10 Things About Joe Sigurdson & Boys to Men
“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.”
– John Wesley
Good men are not born. They are built, shaped and molded during their childhood and adolescent years by their experiences, influences, communities and most importantly, the mentors in their lives that they look up to. Joe Sigurdson founded Boys to Men with his dad, Herb Sigurdson, and good friend Craig McClain. Joe knows that every boy wants to be a good man and is committed to helping boys become the best men they can be.
#1 I grew up in Inglewood, California.
#2 My parents instilled, “to those who are given much, much is expected”.
#3 My favorite travel destination is New York City.
#4 It is on my bucket list to surf the point break in Grindavik, Iceland.
#5 There is much suffering going on and giving back eases our own suffering while helping someone else’s -symbiotic healing through service.
#6 Bill Wich has been a sounding board for my life and taught me the skills I needed to do the interpersonal work we do with our boys.
#7 I married my sister’s best friend when I was 18 and adopted her child. I was in over my head and began abusing alcohol and drugs. I destroyed my life and ended up in AA at 28. When I got to AA, no one cared what I had done. They wanted to know how I was going to clean up my mess and suggested I do these 12 steps.
#8 Eight years into AA, I did a men’s retreat that completely transformed my thinking. I thought I could have used this information at 14, not almost 40. I got together with a few guys that felt the same way and we started Boys to Men.
#9 One young man in Boys to Men was a third-generation gangster. After he participated in one of our Adventure Mountain Weekends, he quit the gang and became a peer leader. He ended up running the Boys to Men Group inside the school he was expelled from. That young man spent 10 years in Boys to Men and became our program manager.
#10 Boys to Men is a simple program – the men share what happened to them, how they felt, the decisions they made from those feelings, and the price they paid for their choices. The boys hear the men being authentic, they feel safe and share about what’s happening to them. Our job is to listen, accept, and encourage them to make new choices from a higher plane of consciousness.
Boys to Men
Rooted in Resiliency: Celebrating 25 Years of Empowerment
Saturday, April 22, 2023
6 PM
Catamaran Resort Hotel
3999 Mission Boulevard, San Diego 92109
www.BoysToMen.org
