Submitted Photo Companions for Children staff are, left to right, Rebecca Keller, Executive Director Heather Cymbaluk, and Delaney Smith, and First International Bank & Trust staff, Minot President Brock DesLauriers and Denise Larson.

First International Bank & Trust (FIBT) has announced a $5,000 Live First Community Grant to Companions for Children. More than 136 community organizations applied in this ninth year of the annual Live First Community Giving Campaign.

Companions for Children is kickstarting a new program that supports children with a parent battling cancer through a one-on-one mentoring relationship to expand their support system and not allow cancer to negatively change the trajectory on their lives. Mentors in this program have experienced cancer impacting their family in some capacity.

This program will be unique in that it will go above and beyond traditional mentoring standards by providing additional mental health support pieces such as crisis, grief, and response training, therapy activities, support groups and much more. To the organization’s knowledge, this program will be the third of its kind in the nation and it is anticipated to be a model program, aiding other mentoring organizations in offering impact mentoring in the future.