JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A twist on traditional mentorship: One mentoring program is looking for help reaching out to children in detention centers.
The one-on-one program is called the VERB Kind.
It is a mentoring program serving eight counties across the Sunshine State, one of those counties is Duval.
“We are now in eight counties, all across the state of Florida, eight. We have a few more to go. But our latest one is Brevard and Marion County, Ocala and Cocoa Beach. So we’re in Tampa, Jacksonville, we’re in Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami. All over the state of Florida, so we’re so grateful,” said Haley Hunt, the VERB Kind founder.
The more than 80 volunteers have helped impact beyond 3,000 incarcerated children through a variety of activities.
The founder says everyone deserves grace no matter what their life may look like.
“We hang out with kids in jail,” said Hunt.
Hunt has made it her mission to impact incarcerated youth across Florida through a unique mentoring program.
“VERB stands for Victory Everyday Restoring Belief. We are getting victory. We are winning every single day by restoring belief, not only in these kids, but in humanity,” said Hunt.
Hunt explained what makes this type of mentorship different than other programs.
“We’re here for them. A lot of these kids have never ever felt love from a father before or a mother before. They’ve never played Uno. They’ve never had a pizza party. Like a lot of these kids come from nothing. And to feel forgiveness, to feel redemption, just having someone listen to them is so powerful,” said Hunt.
Every Monday, a group of volunteers goes to the detention centers and spends time with children serving time.
Whether it’s by playing Uno, introducing guest speakers, barbecues or writing songs — the time these volunteers spend is creating new realities for children who otherwise might not believe in second chances.
“The VERB Kind sees these kids, and we see doctors, we see lawyers, we see artists and athletes, we see long lost engineers and barbers — you know, kids that have a passion for something,” said Hunt.
Hunt says every child behind bars deserves mentorship no matter what it looks like.
“The question comes why would you celebrate or reward kids that are in jail? You know like why would you do that? But one I like to challenge everyone that we all deserve jail. Like we all deserve some type of punishment that we’ve been gracious enough not to get. We’ve not treated people the right way or whatever it is,” said Hunt.
To continue with its mission to mentor as many incarcerated youth across the state, the VERB Kind is looking for more volunteers and organizations to team up with, especially in the River City.
It will relaunch in January. You can find more information about how to get involved here: https://www.theverbkind.com/ or on Instagram @cometojailwithme.