Big Brothers Big Sisters Manchester - Other Volunteer Opportunities

There are many ways you can support Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester. Your donation positively impacts a child's life. Not to mention it makes you part of something big. Start Something™ now.

Besides volunteering as a Big, there are many other ways to give your time at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester:

Office Volunteers:
General office help volunteers are needed to assist with typing, filing, and telephone calls.

Event Volunteers:
Volunteers are needed to serve on fundraising committees such as our annual Bowl For Kids Sake event.

Match Support Volunteers:
This is a high-level volunteer position that requires training both in the office and on line. The Match Support Volunteers assist the Match Support Specialists by making contact calls and writing case files. Volunteers are trained to interview and recognize when the clients are in need of further assistance.

Internship Program:
Be part of the BBBS of Greater Manchester Team ~ Help the staff to maintain successful matches, market to new volunteers, and to add to your resume an important element of community leadership!

Child Waitlist Activities Program:
This program is great for volunteers who want to do more, or those who are concerned about time commitment. There are usually about 100 children or more on our waitlist. BBBS of Greater Manchester knows how important it is to help these children feel included in our program. This program is a way of giving the children and volunteers who are not matched, the same opportunity to take part in BBBS events.

Sponsor A Child:
This program allows you or your organization to Sponsor a Child in our program. With your sponsorship you/your organization would receive a photograph of the child, along with a quarterly report regarding the child's development since the match with their Big. This report and photo is a great opportunity to support our programs and have detailed information regarding the impact BBBS has on our youth! There are also a number of other mentoring programs specifically tailored to certain areas:

Department of Education Program:
This Program is an educationally based program where volunteers meet with a youth in the 4th-8th grade and focus on the educational needs of the child. The child and volunteer also enjoy selecting fun goals to attain like learning a new hobby. This program shows immediate results as the child's grades and school attendance records are closely monitored for improvement.

Mentoring Children of Prisoners:
This program is specifically tailored to match children whose parent(s) are incarnated. The mentor meets with the child in the community or site-base venue.

Read to Succeed:
The Read to Succeed Program was developed in response to the high drop out rate in Manchester. This program is for children from Pre K- 3rd grade and aims at helping the child to reach his/her reading level. This program runs similarly to the site based program, with an emphasis on reading in a fun environment, and takes place during the child's lunch hour once a week.

September 2011 Newsletter
August 2011 Newsletter

MENtors Needed!

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester needs male mentors for Community Based and Site Based matches. Only 1 out of 10 new volunteers at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Manchester are men, which means that plenty of young boys are match ready and waiting for some good men to step forward. Being a “Big Brother” requires no special skills – just a desire to be a friend to a child.

Community-Based Mentoring - In the Community Based program Bigs and Littles typically meet 2-3 times a month, for a minimum of one calendar year. We recommend that you keep a consistent schedule and that you see each other on a regular basis. Share an activity that gives you something in common to talk about. You want to select activities that give each of you a chance to learn more about one another. Buy a comic book to read to each other, play a board game, or take a ride in the car with the radio on and discuss the music! For children, playing can be learning. Most important - have FUN!

Site Based Mentoring - Our Site Based program allows Bigs and Littles meet once a week in schools, childcare centers and community after school sites, to talk and have fun. Bigs and Littles typically meet 45 minutes to one hour a week, throughout the school year, to read together, play sports or computer games, or simply talk about life and personal issues – just as friends do!

Please tell a friend, brother, co-worker to give us a call at 669-5365, x201.

Match Story

There aren't too many people that don't already know what our match is like. I talk about it all the time. We met 4, almost 5 years ago. I was very pleased to meet a beautiful, I mean really beautiful, young Mexican girl. She was very shy and not the first one to speak out in her class. Within that first year, she became an excellent student. She began to "fix" her hair, dress with style, and socialize. We since have learned how to make bead jewelry, hook rugs, crochet, color velvet pictures, I lose many games, and we always find some sort of craft for each holiday. I feel that I have only skimmed what we really do.

My little has made me very proud. She is a high honor student for 3 years running. Just this past year, has been chosen to be a mentor for incoming students to Junior High. She is a fabulous example! I love her so much!

A couple of years ago, we decided to begin a great way to reward her-we collect really neat bracelets that we add a special charm for each of her accomplishments. She now wears 2 bracelets!

Anyway, if more people could see how little effort it takes to make a HUGE difference in someone's life, there would not be a waiting list of children to be matched. Spread the word and make a kid smile. It's easy.

Very proudly,
Ruth Witherspoon
School-based mentor program
& Community-based program