The Big Brothers Big Sisters Movement

Our purpose is to help children reach their potential and become self sufficient members of society through professionally supported, one-to-one and group mentoring programs that have a measurable impact on youth.  All Big Brothers Big Sisters programs are preventative in nature and seek to provide communities with a cost-effective way to serve children and youth before serious problems cause intervention costs to skyrocket.

In the Okanagan Big Brother Big Sister programs started over 40 years ago in direct response to community needs.  The benefits over the years continue to grow with the additional stress to families and demands on youth.  We have identified that as of 2010 there are approximately 15,000 children in need of mentors in the Okanagan and the number continues to grow.

Over time we have evolved to offer an extensive variety of In School Mentoring Programs from 1 to 1 and Group. Children in our programs are between the agency of 6 and 12 and Big Brothers and Big Sisters are volunteer mentors that are caring individuals 16 and older that help facilitate group sessions and/or spend one to one time with a Little Brother or Sister.

Mentoring programs also benefit a wide group of individuals, in addition to the children who directly benefit from the friendship.  The volunteers themselves, the children’s teacher’s and their parent and families also benefit when the child’s self-esteem is strengthened.  Better parental relationships are associated with higher level of academic achievements and self-esteem and lower levels of delinquent behavior.

Research studies show that young people with mentors are:

• More likely to graduate
• Less likely to become involved in drugs and alcohol
• More likely to create positive relationships throughout their lives

The power of mentoring is remarkable and long lasting.  Children need healthy relationships with adults to achieve their full potential and to negotiate the many challenges and risks they face during their school years.  Mentoring helps build children’s resilience at critical points in their lives.

Why do we need funding?

While people think of Big Brothers Big Sisters as a volunteer organization, it’s also a non-profit charity that depends on donations to support programming.  Funding is used for recruiting, careful matching, background checks, screening and maintaining ongoing professional support for the volunteers, youth and their families – the key to ensuring long term positive outcomes that change lives and communities.