For more than 60 years, adults and children have forged meaningful relationships through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cleveland. The organization needs your help to continue its mission of creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.
BBBS needs volunteers. At any given time, leaders there say around 50 children are waiting for a mentor.
The program has been a powerful influence of numerous pairings, including Elanzie Candana and Ryan Zapolski.
“We went to pizza shops, we went to go get ice cream, the science center,” Elanzie said.
Zapolski said he was inspired to volunteer for BBBS after his future father-in-law volunteered in a similar capacity. After nearly a year of getting to know 11-year-old Elanzie, Zapolski said the experience exceeded his expectations.
“He’s one of my new best friends for sure and I think we always just have a good time no matter what it is,” he said.
Jessica Walters, the president and CEO of BBBS of Greater Cleveland, said the friendships created in the program often last beyond the designated mentorship time.
“It’s a minimum one-year commitment, but very rarely are people looking at their watch and saying - ‘Oh, time’s up,’” she said.
Before she was the organization’s leader, Walters was a little sister in the program. She’s still in touch with her mentor nearly 20 years later.
“All that I thought was, ‘Deborah is this really nice lady that takes me ice skating because that’s what I want to do.’ Then when I was an adult, I learned about all the ways she was thinking about mentoring,” Walters said.
She explained the activities afforded through the program and positive adult influence can give a child constructive outlets to build confidence.
Elanzie, like Walters when she was a little, said he simply has fun with his new friend Zapolski.
“I’d probably be bored,” he said when asked what he’d do without his mentor.
Zapolski said he recognizes the good times are also an investment in Elanzie’s future and the community.
“I love Cleveland, I love our community and I think the best way to help it is to give back our time in helping kids thrive so that in the future our community stays strong,” he said.
Walters said the organization’s greatest need is for male volunteers, though she would welcome anyone. She explained that mentoring is less of a time commitment than many realize. BBBS requires “bigs” to spend two to four hours with their “littles” every month for 12 months.
To learn more about BBBS of Greater Cleveland and its volunteer opportunities, click on this link.
