Former Great River Rescue Director Brandon Mustful Named Kinship Executive Director

Brandon Mustful, a Bemidji nonprofit veteran, has been named executive director of Kinship of the Park Rapids Area, a move that local organizers say could expand youth mentoring and the Reading Buddies program across Park Rapids and surrounding communities. The appointment was announced January 20, 2026.

Mustful brings an 11-year tenure leading Great River Rescue in Bemidji to the role, along with international service in the Peace Corps in Paraguay and recent experience as Community Engagement Coordinator at Northwoods Habitat for Humanity. His background centers on volunteer recruitment, community partnerships and program development—skills local nonprofit leaders expect will help Kinship scale its mentor matches and school-based supports.

Kinship’s stated mission is youth mentoring, pairing trained volunteers with children in one-on-one and small-group settings. The organization has emphasized a need for additional volunteers to sustain and grow its programs as Park Rapids-area schools and families seek more structured mentoring options. Mustful’s leadership is expected to focus on expanding mentorship capacity and broadening the Reading Buddies initiative that places volunteers in early literacy roles with elementary students.

For Beltrami County residents, the change in leadership matters for both short- and long-term reasons. In the near term, more active recruitment and community outreach can increase the number of mentors available to students, easing pressure on schools and afterschool programs. Over the long term, sustained mentoring and literacy supports are linked to better school engagement and improved economic prospects for young people, outcomes that strengthen the local workforce pipeline in small, rural communities where retaining talent is a perennial challenge.

Mustful’s experience at Great River Rescue and Habitat for Humanity aligns with strategies that many rural nonprofits use to broaden volunteer bases and deepen partnerships with local businesses, faith groups and schools. Those approaches can be cost-effective for a small nonprofit budget: leveraging volunteers and in-kind support reduces direct program costs while expanding service reach. Kinship is already directing residents and prospective volunteers to kinshipparkrapids.org for program details and sign-up information.

Community leaders say the organization will soon outline specific volunteer roles, training schedules and school partnerships under Mustful’s leadership. For families and residents interested in mentoring, the immediate step is to visit the Kinship website to learn program requirements and upcoming orientations.

As Mustful settles into the executive director role, the expectation in Park Rapids and Beltrami County is a renewed push to connect adults with youth through reading and mentoring programs that both support classrooms today and help build a stronger local economy tomorrow.