The first time Michael Franklin met Andy Julian, he was a little apprehensive.
At 13 years old, Franklin was wary of new people and didn’t know what to expect from the mentoring program he had joined at his grandmother’s suggestion. He also hadn’t realized that Julian, a veterinarian, had nine dogs, four cats, six horses, goats, llamas, alpacas and sheep at his Canterbury home.
“I was like, ‘This is a lot of animals,’ ” Franklin recalled, laughing. “I was a little nervous, especially with all the dogs barking. But I’m a very good dog person.”
Julian and Franklin were matched as mentor and mentee five years ago through the Friends Youth Mentoring Program, which pairs Merrimack County children ages 6 to 17 with a mentor who can serve as a positive role model and a supportive advocate.
On a recent Thursday, Franklin, who is now 17 and a senior at Merrimack Valley High School, and Julian, who is 61, sat in a sunny corner booth at a McDonald’s on Fisherville Road in Penacook – the same spot where they met up on their first day of mentorship. Julian, who was a first-time mentor when he was matched with Franklin, says he joined the program because he was interested in making a difference and offering a young person some guidance they may not have at home. Franklin, who lives with his grandmother, said he joined the program because he didn’t have a father figure in his life.
“I wasn’t in the greatest spot, but I didn’t want to tell someone that I didn’t know it all, about how I felt, and my life,” Franklin said. “When I finally got a connection, he helped me out.”
In the last five years, Julian and Franklin have gone on hikes, played disc golf and drank countless cups of coffee. Julian taught Franklin how to drive a car – including a manual transmission – and helped him get the practice hours he needed for his license. They’ve done home repair projects, working on small fixer-upper houses. Franklin even completed his senior project by shadowing at Pembroke Animal Hospital, Julian’s veterinary practice, where he observed checkups, surgeries and animal euthanasia.
Now, Franklin says he thinks of Julian as his father, and Julian – who has two daughters – refers to Franklin as the son he never had.
“Whenever I first meet someone, I’m always hesitant about them, like I can’t trust them. But I slowly got to trust him and open up to him,” Franklin said. “It’s pretty cool that I was his first mentee and he was my first mentor. That means a lot. It definitely wasn’t a mistake matching us up.”
The need for mentors is high in the Concord area, as the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the organization’s recruitment numbers and outreach abilities. Lily Wellington, director of volunteer programs at the Friends Program, says they currently have a waiting list of 80 children looking for mentors.
The program was originally established in 1975 under the name “junior-senior friends,” to provide role models to youth who were involved with or on the cusp of the juvenile justice system. Now the program has an average of 100 active mentor pairs per year. Many of the children involved are from new American families.
“Some 30 years later and we are now operating with the same theory, which is that if you provide a positive, caring role model invested in the development of an at-risk youth, you can change a lot in those outcomes,” Wellington said.
All mentors go through a screening process that includes an application, interview, home visit, background check and driving check, are matched with a child based on shared interests or skills and are asked to spend about one to three hours per week with their mentee.
Julian says one thing he’s learned is that he can be a mentor just by being himself, without having to do anything “spectacular.”
“Pick up the phone and call them. You don’t have to go on some big adventure,” Julian said. “Sometimes I just pick him up, we get a coffee and that’s about it, or walk the dogs or something.”
Franklin is looking ahead to his high school graduation, after which he hopes to study criminal justice at NHTI and Franklin Pierce University. He has big dreams of becoming a police officer who values diversity, has the skills to de-escalate mental health crisis situations and isn’t afraid to risk his life to help people if the need arises.
“What makes me into it is just knowing that I can make an impact,” Franklin said. “Even if I’m just one person, I can just spread the positivity to everyone and they spread it around and be like, ‘This officer’s a good officer.’ ”
The Friends Program only asks for a one-year committee from its participants, but many choose to go beyond. Julian and Franklin both agree that they will have a lifelong friendship. They’re already discussing plans for renovating more old houses in the future.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, program is over, see you later,’ ” Julian said. “He’s my son now, so I’ll be there for him forever.”
People interested in signing up to be mentors can find out more at www.friendsprogram.org.