Like many of the youth referred to Friends of the Children, 8-year-old Blair is not reading and writing at grade level. As a second grader, she even still struggles to form letters.

The letter Q was particularly hard.

"At a recent visit, it took us about 30 minutes to get one correct Q,” recalls Blair’s Friend Bekah. “Then a couple of weeks later we were practicing again, and she got a perfect Q. Without any help, she just wrote it. I told her mom when I dropped her off because I was so proud, and her mom said, ‘Yes! She’s been practicing just for you!’"

Friends routinely celebrate successes like this with the youth they mentor. And through 12+ years, these little wins add up to big ones – learning to read, reading for learning, keeping pace with peers, graduating from high school.Moments like Blair’s perfect Q don’t happen by chance. They happen because someone keeps showing up—week after week, year after year, even through summers—believing in a child before they believe in themselves.Blair’s story is still being written. Now she’s starting to believe it can be a success story.