Editor’s note: This is the latest in an ongoing series of articles highlighting the 40th anniversary of the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization in Marshall County.

Pat Kremer is no stranger to public service or working with youth.

Kremer served the Marshalltown Community School District for 32 years as a teacher, principal, and associate superintendent. He then worked with the homeless at Youth and Shelter Services for five years. For the last 39 years, Kremer has volunteered his time and talents to mentor youth in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. In 2013, he was presented with the Excellence in Mentoring Award by governor Terry Branstad.

No small achievement, Kremer notes he has been part of the BBBS organization so long that “my first little brother is losing his hair and his kids are out of college.”

Kremer has mentored five “littles,” including two at the same time. He said wife Nancy, who served as director of Big Brothers Big Sisters in the 1970s, first raised his awareness of the need to become a mentor, or “big,” and encouraged her husband to sign up. While Kremer was spending time with his “little” Alex Craig, Nancy spoke of a student at Woodbury Elementary named Elmer Garcia who seemed like a perfect match for Kremer.

Elmer, 15, and Kremer have been meeting regularly and sharing life experiences ever since.

“I thought, oh cool, I got a play buddy,” Elmer said of their first meeting. “It was a chance to get out of class.”

In the beginning, Kremer and Elmer were paired through BBBS’s school-based mentoring program where the two would meet while the child was in school. The duo liked to play checkers and Connect Four and as Elmer grew, they got interested in playing ball. Ultimately, they switched over to the community-based program and were able to meet outside of school.

Kremer and friend Glenn Harmelink once took Elmer up in an airplane to give the youth the chance to experience flight. The mentor has tried to expose his “little” to new foods, activities, culture and places as ways of cultivating different perspectives and broadening the teenager’s worldview.

Kremer attends all of Elmer’s sporting events and encouraged the teen to try out for wrestling.

“I could see the potential,” Kremer, who had wrestled in his youth, said.

Elmer made varsity his freshman year and is also on the football team and a regular weightlifter. The teen is interested in opening up his own gym and becoming a personal trainer when he graduates high school.

“It’s hard being a teenager these days, and everyone needs a cheerleader,” Kremer said. “He’s got them, at school with his coaches and his mom.”

Kremer and Elmer have been through life changing events together, been disappointed in one another, and undergone the usual types of ups and downs any relationship endures.

“Elmer has taught me don’t give up on young people. There will be hard times … Mentoring is never a one way thing. It benefits both of us, that’s for sure,” Kremer said.

“I learned that I’m somebody,” Elmer said. “Most of the time as a kid I was put down. [Pat] taught me so many things that made me think, maybe I am somebody.”

To become a school-based mentor, applicants must be 16 years old or older, and 18 or older for the community-based program. Those interested undergo a background check and must provide references.

To apply to be a mentor or to sign up a youth, contact the Heart of Iowa Big Brothers Big Sisters Marshalltown office at 641-753-6370.