BELLOWS FALLS -- Liz Herold, case manager for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bellows Falls, pulled her gray mini-van up to the fire station on Thursday afternoon. She turned off the engine, the doors swung open and seven elementary school students spilled out into the parking lot.

"How ya doing, bud?" yelled Meghan Blanchard, 17, to her "little," Hayden, 7.

Hayden ran across the asphalt and stopped beside Blanchard as the rest of the students found their "bigs."

On Thursdays Herold brings these two groups of students together for an afternoon of mentoring. The mentors are Bellows Falls Union High School students and they receive community credit for their work. The children in the younger group are from the Cherry Hill and Central Elementary schools.

The group usually gets together at the high school, or at Parks Place, but on Thursday they got a tour of the fire station.

"I think both age groups really benefit from our Thursday meetings," Herold said. "There are a lot of different ways that somebody can be a mentor."

Mentoring groups across the country are celebrating the third annual National Mentoring Month in January. Big Brothers and Big Sisters, the oldest and most well-known mentoring group in the country, marks 100 years of service this year as well, and Herold said it was a good time to let people know about the ways they can get involved in the life of a youngster.

She said the spectrum runs from the high school group at the fire station, to seniors who go to schools to read or help with lunch. Many people think of the Big Brothers Big Sisters model that brings together an adult and a child for weekends or special events. And Herold said that still happens. But she also said that many organizations are extending the opportunities to serve as a mentor.

"It is an easier sell to try and get someone to commit 45 minutes of their week," Herold said. "And just that one meeting a week can make a difference."

Blanchard has been meeting with Hayden since the beginning of the school year. She also mentored a different child last year, she said, and, though she doesn't need the credit, she took on the role for a return engagement. The group moved around the fire station on Thursday, climbing up into the trucks, trying on equipment and visiting the different rooms in the three-story building.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization serves 200,000 youth in all fifty states.

To get involved go to: The Big Brothers Big Sisters' Web site