Big brothers and sisters needed for local chapter

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Flagstaff is providing $5,000 in seed money to help establish an arm of the 100-year-old mentoring program here.

According to Ellen Majure, Program Director for Flagstaff Big Brothers Big Sisters, the funds will cover the cost of matching five youngsters with mentors in a community-based program this spring.

"We have offered to do five matches with money from our general fund," she said. "We really believe that it's a needed service here and we want to help get it started."

The organization is responding to a request initiated by park law enforcement ranger Joseph Flurko, who approached them late last fall.

"The community needs something like this," he said. "Law enforcement rangers see problems and we have kids here who would definitely benefit."

The Big Brothers program was started in 1904 by a New York City court clerk, Ernest Coulter, who believed mentoring would benefit the many boys he saw passing through the courts. By 1916, the program was operating in 86 U.S. cities. Meanwhile, the Ladies of Charity, and later, Catholic Big Sisters, were doing similar work with girls coming through the New York children's court. The two organizations merged in 1977 to become Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Under the community program, youths between the ages of seven and 15 are matched with adult mentors at least 18 years old, usually of the same gender, though boys under 12 can be paired with a big sister. For a big brother match, a boy must be without an adult male living at home.

Mentors meet with their little brother or sister for a few hours each week for fun activities. Majure said that no special tutoring or counseling skills are required.

"It's truly about friendship," she said. "We want them to focus on having a good time together and forming a strong bond."

Right now, she said, there are three Grand Canyon volunteers undergoing the screening process, which includes county, state and federal background checks. Volunteers must also provide the names of three references and commit to the program for a year.

As a companion program, school guidance counselor Elizabeth Davis and Dean of Students Becky Crumbo are working to establish a site-based program to kick off in the fall.

While similar to the community program, the site-based program differs in that mentors, who can be as young as 16, meet with little brothers or sisters at the school for just an hour a week.

Volunteers must commit an hour a week for 10 weeks, or a semester.

"They'll do different activities, arts and crafts or playing a game," Davis said.

While the school provides the space, they don't administer the program. Big Brothers Big Sisters hires a local facilitator who oversees the interactions and makes changes if needed.

"Our responsibility at the school is to provide space," Crumbo said. "This is also something that high school students could do and be supervised here at school."

Davis said mentoring works best for youngsters who tend to be quiet and disconnected from friends and school work.

"This isn't for students with major behavior problems," she said. "It's not a rescue program. This is for those real quiet kids who maybe aren't making such good grades. They've found that the program is beneficial with increased attendance and increase in grades."

All referrals to Big Brothers Big Sisters are made by parents or guardians. The school's role would be to contact parents whose children may benefit and inform them that the program is available.

As with the community program, the school based program costs $1,000 per match. The school is getting $5,000 from the Williams schools, where they were unable to get the volunteers to establish a program.

While they would go with five matches next fall, Crumbo said they are aiming for at least 10 and could accommodate as many as 15 provided they can raise enough money and recruit enough volunteers by May.

Local fund-raising will be necessary not only to bolster the local programs, but also to sustain them beyond this year. Majure said that donors can give to Big Brothers Big Sisters through the United Way or the Combined Federal Campaign.

Crumbo said that volunteers can also sponsor a fund-raiser, such as a bowling tournament ­ the signature fund-raiser for the organization nationwide. The local program will also be under the national organization for grant-writing purposes.

According to Majure, the commitments of time and money are the biggest hurdles that the community faces.

"The biggest challenge is to keep volunteers for at least a year, especially big brothers," she said. "That and funding are the two biggest issues. Once we get those things we'll be successful in running a great program."

Male volunteers are especially in short supply, she said. There is a wait of about six months to a year for boys seeking big brothers.

"Men just don't volunteer as much as women," she said. "It takes more effort to recruit men. They need to hear about opportunities more often."

While it was primarily a lack of volunteers that stood in the way of an attempt to establish a Big Brothers Big Sisters program here about a decade ago, Crumbo is optimistic about the chances this time around, particularly because of the Park Service support.

"Because our community changes so much, I think that at some times the opportunity to have something like this is better than at other times," she said. "At that point, there wasn't interest and at this point there is."

Interested volunteers should contact Big Brothers Big Sisters directly at 928-774-0649.