Big Brothers Big Sisters community support fundraisers raised a record $126,000 for the organization, meeting their goal and making it possible for the agency to serve 260 mentor matches during 2017. The agency will need continued community support in the form of donations to support those new matches as well as volunteers to serve as mentors.
Anna Boyd-Bucy, the organization’s Executive Director says “We are incredibly grateful to the community, and each person who donated in 2016, laying the foundation for us to serve a record number of youth. So many local kids-in-need have requested help from a nearby adult and this funding allows us to create and support those relationships.”
Photo attached shows the School-Based Program, which matches youth-in-need with local high school students.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters:
For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life. Most children they serve are in single-parent, low-income families or in households where a parent is incarcerated. As a part of the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, they make meaningful, monitored friendships between adult volunteers and children. Funding provides for a system of ongoing evaluation and support that is proven by independent studies to help families by improving the odds that participating children will perform better in school, avoid violence and illegal activities, and have stronger relationships with their parents and others. For more information on volunteering or contributing to Big Brothers Big Sisters, call 805-781-3226, or log onto www.slobigs.org.