Communication senior Megan Bensette has a car, but when she is with 8-year-old Samara Keyton, she usually takes a CATA bus to the mall.

Keyton, a Lansing resident, insists on riding the bus because she prefers it to a car, Bensette said.

Bensette is a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Lansing, a nonprofit organization that provides adult role models for young children.

Executive Director Ed Hagan said the organization is in need of more than 300 volunteers, especially minority males, to mentor those on a growing waiting list.

"All a volunteer has to do is have the ability and the willingness to spend time with the child," Hagan said.

College students are usually good volunteers for the program because they are imaginative and enthusiastic, he added. Mentors are required to make a yearlong commitment to their child and can sign up immediately.

Bensette said she bakes, shops and reads with Keyton. On one trip to the mall, Keyton even insisted she have her face painted before they left.

"We were sitting in my apartment, and we didn't know what we were going to do for the day, so we decided to paint her face like a clown," Bensette said. "She loves to try on clothes, but only from the young professional women's section. She likes to try on the skirts."

Bensette has been Keyton's mentor since January.

About 500 children-mentor are pairs in the system now, Hagan said, and more than 900 pairs will be made throughout the year.

Keyton's brother is one of the children still waiting for a mentor, Bensette said. Her parents signed him up at the same time they signed up Keyton.

The Boys & Girls Club of Lansing is also in need of volunteers, said Melanie Cascaddan, teen center director. The Boys & Girls Club is an after-school program that focuses on helping children with their homework, Cascaddan said.

"It's a great way for the kids to see that people do give back and that people do care about them, and they get better grades," Cascaddan said. "It's a great way (for volunteers) to give back to the community. Sometimes at college, it's nice to get out and see people who aren't college students."

The two organizations both hope to better children for life through the use of positive role models, Hagan and Cascaddan said.

"These children get better grades in school," said Hagan. "They are less likely to get involved with drugs and alcohol. They are less likely to get in fights."

In addition, it's tremendously rewarding for the volunteers, Hagan said.

"Ninety-nine percent of students would recommend it to other students," Hagan said. "It's surprising how many of these mentors say 'I'm not sure whether I or the child got more out of it.'"

Bensette said seeing Keyton emulate her positive behavior is one of the most rewarding parts of being a mentor.

"Both of us are getting a friend," Bensette said. " … We both have someone to hang out with."