In 2003, Wendy was an 8-year-old girl being raised in a single parent household by her mother. She enrolled in Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters so that she could have a strong female role model – someone to look up to, who could be a friend, but who was not a family member. Before too long, Wendy met Kate Sawyer, her new Big Sister.
Having another caring adult in her life like her Big Sister Kate helped Wendy to improve her self-confidence. With each meeting and activity the two participated in, their friendship continued to grow. With the help of Kate’s mentorship, Wendy became involved in various activities, including playing varsity-level sports in school, maintaining above average grades and holding a part-time job!
Both Wendy and Kate also remained quite active, participating in agency events together, including representing Catholic Big Brothers Big Sisters through participation in the speakers’ bureau. All of these events and activities over the years, coupled with Kate’s guidance and mentorship, resulted in a surge of confidence, as well as improvement in social skills, for Wendy.
“Kate, you are one of the many influences that have shaped my life,” Wendy said. “Without the push from you and my mother, I don’t know where I would be at this moment. All I know is that I am striving for success and college is my number one priority. I know you are successful because you went to college and you support my desire to continue my education. Thank you for the opportunity to move forward with my dream.”
In 2012, Wendy enrolled at the University of California – Los Angeles, where she has flourished and has become very involved in student life. She has even had the opportunity to study abroad, travelling to both Europe and Japan!
There are children in your community who could use a strong role model in their lives. With your help and support as a donor or volunteer, we can continue to reach toward our goal of ensuring that all children can achieve success in life. Big Brothers Big Sisters relies on our staffers, our amazing Big Brother and Big Sister volunteer mentors and our supporters to provide professionally supported one-to-one relationships, matching Bigs with Littles.
