Earlier this year I was doing some self-reflection and pin pointing things that make me both happy, and feel good about myself. I realized that when I volunteered at various community events, I felt awesome afterwards. I was serving the community I have chosen to build my home in, and I was getting to try new things and meet awesome people along the way. I made a conscious decision that I wanted to continue to look for opportunities to volunteer and give some time because plain and simple, it felt good to do it.
As the year progressed, I heard an advertisement on a local radio station about Big Brothers Big Sisters, and that were was a shortage of mentors for youth in our area. I thought about how lucky I had been having some really great role models naturally appear in my life growing up, and how they helped shape me to be a strong, independent, and happy adult. I decided to learn more about the BBBS program. I connected with a local coordinator for the program, and decided I was interested. I had the capacity – a couple hours a week (the way I saw it, if I could watch Netflix and relax then I could make the time to do something so much more meaningful with my time), and I had the interest to give back (like I said, volunteering makes me feel great!). I went through the training and then was matched with my Little Sister in the spring. The coordinator really did an awesome job of matching our personalities, and joining this program is the best decision I made all year.
Because of my Little, I have done things I normally wouldn’t (walks in parks I usually drive by, water tubing at the 800 ft NiteHawk Tubezone, making bracelets, baking new recipes, walks through museums and art galleries, laser tag, to name a few), and I got to do it with a really rad Little human being. We laugh together, we talk, we just hang out. I know I am making an impact on my Little and the community, and I am always looking forward to the next hang out.
SB