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How are Bigs staying connected with their Littles? Like this!

An online auction enables a former Big to help her former Little Sister’s family

Trying times like these are keeping even former Matches connected. Here’s a story about cutting boards, an auction, and how a former Big Sister helped her former Little Sister’s family, as told by the former Big Sister herself. (All the names have been deleted to respect their privacy.)

“I got in touch with (my former Little and her mother) once all this started to unfold. (Her mother) has been a cafeteria worker at (an Asheville elementary school) for years and years. She and (her daughter also) work together at an afterschool program each afternoon.

“I knew that with schools closed, they are out of work. I checked in with (my former Little Sister’s mother), and, as I suspected, she was/is really stressed about money. So here’s a sweet little story for you:

“One of our dear friends – and (my husband’s bike) riding buddy – posted on Facebook that, with all the time at home, he’d made some gorgeous cutting boards. He got all kinds of likes and comments on them on Facebook. Then he texted (my husband) and their buddies, saying maybe he could auction them on Facebook and raise money for someone who was hurting from loss of work.

“I told (my husband) that we know such a family – (my former Little’s) family. (My husband’s friend) didn’t know how to conduct an auction, so I did that part, on Facebook, on Sunday, March 22. I posted, with (the mother’s) permission, of course, a bit about the family’s situation and tried my best to express how helpful this would be for them.

“Would you believe that the first cutting board sold for $275, the second board raised $110 and the third board raised $200???? AND, my college roommate just sent me a $100 donation to help out (the) family.

“I was elated to send (the mother) a total of $685 the next day. She was crying, she said, and so surprised and grateful!

“Now that is a story that we can feel good about! It doesn’t solve all of their problems, but it does help. I’ve also given (the mother) a ton of links to resources for food, rent assistance, etc., as that info has come across my email at (work).”

(Posted April 1, 2020)

A Big sets her Little up for school work success

Swain County branch Program Coordinator Caitlin Quinnett shared this story of success about a very caring Big.

“Big Sister Debbie went above and beyond to help her Little get her computer ready to do school work, without even leaving the house,” Caitlin said. ” Big Debbie and Little Sydney are working hard together to get school work going and plan on meeting over the phone weekly for support.”

(Posted April 1, 2020)

BBBS staff share some stories about how everyone is staying connected

How are BBBS of WNC staff staying in touch with their Bigs? Like this!

In Cherokee County, Program Coordinator Gloria Dockery said a Little’s grandmother said her grandchild’s Big has been leaving phone messages for the Little to hear.

In Highlands, Program Coordinator Danielle Hernandez-Juarez said a Big Sister told her that communicating virtually with her Little about their lives at home was bringing them closer together!

In Buncombe County, School-Based Program Coordinator Fran Shuler said a Big Sister worked with her Little’s mother to get her Little on FaceTime so she could let her Little know that they’ll celebrate her birthday (and so the Big could see Mom’s new baby!).

In Buncombe, Match Support Specialist Dee Dee Allan said a Big Brother has been emailing his Little Brother every day to make sure he’s keeping up with his schoolwork.

In Burke County, Program Coordinator Nina Ervin said a sponsor at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church (a big sponsor of the branch’s recent Bowl For Kids’ Sake) asked for all the Littles’ birthdays so that she could get presents that Nina could drop off on their birthdays!

In Swain County, Program Coordinator Caitlin Quinnett was happy to report that two Littles who live deep in the mountains were able to connect their school-provided iPads to the Internet to do their schoolwork.

“We really can make a difference, even if we can’t be face to face,” said Jamye Davis, Assistant Director of BBBSWNC.

(Posted March 30, 2020)

A Little Brother tells his Big how he’s doing his schoolwork

Big Brother Joey in Henderson County checks on his Little Brother Andre several times a week via video conferencing. Here’s an email Andre recently sent Joey telling Joey how he (Andre) is keeping up with his school work.

“The way we are able to do work from home is that we log in to our computers and we go to Google Classroom, and we go to our gmail to see what the teacher assigned us,” Andre wrote. “So our recent piece of work is March Madness. And what we did is we solve problems for four days. And the way we read is the teachers assigned us books to read and we will read them for at least 30 minutes. And then we would log it on our reading log. And the way we do science is we go to our science classroom, she will give us a link to our assignment, and we do what she assigned us. That is how we do our work from home.”

Email opens up a new world of communication for this Match

(This story is by Joey Popp, chair of the BBBS Henderson County Advisory Board.)

By now we would have had the garden prepped ready to go. Hey, doesn’t COVID-19 know it’s getting in the way of Andre planting his garden!

This day and time, one-to-one mentoring takes on a new look.

Since social distancing came into view, our Little/Big relationship consists of telephone calls, reminders to do homework, read and along the way talk about fun things.

I can’t wait to get to see him again. I brought back from South America a small gift of interesting looking candy. He loves candy.

At my last check, Andre was getting a new computer program set up at home so he can communicate with his teachers.

The reporter in me came out and immediately gave him an assignment. Realizing he now has email, I gave him a deadline to send me back a paragraph or two on what he’s learning.

“I don’t know your email address” he said. “Well, let me give it to you” I responded.

This 5^th grader is moving right along during the medical crisis.

Stay tuned.

Making sure a Little is helping his grandmother

Every other day, Joe Sherman calls his Little Brother to check on him and see how he’s helping his grandmother and being a good brother to his two sisters. This Henderson County match is forging ahead with one of the most powerful tools for staying connected – the telephone.

“He understands what’s going on,” Joe said of Christian, his Little Brother. Joe checks to see what progress Christian has made on not staying up too late on weekends, with being helpful around his grandmother’s house, where Christian and his sisters live.

“They’ve gotten all the school supplies they need – the electronics and paperwork – so they can do all their work at home,” Joe said. Joe makes sure Christian, who makes As and Bs, is staying on top of his studies.

Joe also talks to Christian’s grandmother to see how Christian is doing. “We talk about Christian a lot,” Joe said. And he and Christian talk a lot too. They’re keeping their relationship going during this time of separation.

“He knows that I’m going to show up again when the time’s right,” Joe said.

School video chat keeps a Match paired up!

This is from Ally Sloss, the Site-Based & Group Mentoring Program Coordinator for Buncombe County.

I want to give a shout out to Dana Williams and her Little Brother Lucas. I just spoke with Dad who said that Lucas was able to chat with Dana via their school’s video chat, and he is so glad that Lucas has her support!

(Posted March 20, 2020)

A caregiver takes online classes with her granddaughter

Earlier this week, Buncombe County Match Support Coordinator Kelly Wolf spoke to a grandparent caregiver who is really taking advantage of the online opportunities available to supplement student education, many of which are now being offered for free.

She and her granddaughter Zari are taking an online yoga class, participate in a daily storytime and illustration activity via Instagram, check out what’s going on at the Cincinnati Zoo each afternoon, and take lots of virtual field trips.

She is getting ready to sign Zari up for a free online cooking class, as well. She said she is very grateful for the huge number of free activities available to keep kids occupied and engaged while they can’t be in school!

(Posted March 20, 2020)

Video chat lets a Big help a Little with classwork

After contacting Bigs to let them know in-person outings between Bigs and Littles will be suspended for two weeks, Buncombe County Match Support Coordinator Kelly Wolf immediately received a response from Big Brother Steve asking if it would be OK to reach out to his Little Brother Ky’ren via video chat so they can catch up and so Steve can offer Ky’ren assistance with his schoolwork.

Steve normally takes his Little to Homework Diner every week and wants to be sure Ky’ren feels supported academically during this time.

(Posted March 19, 2020)

Project MARS helps deliver food to school children in Cherokee County

Yay, AmeriCorps Project MARS! Cherokee County MARS members Jadrian Ledford, Betty Jean Jones and Lauren Allen (on the bus) and Taylor Swain (not photographed) recently assisted in the delivery of meals to students across the county while school is out of session.