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House Mentors

Meet our Mentors

Vanessa and IsmaelIsmael & Vanessa Abreu – Travis Street House
Ismael and Vanessa Abreu are the mentors in the Travis St. house since fall 2009. Ismael and Vanessa have been married since April 2007. Vanessa was born and raised in Miami, FL and moved to Grand Rapids about 12 years ago. She is a 2006 Calvin graduate working as Assistant Director of Admissions, coordinating the Fridays at Calvin program at Calvin College. Ismael is from the Dominican Republic and moved to the U.S. 9 years ago. He is currently a part time student at Grand Rapids Community College and will be a full time student at Calvin in the Spring of 2010. Ismael and Vanessa enjoy traveling, going for motorcyle rides and spending time with friends and family.

Nate and Lindsey Cole - Peniel House
Lindsey and Nate Cole are the mentors in Peniel since fall 2009. Lindsey and Nate have been married since January 2009. Lindsey grew up in Grand Rapids. She is a Calvin graduate who went to school for Early Childhood Education. She currently is a preschool teacher for Creston and Evergreen Schools, part of Grand Rapids Christian Schools. Nate graduated with a video production degree from Grand Valley. He has been working at FOX 17 for three years, where he is a video editor/ photo journalist. Nate and Lindsey enjoy biking, playing games, and spending time with their families. They have also enjoyed learning to garden in the Peniel community garden. They attend Eastern Avenue and participate in the tutoring program. They are excited to be a part of the Peniel house.

Nunana and Lindsay Nyomi - Nizhoni House
Since the fall of 2009, Nunana and Lindsay Nyomi have been mentoring in the Nizhoni house. Nunana grew up in Ghana, Kenya, Switzerland and England before attending Calvin College and graduating in 2008. Since then, he has been an Admissions Counselor for the college. Lindsay originally hails from the boondocks of Indiana. She graduated from Calvin in ’09 with a degree in Spanish and ESL education, and currently teaches English to 3-5th graders in Sparta, MI. The two were happily married in the summer of 2008. Lindsay and Nunana enjoy traveling the globe, riding bikes, challenging Nizhoni students to games of Ticket to Ride, and playing with the resident Nizhoni cat, Olga.

Scott PageScott Page - Harambee House
Scott Page has served as a mentor since the spring 2009. He grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, but have lived in grand rapids for the past six years. Scott graduated with majors in Religion and Greek with a minor in Psychology and lived in project neighborhood his senior year. He gets pretty stoked about cooking, guitars, motorcycles and novels. Currently he attends Calvin Seminary where he is in his first year of study for a masters of divinity. Through this time of education in his life he is seeking to live out what it means to be a Christian. Part of this for means living communally and trying to know both the people he shares an address with and his neighbors.

Expectations of Mentors

To foster the goals of Project Neighborhood through serving as a participant-mentor in the life of the house and giving leadership through modeling, mentoring and facilitating a house environment which is caring, accountable, shaped by prayer and biblical principles.

Primary Responsibilities

  1. Facilitate and encourage the active participation and ownership of the students in developing and living a common life together in which they relate to one another as image bearers of God, bridge social and economic barriers and develop vision and capacity for service.
  2. Facilitate the formation of, participation in, and reflection upon the community of the house, including weekly house meetings which attempt to develop desired outcomes for the project.
  3. Facilitate house meetings to determine responsibilities related to housekeeping, meals, property maintenance and neighbor relations.
  4. Provide mentoring and discipleship avenues for residents.
  5. Ensure the maintenance of the physical structure of the house, in connection with the facility supervisor.
  6. Develop positive personal relationships with neighbors and facilitate the student's efforts in this regard.
  7. Serve as representative of the college.

Interested in becoming a PN Mentor?

We will be hiring in the beginning of April. Please look for the job posting in early March.