Big Brothers Big Sisters more involved with city

    The rising numbers of GCSU students volunteering with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program prove that the people at our school care about making a difference.        
    “We have made about 40 matches so far,”  said Zach Johnson, the Oconee area manager of the program and a GCSU alum.
    Johnson, who works in The G.I.V.E. Center, has been working with Big Brothers Big Sisters to start fundraisers and recruit volunteers for about a month.         Many students, such as freshmen Emily Hensley and Owen Leslie, have already been partnered with Little Siblings.
    “I was inspired by the people who were in the program when I was in elementary school; I have always wanted to be a part of it,” Hensley said of her motivation to become a Big Sister. 
    Hensley, who is a Big Sister to Tiara, an 8-year-old at Creekside Elementary School, got involved at The G.I.V.E. Center after hearing about the program at the Bobcat Marketplace earlier this semester.
    “Tiara and I have met twice, we usually just hangout and read,” Hensley said.
    According to Johnson, there have been a lot of girls requesting matches, but what the program is in need of is boys to volunteer.
    “We are going to try to get involved more with fraternities as a way for the guys to gain service hours; we are also looking into making Big Brothers Big Sisters an RSO on campus,” Johnson said of the program’s plans to recruit members.
    Leslie also encourages men on campus to be a part of the program.
    “It is a lot of fun, and so many of these little boys need a good male influence,” he said.
    Leslie said that he and one of his friends signed up in The G.I.V.E. Center because they thought it would be a good thing to be a part of.
    “I wanted to help kids with rough families and to be a positive male influence,” Leslie said.  “Also, I really like kids.”
    Leslie and his Little Brother, Tay, an 11-year-old at Eagle Ridge Elementary, meet for about an hour a week and “watch football and hang out at his school.”
     “He always wants to show me some new video on YouTube,” Leslie said.
    Leslie also said that he enjoys being a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters because he likes giving back to the community.
    Big Brothers Big Sisters has been around for over 100 years and has been a volunteer program at GCSU for about 30 years.
    “Since Big Brothers Big Sisters has been at GCSU, there has been a lot of recruiting and changing,” Johnson said. “The program was started by a judge in the early 1900’s that saw too many juveniles in his court that really just needed some influence.”
    Johnson also described Big Brothers Big Sisters as “a way of solving the political issue of the decline of the American family.”             Johnson feels that children can be mentored and influenced at an early age, and then they won’t have to deal with problems later on, and they can change the pattern of their families.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 1 2007. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry