Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada

Big Brothers Big Sisters is a leading non-profit organization with a focus on youth mentoring programs. Youth, as well as adult volunteers are matched with young children in order to inspire them to reach their potential. Their main focus for almost the whole century has been the notion of facilitating mentoring programs where life-changing relationships help empower youth develop their individuality and become respective citizens that will serve their own communities.

Today, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada operates in 10 Provinces, one Territory—and in 12 countries around the world. . In addition to a traditional program where one adult is matched with one same-sex child — such as Big Brothers Mentoring and Big Sisters Mentoring — new programs include In-School Mentoring, Go Girls! Group Mentoring, Game on! Group Mentoring, Big Bunch, and Post Secondary Readiness programs. All of these programs provide additional positive adult support to children who are needing it. Volunteers are trained to listen, be a friend to a child, and share their time and hearts. Big Brothers and Big Sisters are volunteers who mentor children ages 6 through 18.

Big Brothers Big Sisters offer a wide range of mentoring opportunities to meet the various needs of volunteers, children and families. Mentors serve as role models and therefore, are expected to teach by example of giving and giving back, of staying in school, and for having respect for family, peers and community.

The movement began in 1904, when a young New York City court clerk named Ernest Coulter was seeing more and more boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these kids stay out of trouble, and he set out to find volunteers. He asked a number of his friends to spend some of their time – lending a hand to youngsters, starting with 39 volunteers. That marked the beginning of the Big Brothers movement. By 1916, Big Brothers had spread to 96 cities across the United States.

In 1912, similar events took place in Canada and the first Canadian Big Sister agency formed in Toronto. Closely afterwards, in 1913, the first Canadian Big Brother program began in Toronto. Both groups continued to work independently until 1977, when Big Brothers of America and Big Sisters International (in America) joined forces and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. In 2001 a similar merger occurred between the two Canadian organizations and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada was formed. Interest grew from outside North America, spurring the formation of Big Brothers Big Sisters International to help other countries get started and facilitate communications between countries running similar programs.

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Wikipedia