Hiking Manoa Falls Trail, visiting the Honolulu Zoo, bowling and entering silly Halloween costume contests were more than just chances for Keola Whittaker to hang out with his former mentor, Joe Sunderland.

From the time Whittaker was 6 years old until he was 18, the two were paired under the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu program. They met several times a month — sometimes for just a couple hours on the tennis courts or for an entire afternoon at the library — each time walking away from very meaningful experiences, said Whittaker, now 27, of St. Louis Heights.

"It's had a tremendous impact on my life," said Whittaker, a third-year law school student at the University of Pennsylvania who grew up in a single-parent home. He ticks off the advantages: "Having the (chance) to communicate with adults; building confidence and being willing to try new things, which is difficult when you wouldn't otherwise have that opportunity."

Mentoring youth will be the focus at a free statewide Hawai'i Mentoring Conference Saturday, held in conjunction with National Mentoring Month. The conference, open to all, will offer information about volunteer opportunities for mentors, networking opportunities and workshops.

"I always apologize for quoting our former first lady (Hillary Rodham Clinton), but it really does take a village to raise a child," said Gina Karas, coordinator for the Kamehameha Schools' Mentoring Branch, which is presenting the conference. "The more positive role models a child has in his or her life, the better they're going to do."

With participants from mentoring programs in Australia and New Zealand attending the conference, there will also be a focus on the importance of indigenous populations mentoring youth within their communities, Karas said.

"It's very culturally appropriate for Hawaiians to mentor, because that's how knowledge was passed on from generation to generation in old Hawai'i," Karas said.

SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP

Mentoring does more than benefit children, said Dennis Brown, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu, the state's oldest and largest mentoring organization. In Hawai'i since 1963, the agency served more than 800 O'ahu children last year.

Children with mentors are less likely to skip school, use illegal drugs or become teen parents, and they're more likely to get along with their families and peers, Brown said.

"We know that after many years of doing this and seeing the results, that ... the youth are not just improving their own lives as individuals, but that carries over and has a greater impact on the entire community," Brown said.

Scott Murakawa, another former "little brother" from the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu program, grew up an only child with his mother, who worked two jobs to make ends meet.

Murakawa, 29, of Honolulu, met weekly with his mentors during his 'tween years to go fishing, hang out at the beach or watch movies — opportunities that allowed his mentors to pass on to him good morals and basic life skills, Murakawa said.

"They basically made me feel like a part of their family ... they helped keep me out of trouble," said Murakawa, now an environmental health specialist with the state Department of Health.

And mentoring is just as fulfilling for the adult mentors, said Sunderland, Whittaker's former "big brother," who was a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Honolulu for more than 15 years.

"It's a very uplifting experience," said Sunderland, 50, a billing manager from Kamehameha Heights. "It's very rewarding to know you're helping the future generation of leaders."

With the pleasures and successes of their relationship to look back on, Whittaker and Sunderland are enthusiastic about encouraging others to get involved with local mentoring organizations.

"It's an opportunity to positively affect someone's life in a way that simply giving money won't do," Whittaker said. "This is a way that anyone could give and directly see a change in someone's life."

Reach Zenaida Serrano at zserrano@honoluluadvertiser.com.