I attend quite a few health fairs throughout the year in my line of work. I was at one such fair at Franklin Electric a few months ago (which is an amazing facility, if you've never seen it), when I got to talking with Hannah from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Indiana.
I told her that I had always thought the program was really cool, but never really knew how to get involved. She informed me that it was very easy and gave me a card to fill out with my contact information (which can also be found online), and said they would be in touch with me in a few weeks.
After that initial encounter, I started researching the organization and found out some pretty interesting information:
-"Researchers found that after 18 months of spending time with their Bigs, the Little Brothers and Little Sisters, compared to those children not in [the] program, were:
- 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs
- 27% less likely to begin using alcohol
- 52% less likely to skip school
- 37% less likely to skip a class
- 33% less likely to hit someone
They also found that the Littles were more confident of their performance in schoolwork and getting along better with their families."
-Big Brothers Big Sisters is the largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network and serves a quarter million children each year.
(Information courtesy of bbbsnei.org)
After a few weeks had passed, I received an email from Big Brothers Big Sisters containing an application and some additional information. The app is pretty extensive and covers everything from your educational background to the names of your closest friends. While it did take me a while to fill out, I was glad the application was so in depth - it shows their commitment to the safety and happiness of the children they serve. It also allows them to make more accurate matches between Bigs and Littles.
The application called for about 6 references in total; two professional, two familial, and two friends I had known for over 3 years. I made sure to notify all of the people I used as references and I'm glad I did because all of them were contacted by BBBS shortly after I submitted my application. They all said they gave me glowing reviews, but I was still nervous.
A few weeks after that, I was contacted for my in-person interview with an enrollment specialist. This was pretty extensive, but covered a lot of things that you wouldn't discuss in a typical job interview. Many of the questions were about my personality, my likes and dislikes, the type of friend I am, etc. Which was a bit strange, because I'm not used to talking myself up as a great friend (even though I am).
There are two programs offered by BBBS, community and site based. The Community based program is the one most people are familiar with; you meet with your Little once a month and do whatever activities the two of you enjoy.
The program that was best for my schedule, however, was the site based program called "Lunch Buddies." Basically, you go in once a week and have lunch with your Little at his or her school. After lunch, you can read, help with homework, and just hang out.
After the interview, the Big Brothers Big Sisters support team went to work to see if there was a Little that would be a good match for me. Be sure to check back in a few weeks when I will have the next installment of my BBBS series!
Have I enticed you to Start Something Big yet? You can volunteer here!
Interested in enrolling your child to have his or her own Big? Here you go.
