Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America

[asb165]

I'm thinking about volunteering as a Big Brother here in Philadelphia as part of my general 2007 plan to better myself. Other aspects of the plan include brushing up on my spanish and getting real good at Guitar Hero II.

Does anyone have any experience with the program or any stories they would be willing to share? I have heard that the waiting list for a Big Brother in Philadelphia is long, and I think that it sounds like a real worthwhile program.

[By-Tor]

try match.com or myspace instead











perv

[bwana devil]

edit: meh, i must be in a bad mood. nevermind.

[DeezNuts]

[ QUOTE ]
total waste of time and no good could possibly come from something like this.

edit: are you just looking for people saying "yeah i did it and it was great"? ive done it for years. if you want to do it, then do it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know where all the vitriol is coming from here, but I am interested in experiences as well. I applied to do this last year and they just contacted me to set up an appointment, so I am looking to hear about experiences. What are good suggestions on activities, etc?

DN

[asb165]

These are exactly the type of answers I was looking for! Thanks!

For those who don't think this is a good use of my time, are you against charity and volunteerism in general, just general misanthropes, or do you have a specific grudge against Big Brothers?

I would rather volunteer myself than give $$$ to a charity and not know where it went.

[RunyonAve]

I'd do it if i got paid for it.

[wadea]

I did it for about three years in Minneapolis while I was in college. I'd say do it. Here's my experience:

My first "Little" was one of nine kids of a 27-year-old single mother on welfare. In short, it was clear that she and her many apparent boyfriends were trafficking drugs through their basically unfurnished inner-city house. More kids --> more welfare $$$. Kids eat breakfast and lunch on the state at school, then eat dinner at the nearby Boys' and Girls' Club of America on them. The kid was a real trouble maker, but not mean spirited. Two of his other brothers were also in the Big Brother program, meaning six other siblings were not. So every time I'd come by to take him to Chuck E. Cheese whatever, he'd ask if he could bring them. That got irritating. Basically, he was a good kid raised wrong. I think by nature, he seemed to try to eke every bit of capital value out of our situation that he could. But still, I liked him and he was a pretty funny kid.

Then, I came over at an agreed upon time and the house was empty. Totally empty. A few days later - the same thing. I asked the neighbors about it and they pointed me to an uncle about a half-hour away. I went to talk to him and he told me that he didn't know where they were but his impression was that the heat finally closed in and the mom packed the whole fam-damily in the middle of the night and left town on the Greyhound. His best guess was Atlanta.

I told this story to my program supervisor (who was an awesomely charitable older lady). In time, she set me up with a new kid. His mom was a good lady with a legit job and going to night school. He had two siblings and grandparents next door. The dad was in prison in Illinois. Anyway, this family was very nice and appreciative of everything. I had a great time with this kid and it only ended when I moved to California for graduate school.

My involvement in this program gave me tons of memories, but also I more concrete understanding of the lives of a whole other demographic that I had never before been exposed to. My upbringing was very homogenous middle-class middle-America and I think I basically just "got it" a little better after volunteering with these guys. Hopefully, they benefitted as well.

So, basically, I think you should do it. But don't be that guy that gets paired with a kid only to bail shortly after. That's the last thing most of these kids need so don't do it.

PS - in case it's not well known, companies often provide fairly good tickets to events to Big Bros and Big Sis. They pass the tix on to volunteers to take the "littles". We went to Timberwolves, Twins, Globetrotters games and a clinic put on by Tiger Woods through his Foundation for only about 200 people from different charitable groups for kids.

[billyjex]

This is something I really want to do as well. I interned at BBBS in college as part of my public relations major (I basically browsed 2p2 while making a newsletter,) but really liked their organization and what they do.

I've always wondered if being a "professional poker player" would make it harder to become a big brother.

[She]

Yeah, my dad used to do this and from what I understand it was a good experience. I also signed up for it this year but haven't been mached up w/ anybody yet. GL.

[Dire]

Coming from the other side, I was a little brother. My mother must've signed me up for it when I was around nine. My first big brother was interesting, but in hindsight - he was just doing it to feel good about himself and possibly see if he wanted to have a kid with his wife. Eventually they did, and so was I was dumped.

The next big brother met me right around the beginning of middle school. A great guy who I'm now (I'm 25) still good friends with. I'm still not exactly sure why he decided to do the program. Turns out he doesn't really like kids all that much. Anyhow, I'm glad he did. It was a great experience for me and I'm sure it was good for me having a positive male role model when I was younger. He's definitely the one who's driven me towards charity which is something I don't think I really would have been interested in otherwise.

So really, just do it if you want to do it. You really already seem to be stepping out on the wrong foot. Saying you're doing it do better yourself probably means you shouldn't be doing it in the first place. Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons.