And advice is needed, whether it's what course to take next, or how to clean a stained carpet, or ways to deal with the sister and kids who moved into the student's dorm room, or resources to cope with the mentally ill mom.
Mentors help the students think their decisions through.
Ms. McCaffrey thinks of Joseph Rivers often. His vision lives on in the lives of these kids who have opportunities, and in the hearts of our volunteers. Every day someone shares the story of the OFA with somebody else. A Washington teen saw his dream of becoming a diesel mechanic come true thanks to the organization's support. Today he earns good money and still keeps in touch.