Your Catholic Neighbor
Mentoring is Tilot's mantra
Program director says mentoring matches his values, spiritual beliefs
By Tony Staley
Compass Correspondent
GREEN BAY -- Caring adults played an important part in Glen Tilot's life. Now it's what he does as director of two Brown County Human Services' mentoring programs - Pals and Volunteers in Prevention.
Plus, it matches his values and spiritual beliefs, Tilot said.
Pals, which matches 3- to 7-year-old Brown County residents from single-parent or special needs families with adult mentors, is similar to Big Brothers Big Sisters, which matches children seven and up with adults.
Some 60-80 youngsters have a Pal and 60 more are on the waiting list. Matches can continue until the youngster is 18 and some Pals remain in contact well beyond that, Tilot said.
Volunteers in Prevention is for teens and pre-teens, some of whom never had a Pal, who are beginning to get into trouble, he said.
He also directs Guardians for Adults for people, without relatives, who can not make decisions about their care. He oversees 160 wards and six to eight developmentally disabled wards over age 18.
Tilot is a native of Luxemburg, where he made some lifelong friends during the seven years he attended St. Mary School. The family moved to Green Bay in 1967 when he entered eighth grade.
As the new kid at St. Jude School, where his clothes and short hair stuck out, he recalled being beat up and having his bike demolished. Fortunately, he said, his teacher, a nun, took him under her wings.
Tilot planned to go to public high school because his parents couldn't afford Premontre, until an anonymous person paid his tuition. That made a big difference, Tilot said, because it kept him in touch with people who shared his faith and he had priests for guidance. Plus, most of the boys who had harassed him went to the public school.
After graduating in 1972, Tilot worked at McDonald's, then Fort Howard Paper Co.
After attending the charismatic renewal conference at the University of Notre Dame in summer 1975, he went to prayer meetings in Luxemburg. "I wasn't happy. I knew I should do
more with my life than what I was doing," Tilot said. "I prayed for something to happen in my life to give me a different direction."
It happened on Aug. 12, 1976. Tilot fell asleep while driving to work and crashed into a truck, shattering his femur. He regained consciousness four or five days later while being
anointed. He underwent several surgeries, spent three months in traction and still suffers from back problems.
The accident changed his relationship with God and his family, he said. "Our family, which really wasn't all that demonstrative before, definitely became more demonstrative with one
another after."
After a year in rehab, he started at UW-Green Bay in September 1977, where one of his teachers, Richard Jansen of Denmark, inspired his choice of career. He started as a social worker in Outagamie County in 1981 and with Brown County in July 1984.
Fortunately, Tilot said, he doesn't have to go to court to have children removed from their homes and placed in foster care.
Most people he works with, even if abuse and neglect are an issue, want a Pal volunteer for their child, he said.
He enjoys recruiting and training volunteers so he can meet new people from all walks of life. Pals, he said, don't have to be counselors or social workers. They only have to care and be willing to spend the time - something that lately has been especially appealing to empty-nesters.
He takes special joy in a Pal's success. For example, one young woman graduated from UW-River Falls largely through the encouragement and support of her adult Pals. They walked
her down the aisle on her wedding day and let her start a therapeutic riding program for disabled children in their stables.
"I try to use my experience to determine what the most compatible match will be for volunteers, what they're looking for and what the child's needs are," Tilot said. "Sometimes I get lucky. I get volunteers who are not only highly motivated, but have an understanding of the dynamics some of these families have occurring in them and what the consequences are to the children."
Several former little Pals have told him "'That was really a big influence in my life and I don't want to think about how miserable I would have been,'" Tilot said.
A couple have even said they would have committed suicide except they didn't want to let their Pal down.
Their Pals, he said, "were the only people who really did care and even noticed that they existed and acknowledged their school."
He's also seen what happens when matches don't succeed or he can't find Pals and the children end up in foster care, group homes, residential treatment facilities or corrections.
That can cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars for one child, making Pals a good investment, he said.
Since 1994, Tilot has been active on the board and committees of Leadership Green Bay, a nine-month Chamber of Commerce course to develop community leaders.
Tilot said his parents, whom he called pillars of strength and excellent role models, inspired him and taught him family values. They volunteer twice a week at St. Vincent de Paul. His father, a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, served on the parish council and as a trustee. Tilot said he got his work ethic from his father and his skills as a social worker from his mother.
Fr. Ron Belitz, his pastor, has encouraged and inspired him to be more involved and a better Catholic, he said. His wife, Kathy and her family, the Hoidas, have also inspired him.
Then there's Rosie Gillis of Luxemburg - his "second mother."
"Nobody can have too many people that are close to them and care about them," Tilot said. "If you're going through some difficult times, the more you have the better."
That could be the motto for the programs he directs.
For information on Pals or any of the programs Glen Tilot directs, phone (920)448-6023.
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