After the death of his father, John Fontenot, who is unmarried and childless, found himself in a difficult headspace. “I was just bummed out, in a depression…I was just looking for an outlet and wanting to give back,” he explained. “I was looking for a way to crawl out of a depression.”

He explained that his friends suggested Big Brothers Big Sisters to him after they had a positive experience with the program.

A week later, he was matched with Greg Gott, a 13-year-old who had experienced an unstable childhood. “I had a very non-traditional upbringing,” Gott explained. “I ended up in the system when I was about nine years old… I ended up getting bounced around a little bit in foster care.”  Eventually, he ended up living with his mom, Kristi Gott. In an effort to offer her son more stability and masuline guidance, she applied for him to be a Little.

The two agreed that they found each other at the right time, and that their relationship was mutually beneficial. “It just kind of meshed real well,” said Fontenot. “He was literally three miles down the road from where I live.”

“John’s the only father figure I’ve ever had in my life,” Gott said. Fontenot stated that the feeling goes both ways. “He’s like my son,” he said.

When Gott was young, their quality time included Gatti’s pizza, foreign movies, fulfilling manual labor and important life lessons. “I was constantly at his house, or we were meeting up somewhere for lunch if we had both been real busy, but there’s so many summers spent on the farm,” explained Gott. “He taught me damn near everything I know.”

The knowledge that Gott gained spanned from mechanical troubleshooting to emotional intelligence. He explained that Fontenot’s guidance helped him and his mom’s relationship. “Me and my mom’s relationship struggled for a long time because I was an angry individual back then, and John definitely gave me very constructive ways to work that out,” he explained. “It gave me the outlet I needed and I mean, there are times where me and my mom are at each other’s throats and you know, we called John up and he never told me what I wanted to hear and told me what I needed to share.”

Gott has carried the knowledge he gained from his Big into his professional life. “Everything I know about working with my hands, I learned from him, and that’s what I love to do more than anything is work with my hands,” he said. “He gave me the tools to start doing that.”

“I was able to build on it as my profession, in fabrication, in the oil and gas industry and then now in the Navy. I can figure most things out because he laid down the foundation for that skill set.”

He has been in the Navy for 5 ½ years working in electronic systems, communication and radar.

Fontenot expressed that he was more than happy to provide for Gott. “It’s not what I can get out of life, it’s what I can give,” he said.

That isn’t to say he didn’t reap any benefits as well. Gott provided company for Fontenot while he worked on the farm. “My spare time I always spent working… why not have someone come hang out with me while I’m working,” he explained. “It helped me to be visiting with someone… you just create a buddy.”

They said that throughout the years, maintaining their relationship has been simple. Gott stated that the success of their continued connection is due to the effort they both put into their relationship when he was young. “You work out the kinks over any kind of relationship,” he said.

However, their mutual interests made that process easier. “I liked everything he likes to do like shooting guns and going hunting and fishing on the bayou and working on the farm. That was easy.”

Fontenot continued by explaining that he was raised to maintain healthy relationships. “I came from an upbring where you make friends and you don’t let that go,” he said.

Gott has spent the last four years in Japan. During that time, he and Fontenot were able to maintain their relationship via email, phone calls and text messages. Soon, Gott will be stationed in Sicily with his wife. They said that their friendship, without a doubt, will survive that distance as well.