Despite the rain and a Civil Wars concert, the show must go on, and it did with Gina Mashburn as our forum speaker. She is the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters, and she started this tenure in March of this year. Currently, they have two programs set up in schools nearby: Sheffield and Red Bay. These programs are in addition to the community based program, where men and women, who are not students, dedicate their time to children in need of mentor.
Within the program, volunteers go through the application process with three references, a background check and sometimes a home visit, if it is deemed necessary, these precautions are important and help make sure that the children in Big Brothers Big Sisters are being treated fairly and receive the best attention possible. Bigs and littles are matched according to shared interests, so that the relationships won't be strained and that both the volunteer and the child can enjoy their time together. Ms. Mashburn gave a general description of the dynamic of BBBS here by telling us that there are mostly boys in the program. More specifically, the majority of mentees are black boys, while the majority of volunteers are white women. This discrepancy puts the need for more guys to volunteer, but that does not let the ladies of the hook because there are still girls out there without big sisters as well.
Ms. Mashburn was a great speaker and presented the program well; however, as it is, I feel that I would not personally have enough time to thoroughly dedicate to a little sister right now. I do hope, however, that some of my peers, especially the guys, took Ms. Mashburn seriously and decide to volunteer. This program can help so many children that might otherwise be neglected emotionally or even physically. Having the right person come into their lives could be just what these children need.
Best wishes,
=) Lesley!!!<3
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