Darren Linder loves kids. He has to: Its his job. Since 1999, the tattooed 35-year-old has worked full time as a mentor for Portland-based national charity Friends of the Children.

Founded in 1993, Friends of the Children matches kindergarten-age at-risk children with professional mentors who stay with them until they graduate from high school.

Linder, who has been working with at-risk youth since college, considers working at Friends of the Children his dream job. Its like having eight little brothers to guide as they grow older, he says.

Linder spends four hours a week with each of the youths assigned to him, acting as a positive role model, helping with academics, supporting their parents and exposing them to opportunities they might otherwise miss. I took one of my [high school-aged] kids on a trip to the coast a few years ago, he says. He told me later that it was his first visit.

Some of the children Linder started working with seven years ago are still with him; others have moved on. Ive had five graduate from high school, and helped them make the transition to college, he says. I moved one boy up to Evergreen [College] and helped him move his stuff into his dorm room.

Working with youth all over the Portland area keeps Linder busy. Every day is different and unpredictable, from going to basketball games with the kids, to helping with their homework, to talking to lawyers if they get in trouble, he says.

Linders job isnt without its frustrations. The biggest is feeling unable to help youth stuck in unsupportive or abusive family situations. Theres only so much you can do, he says.

But the drastic circumstances of some of his wards also lets Linder see the importance of his labor: I have one kid whos been in nine foster homes in five years, so he doesnt get to form any strong attachments, he says. Because of that, Im the only person hes known constantly for the last five years.

Linders good work doesnt stop with his day job. In 2003, he and fellow U of O grad Amanda Gribben founded Pawsitively Pit Bull, a privately funded nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and rehabilitating pit bulls from around the country. They and their 60 to 70 volunteers run a pit bull sanctuary near St. Helens and work to fight the negative stereotypes associated with the breed, which Linder calls so smart you can train them any way you want them.