Do You Have Some Time?

For the last five years I've given some of my time each week volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Washington County MD. The school year is coming to an end, with it comes the official end of my most recent match in this wonderful program.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters organization's mission is to help children reach their full potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth.

This volunteer program that I have been involved with gives adult mentors the opportunity to have their weekly meetings right inside the child's school. The "Little" in the match is pulled from an elective class each week such as gym, art or reading classes to meet one-to-one with their "Big" each week. This location gives matches the opportunity to work on school projects together or just a place to chat about things happening in their lives. The mentor managers in my community do all they can to put matches together who share some similar interest. It may come to no surprise that each week, my Little and I would usually spend our time scrapbooking and paper crafting while we chatted.

Children in this program range from elementary school to middle school ages. The girl that I have been matched with for the last two years has grown so much in just the short time that we were together. I'm so proud of her accomplishments both inside and outside of school. She has worked hard and has so much to look forward to as she enters high school next year. You see, not only does she "graduate" from middle school this year, she as also "graduated" from the school mentoring program. In our last official meeting, we took some photos together, we exchanged addresses and promised to keep in touch. Not only does the BBBS organization fulfill their mission, I truly believe that they build friendships as well.

Volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters just takes four hours a month. Whether it's one hour a week within an in-school mentoring program or time spent within a community matched program, being a "Big Brother" or a "Big Sister" is one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things you can do.

For more information on how you can become a volunteer in your area visit:

http://www.bbbs.org/