The habits that you don't realize...

Last Saturday, I called my Little Brother's mom and explained that I couldn't continue to be her son's Big Sister. (I chucked the story idea that I mentioned in the previous post). I explained that it shouldn't be so difficult to get together. Since December, I've made plans to take him and have made it all the way to their house to discover that he was sick, or they had forgotten and had gone somewhere else, or guests and shown up unexpectedly and they had to go with them. And this wasn't just once or twice; we're talking more than five (but fewer than 10) times. That's a lot if you take into consideration that the town was snowed in for a cumulative total of almost three weeks in between Dec and the beginning of March; plus the various holidays and the family plans that go with that. So all in all, there was about eight attempts in two months that fell through. But that's not the point of this post. The point is that he and I were matched for more than two years. That's two years of every other week or every three weeks making plans to do something. Today I was thinking: oh, I should call Penny to see if Daevon wants to go .
I feel good that I ended it on good terms and I think that I prepared him for his next stage in life. He'll be ten in May. When I woke up last Saturday morning, I woke up with the feeling that God was saying: you've done your part, it's time to let him move on. I don't think I can provide what he needs any longer...as far as being a Big Sister. I don't think my next Little will be a Little Brother. It was really too difficult. I don't feel like we really connected. My next Little, in six months or so, will be a Little Sister.

Do you have a couple hours to spare?

www.bbbsa.org/

Breakthrough Study Finds Adults Mentored as Children in Big Brothers Big Sisters are Better Educated, Wealthier & More Fulfilled than Peers
New Study Released at Big Brothers Big Sisters’ National Conference Suggests America’s Largest Donor-Supported Network of Volunteer Mentors for Youth Breaks Cycles Linked to Poverty
Miami, FL, June 16, 2009 -- A study conducted by Harris Interactive® on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters finds adults mentored as children through Big Brothers Big Sisters are more likely than peers with similar backgrounds but who were not involved in the program to have a four-year college degree, incomes of $75,000 or more. They also report strong relationships with their spouses, children and friends.
Big Brothers Big Sisters released the findings this week during its National Conference. The 2009 conference is being hosted in Miami and is sponsored by Comcast.
“The children we serve are among America’s most vulnerable, whether they have one parent, live in households experiencing poverty or have a parent who is incarcerated,” said Judy Vredenburgh, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America President and Chief Executive Officer. “Independent research has told us for some time that Big Brothers Big Sisters improves the odds that children we serve will succeed educationally and socially. This is our first large-scale examination of the long-term benefits, suggesting we have the potential to break cycles too often associated with family and community poverty.”
The cross-sectional study was commissioned by Big Brothers Big Sisters to gather evidence that its long-term structured mentoring program’s effects reach far beyond the time that children are enrolled in the program. The nation’s largest donor supported volunteer mentoring network’s 255,000 community- and school-based mentoring matches depends on donations to recruit, carefully match and screen volunteers and provide ongoing support to the mentors, children and their families.
Among the study’s specific findings:
Alumni were 75% more likely than non-alumni to have received a four-year college degree (28% of alumni vs. 16% of non-alumni).
Alumni were 39% more likely than non-alumni to have current household incomes of $75,000 or higher (46% of alumni vs. 33% of non-alumni).
A majority of alumni are extremely or very satisfied with their relationships to friends (72%), family (65%) and spouses (62%). Fewer non-alumni report the same level of satisfaction (46%, 50% and 40%, respectively).
Approximately two in three (64%) alumni are extremely or very satisfied with life compared to just over one in three (35%) non-alumni.
A majority of alumni (62%) perceive themselves to have achieved a higher level of success than their peers who were not involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters. Furthermore, this is twice as many as the 31% of non-alumni who report being more successful than other people they grew up with.
Adult Littles are more likely than non-alumni to be engaged in their community over the past 12 months, particularly when it comes to volunteering (52% vs 35%, respectively) and holding a leadership role in an organization working on an issue (29% vs. 16%, respectively).
"One of the most effective strategies for successful fundraising is to demonstrate the long-term value of our program,” Vredenburgh said. “Foundations, individuals, corporations and public funders – want to invest in programs proven to change lives and break cycles of poverty.”
A little more than half of the alumni Littles who participated in the study grew up in single-parent homes (52%) and described their childhood financial situation as worse off than the average American household (51%). The Big Brothers Big Sisters alumni reported that having a “Big” in their lives positively influenced their self confidence, provided stability and changed their perspectives on life, taught them new things, influenced aspects of their education, pushing them to set higher goals and make better decisions.
Methodology Between March 3 and April 16 2009, Harris Interactive conducted an online survey of 449 adults, 200 of whom participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters as “Littles” for at least one year during their childhood and 249 who never participated in the program. Alumni Littles were sampled from a combination of Harris Interactive’s panel of respondents and Big Brothers Big Sisters lists. All 249 of the non alumni were sampled from the Harris Interactive panel of online respondents. The non-alumni segment allows for a comparison between Big Brothers Big Sisters alumni and adults who had a similar profile as youth but who did not have a Big Brother or Big Sister as a youth. A full methodology is available.
About Harris Interactive Harris Interactive is a global leader in custom market research. With a long and rich history in multimodal research, powered by our science and technology, we assist clients in achieving business results. Harris Interactive serves clients globally through our North American, European and Asian offices and a network of independent market research firms. For more information, please visit harrisinteractive.com.