posts categorizedBig Impacts

Little Sister Mykayla’s mom wanted to have a relationship with her daughter like Rory and Lorelai from “Gilmore Girls.” The mom and daughter were already so close in age that they were best friends, but throughout Mykayla’s childhood, her mother was sick. She was diagnosed with cancer when Mykayla was just a toddler, and she dealt with other severe illnesses and injuries. Mykayla’s mom enrolled Mykayla as a Little Sister when she was 10 years old. She wanted her daughter to have someone to talk to besides her, someone to be a role model. What she got was all that and more in Big Sister Shannon.

After more than 10 years in a refugee camp, Little Brother Ashis’ parents got to the United States and immediately wanted to give their son opportunities and a bright future. They enrolled Ashis as a Little through BBBS of Utah, and he was soon matched with Big Brother Paul. The match was exactly what they were looking for. “Paul’s influence has made Ashis want to achieve more,” Ashis’ parents say. “Ashis now has goals, in school and in basketball.”

When Little Sister Esmeralda learned she was failing the third grade, she turned to her Big Sister for help. When they first started reading together, she could barely read the menu. When she pulled the fortune from a fortune cookie and began to read it aloud to Chelsea, she stopped in the middle because she got to a word she didn’t know, too embarrassed to keep trying. Together, they began working on Esmeralda’s reading and building her confidence. After a year of reading books each time they met, Esmeralda passed third grade.

At their first match meeting, Big Brother Harrison and Little Brother Michael’s match support specialist and Michael’s mom left them alone to get to know one another. “We played basketball and talked for what must have been two hours,” Harrison says. “It got to the point that [Michael’s mom] said she would go home and I could drop him off when we got done, since we were having so much fun.” The fun and connection haven’t stopped for almost four years.

Ajaea was 5 when her mother died suddenly. With her father incarcerated, she and her sister went to live with their grandmother. Losing her mom left Ajaea feeling lost and scared. She would barely leave her grandmother’s side. She was matched with Big Sister Shari, and she began to share her feelings and cope with her grief. “She told me I could always talk to her about anything,” Ajaea says, “and I started to do just that.”

Elijah’s grandmother prayed that a mentor would come into her grandson’s life. With both his mom and dad out of the picture, he didn’t know how to deal with the extraordinary loss in his life. Instead, he acted out in school. He was even expelled from kindergarten. His grandmother was at a loss as to what to do next, and then he was matched with Big Brother Jamie.

When Big Sister Ann first volunteered to become a Big, she envisioned being matched with a Little Sister. But the waiting list for Big Brothers is often much longer than the waiting list for Big Sisters, so she was matched through BBBS of Middle Tennessee with Little Brother Darius, a confident and positive 11-year-old who plans to go to Vanderbilt University.

In the middle of last season, Little Brother Aden’s basketball coach quit the team. Without a coach, they wouldn’t be able to play the rest of the season, so Big Brother Kevin stepped up and became the new coach. In the process, he showed his Little Brother what true commitment means.

Little Sister Breyonne’ is a 12-year-old activist and philanthropist. In fifth grade, she saw that her route home from school was dangerous, so she tried to secure a crossing guard. “All my friends walk home from school, and I did not think it was safe,” she says. “Some have to walk over a mile home and cross busy streets.” She didn’t just talk to the principal. With her Big Sister, she took her fight to the City Council.

In third grade, Kaleb was sent out of class almost every day because of his disruptive behavior. He often got suspended from school entirely. Having a supportive mom and great teachers trying to guide him wasn’t enough – Kaleb needed a Big Brother.

Little Sister Samantha beamed confidently from the pageant stage. Watching from the crowd, her Big Sister thought about the shy little girl her Little used to be. On stage, Samantha was almost a different person. “She exuded a confidence that I would have never known existed when I first met her,” Big Sister Megan says.

Smoking, drinking, and skipping school are thought of as teenage problems. But when your childhood has been a rollercoaster of loss and abuse, everything is accelerated. At age 10, Little Brother Nick already found himself ditching class and abusing alcohol. He finally turned things around with the help of his Big Brother.

When Little Sister America wanted to dye her hair a bright aquamarine, her Big Sister Laura brought her to a trusted friend’s hair salon. When America wanted a piercing, her Big Sister Laura made sure the piercer was licensed and reputable. “She has never judged me when I wanted something that some people would think was crazy,” America says. “She always listens to what I want, encourages me to communicate with my mother, and helps me understand all of the pros and cons.”

Big Brother Todd and Little Brother Tyrone, “T.J.,” were matched when T.J. was 7. At…

The year Aaqila turned 7, everything changed. Her mother moved her from Chicago to Springfield. She changed schools. She was surrounded by fewer kids who looked like her. Not long after their move, Aaqila’s mom told her that she was no longer going to be an only child – a little sister was on the way.

Every Friday night for years, Big Brother John sat on a bleacher, cheering on his…

Big Sister Dawn raised her two sons and called herself the “tomboy mom.” She taught her boys the traditionally male and female roles in their household, and felt comfortable raising boys. When her boys moved out and she felt that “empty nest” feeling, she volunteered to be a Big Sister. She asked for a Little Brother and was matched with Little Brother Philip, who was 8.

Growing up an only child of a single mom can be lonely, so Little Brother Evan was more than ready for camaraderie and adventure when he was matched with Big Brother Nick, then an MIT student, nine years ago. “Nick and I play sports together sometimes, and he inspires me to work hard to be like him,” Evan says. Through hockey, Nick showed Evan how to be a good teammate, be confident, and challenge himself.

Big Sister Katy says she knows she benefited from mentors in her own life, people who had supported and pushed her to reach her potential. “My father, a high school principal, often mentioned to me if more children had a mentor – a positive, trusted person – in their lives, opportunities would look a lot different for them,” Katy says. Now, she’s playing that role for Little Sister Trina, a child who bounced from her birth mother to foster care in her early life, before being adopted at age 3.