Big Brothers, Big Sisters Moose Jaw looking for volunteer mentors
Big Brothers, Big Sisters Moose Jaw (BBBS) is looking for mentors across the city who would love to make an impact in a child’s life. Big Brothers, Big Sisters says after providing support and mentoring over 20 children last year, they are looking to help 50 more and are looking for volunteers who would love the opportunity to be a mentor and friend to a child. The group says “Being a Mentor is about being a friend and someone to look up to. It’s about hanging out, talking and sharing, with many smiles along the way. It’s about making one child feel very special.”
Big Brothers, Big Sisters added that, “After the enrolment process, we’ll provide training and match you with a mentee, who shares your interests. As a mentor, you get to build model airplanes or do crafts, paint or draw, kick around the soccer ball or play football, play on the computer, hang out and much more. It’s about sharing a little time together – a few hours a week or every couple of weeks will make a big difference.” Executive Director for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Ash Nourbldin says with volunteers, the organization is able to be mentors to many children whose lives can be changed through this program. “We brought back services to Moose Jaw at the end of 2016. That first time back, we ended up swerving three children but at the end of 2017, we ended up serving 23 kids in Moose Jaw. Our goal this year is to serve 50 kids. Every time we serve a child, the impact is so significant that the people in that child’s life notice the improvements and they want us to mentor other kids. So, every child we serve, two more children want to also be part of that and our work is never done.”
He explained what they are looking for in volunteers. “We’re looking for mentors 18 years and over. We’re just basically looking for persons to be a friend to the kids in the program. It is not a position of authority. We just need volunteers to be a friend to a child. We match the qualities with the child to make sure they have similarities. We provide a lot of match support especially earlier in the match to ensure things are going well. We also provide lots of activities that the matches can participate in together like hockey games and lots more. Whatever is going on in the community, we provide support for participation.”
Persons can apply directly through the group’s website at https://bbbsmj.ca/. “We accept applications online through the Big Brothers, Big Sisters website. Persons just have to go to the website and fill out the application under “volunteer” from your phone or computer. We automatically receive that application and someone will be in contact. Once we receive them, someone will do a quick interview,” Nourbldin said. “We do screenings to make sure we accept the appropriate persons we’re looking for. Once we get persons successfully through the screening, we move into training as to what the expectations are and what’s involved, then we match accordingly. We won’t match just for the sake of matching but we make sure the matches are compatible. We’re accepting applications every day.”
To find out more about Big Brothers, Big Sisters, you can visit their website and also find them on Facebook. Big Brothers, Big Sisters help children to reach their full potential that can lead to positive community outcomes.