For more than a century, the national mentoring organization called Big Brothers Big Sisters has promoted the simple idea that the guidance and encouragement of a responsible, caring adult can be key to a young person’s healthy emotional and intellectual growth. Today, as the nation’s biggest donor- and volunteer-supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters arranges monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), ages 6 through 18, in towns and cities across the country. These relationships can have positive and lasting effects, for both the young people and their adult mentors.
It takes money, of course, to run the mentoring program, and annual fundraising events like Bowl For Kids’ Sake, organized locally by Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake (BBBSGC), help regional chapters not only to sustain existing mentoring relationships but also to recruit, screen and pair new mentors to children on waiting lists.
Kera Ritter, acting president of BBBSGC, joins Tom in the Maryland Morning studio to discuss the importance of mentoring, and how Bowl For Kids' Sake is just one of many ways adult volunteers can help to support this cause.
Bowl for Kids’ Sake events are being held in the Baltimore area this Friday, March 18th, from 4 to 11pm at the AMF Pikesville Lanes, and on Saturday, March 19th, from noon to 7pm at the AMF Timonium Lanes.
For more information about BBBSGC and the Bowl for Kids’ Sake fundraising events, click here.
