A $25,000 donation from philanthropy group 100+ Women Who Care Cowichan has enabled Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cowichan Valley to launch a major volunteer recruitment campaign, specifically targeting hard-to-find male mentors.
In December 2017, when the 100+ Women group met for their fourth and final time of the year, there were more than 50 children on a wait-list for a mentor, with boys facing the longest delays — many at risk of “aging out” before being placed with a grown up.
It’s a problem because Cowichan is a known region of childhood vulnerability with ongoing issues of child poverty, family food insecurity, adverse childhood experiences, and child/youth mental illness.
As more children in our community risk slipping through the cracks, mentors are needed more than ever, said Erin Generous, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters Cowichan.
“Childhood mentoring is a proven protective factor against multiple social challenges,” Generous said. “Mentoring helps youth-at-risk transcend cycles of vulnerability to reach their full potential. Moreover, research shows that adults mentored as children are far more likely to give back our community through economic contributions, volunteerism, and philanthropy. This leverages the investments in our program and creates new cycles of resilience.”
With cheque in hand, BBBSCV launched a massive campaign including print, radio and social media ads in the hope of securing male mentors.
The extra attention has paid off.
The group received more male mentor inquiries in the first month of 2018 than the entirety of 2017, and they’ve already matched four new Big Brothers to wait-listed Buddies.
Generous is thrilled with the results of the campaign. “Thanks to the contribution of 100 Women Who Care, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cowichan Valley is on track to reach our goal of matching all 53 wait-listed children by the end of 2018,” she said.
The 100+ Women group meets four times a year to nominate and a pick a local charity or non-profit group to support. The recipient receives the aggregate donation from those women in attendance at each quarterly meeting. The BBBSCV donation was the group’s sixth, having already given to groups including the Clements Centre Society, Cowichan Hospice and Providence Farm.