Meet Manuel: A sweet, respectful and enthusiastic young boy. At first glance he looks a lot like other boys his age, but when you talk to his teachers you hear a different story. “When it’s time to focus on school work, he just shuts down. There has been a progressive decline throughout the year. It’s getting worse as we prepare for the STARR test, and Manuel is dangerously close to repeating his 6th grade year.”
Alexandra, also in the 6th grade, has a crush on
a fellow classmate and lives with her dad.
She recently experienced a disastrous reunion with her birth
mother. Her single father says, “I worry
about her lack of strong female role models.”
Over the past year, MJ went from a child to adolescent
with major voice changes, shocking growth spurts, and a relentless interest in
the opposite sex. He complains that his grandmother can’t afford to get him
school supplies or shoes that fit and that his father has disappeared again. His
teachers say that he talks too much and has an overwhelming need for attention. His classmates complain that he gossips too
much. His counselor says, “I’ve noticed a pattern of blaming others, never
holding himself accountable.” In fact,
MJhas managed to push everyone away this past year, and now, at the end of his
first year of middle school, MJ is friendless.
Thankfully, these three kids all have one thing in common
besides the fact that they are experiencing life challenges: They have Big Sisters.
Volunteers Jenica, Sylvia and Sonia all work
at QVC, one of 40 companies that host the Big Brothers Big Sisters Workplace MentoringProgram each month. They are part of a group of 17 mentors at QVC
who have stepped up to help kids connect the dots between their education now
and their career later. But they are first and foremost, friends.
“Jenica
is super sweet with a really big heart. I’ve seen her get weepy-eyed over Manuel’s’
struggles. You can tell she thinks the world of him,” says Megan McLeod, Big
Brothers Big Sisters Match Support Specialist.
“Sylvia, Alexandra's’s Big Sister, is a momma-bear. She has a lot of patience and is always smiling. Alexandra’s very
active and a bit on the loud side, but Sylvia handles it well.”
It's easy to see how much Megan likes and appreciates these caring adults. “Sonia is outgoing and easy to talk with. I like talking with her because she doesn’t sugar coat or
hesitate to share her opinion. She’s assertive and knows how to lay down the
law with MJ when she needs to.”
At one time or another, all 3 of these Big Sisters have
expressed doubts about their ability to respond to the struggles their kids are
facing, and whether or not they are making a difference. At Big Brothers Big Sisters we know, for a
variety of reasons, that they absolutely are making a difference, whether they know it or not. I wrote about a 56 year old Little Sister in January who assured her Big Sister that she was always listening. It’s great for this long-time mentor to hear
this now, but of course she didn’t know it at the time.
One of the things we measure at Big Brothers Big Sisters is
the “strength of the mentoring relationship.”
We do this because we know that it is this relationship that is the
catalyst for positive youth development.
When Bigs and Littles become friends, the trust that is needed in order
for a child to accept the support of a mentor falls into place. As any parent knows, there
is very little instant gratification in providing support to pre-adolescent and
adolescents. We often feel we are not reaching our kids, we worry about their future, we despair.* So, it's really no surprise that the same thing happens with Bigs and Littles. We see all the time in evaluations and surveys that there is a disparity between the difference the volunteers feel they are making and the reality of how the kids feel. For example, surveys of the QVC Bigs and Littles finds that:
- Only 92% of volunteer “Bigs” report that they are confident in handling the challenges of being a mentor, while 100% of kids report that they feel like their volunteer “Big” has good ideas about how to solve problems.
- Only 85% of Bigs feel that they have a close relationship with their Littles, while 100% of the kids report feeling close to their mentors.
100% of kids also report that the relationship with their volunteer
“Big” is important to them, and they all say that they feel safe with their Big. For us at BBBS, this is success, but we struggle to assure our volunteers that they are doing exactly what we and the kids need them to be doing. The bottom line is that none of us had mentors who solved
all of our problems for us. Our mentors stood by us, supporting and guiding, and making us stronger and more resilient in meeting life's challenges."
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| QVC Bigs and Littles |
We are so grateful that Manuel has Jenica in his life as he struggles with the transition to middle school and with his academics. We once asked Manuel if he was interested in having a Big Brother instead of a Big Sister and he wouldn't even hear if it. He cant imagine losing his Big Sister. Alexandra has said that she likes some of
her teachers but can’t communicate with them like she can with Sylvia. Thank goodness she has Sylvia to confide in and
talk about the tough stuff. And we are very grateful for the rapport Sonia has developed with MJ and the fact that she is comfortable telling him it's "Time to get your act together!” And
he listens!
Mentoring at-risk kids is no walk in the park, but everyone knows that what kids need to grow up successfully is the support and guidance of caring adults. Jenica, Sylvia and Sonia, the other 14 mentors at QVC as well as 2,000 other volunteers in our program have stepped up to do just that. We just wish they would believe us when we tell them how important and meaningful and effective their work is.
April is Volunteer Appreciation Month, so if you know of a volunteer, especially one who mentors at risk kids, give them a shout-out!
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With Appreciation to Megan McLeod for her contributions to this post.
*Maybe that's just me with my kids, I don't know.
*Maybe that's just me with my kids, I don't know.
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