Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver Announce 30 Men in 30 Days Campaign for Big Brothers Big Sisters Month
Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver
Supporting child and youth development through essential volunteer-led mentoring programs.
SEPTEMBER 5, 2024: GREATER VANCOVER, B.C. – Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver (BBGV) is looking for 30 male-identifying volunteers to help fill the need in their Community Mentoring Program for Big Brothers Big Sisters Month.
Throughout September, the organization is seeking 30 new mentors throughout Grater Vancouver with an emphasis on Surrey, which has had their Community Mentoring Program intake closed since April 2022.
“There are 30 children in our Surrey Big Brothers Mentoring Program waitpool still waiting to be matched with a Big Brother volunteer mentor. Many “Littles” have been waiting for more than two years due to the challenges of finding volunteers that commit to the one-year program,” Rose Higgins, Director of Programs and Operations at BBGV, said.
“On top of that, we have an additional 100 Surrey families waiting to enroll a child in this program in Surrey, but we cannot accept them into our waitpool until we find enough volunteers to meet the current need in the community.”
BBGV is a charity whose mission is to empower children and youth to reach their full potential though impactful mentoring relationships in collaboration with local communities and offers six different free youth mentorship programs for children and volunteers of all gender identities and backgrounds.
Currently, there are more than 100 children waiting to be matched with a Big Brother in the Community Mentoring Program throughout the non-profit’s service region of Vancouver, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Richmond, Burnaby, New Westminster, the North Shore, Delta and White Rock.
“This month we are aiming to recruit a Community Program mentor per day,” Norman Galimski, Marketing, Communications and Recruitment Officer, said.
“Over the last year we have invested more time and resources into volunteer recruitment and have seen a successful rise of monthly volunteer applications. We know there are community members out there who willing and able to volunteer, but we simply need to reach them. Our goal is to find those individuals and jumpstart our Big Brothers Community Mentoring Program and reopen our Surrey family intake.”
For those interested in volunteering and becoming a mentor, visit Big Brothers online to learn more: bigbrothersvancouver.com/volunteer/inquire.
Other ways the community can support our youth mentorship programs are through making a clothing donation or by becoming a donor.
Backgrounder
Media contacts: Norman Galimski – BBGV Marketing, Communications and Recruitment Officer – [email protected], Work: 604 657 8572
Rose Higgins – Director of Programs and Operations at BBGV - [email protected]
Interviews with Big Brother and Little Brother matches may be available upon request. Contact Norman.
The organization: Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver serves more than 740 children of all genders and identities through six youth mentoring programs: The Big Brothers Community Mentoring program, In-School Mentoring, Game On!, Mentoring with Math, Teen Mentoring and Roots Mentoring.
Greater Vancouver’s volunteer need by the numbers: 741 children were served by BBGV programs in 2022 to 2023 100 number children are currently in the BBGV waitpool across all communities.
BBGV waitpool numbers for the Big Brothers Community Mentoring program by community:
Surrey stats include the communities of Delta and White Rock.