Big Brothers Big Sisters enhances children?s lives

Have you ever felt that you wanted to do something to give back to this wonderful community where we live? Do you love kids and enjoy seeing them grow and progress? If you answered yes' to either of these questions, you be may someone we need.

Big Brothers Big Sisters is an agency whose mission is to "enhance a child's self-esteem and outlook for the future by facilitating a one-to-one relationship with an adult role model and by providing financial assistance for personal and scholastic needs."

Accomplishing this mission is a real challenge for us since for every child who is a client we must have a volunteer. Therefore, volunteers are every bit as im-portant to us as the dollars required to provide our services to our clients.

We have three programs that allow us to meet our mission.

The program most people are familiar with is the traditional Big Brothers Big Sisters program where an adult (the Big) agrees to spend at least two hours a week for a year with a child (the Little). Two hours a week is very little to ask, but it's astonishing how much such a small investment of time can affect a child's outlook on life.

Our second program is After School Mentoring. In this program, the volunteer spends one hour a week with a child for at least a semester. This program serves children in first through fifth grades.

The volunteer goes to the child's school and meets with the same child one hour a week for a semester. The volunteer always goes on the same day each week and meets with the same child. The teacher provides the material the child needs extra help with, and most of the hour is spent working on whatever the teacher has sent.

The last 15 minutes or so is spent having a snack and just having fun. This program works especially well for college students who want to work with children. Sometimes the After School Mentor will go on to become a Big Brother or Big Sister at a later time.

The third program is the Big Couple program. I really think this is an especially valuable program, because most of our clients come from single-parent homes. Usually it is Daddy who is the absent parent.

One of the real values to the Big Couple program is that the child has the opportunity to see how a functional family works a family with both partners in the home, as well as possibly some siblings.

The Big Couple does not have to be childless. One of our Big Couples just had their own first child, and their Little is now the "big brother." This has proved to be a great match for all parties involved, and an especially good opportunity for the Little.

Big Brothers Big Sisters tries to be preventive in nature. We believe that if we can influence children between the ages of 6 and 14, we may help prevent them from making at least some mistakes.

The Springfield agency began in the 1980s and served 10 families in its first year. Today we serve more than 200 families in this area. In addition to providing mentors and role models for our clients, we provide money for school clothes and supplies.

At Christmas each year, we identify our most needy families and provide Christmas for them. Many companies as well as individuals in this area help us by giving very generously of their financial resources to enable us to provide Christmas for our families. Some of our donors even do the shopping for their family.

For people who may be interested in becoming involved in one of our programs, the first step is to call us. There is an application to be filled out with references required. Because we work with children, we do background checks and driving record checks on all our potential Bigs. We also do extensive interviewing, as well as making a home visit. We cannot risk putting a child in any danger.

I really believe the bottom line is that we are positively affecting the future. After all, today's young people will be the leaders of this community and this country tomorrow.

How can we let even one child fall through the cracks if we have the opportunity to help? Oftentimes we hear people say that they can't do much. How-ever, everyone can do something to positively affect the future.

(Louise Henson is executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks.)