Mentoring youth makes a difference
Maintaining connections during the challenging times of COVID-19 isn’t easy. Our friends Big Brothers Big Sisters of Langley are working hard to keep relationships between youth and their mentors healthy and strong. The Envision Financial, a division of First West Credit Union and First West Foundation Community Help Fund is donating $500 to help kickstart fundraising efforts to ensure youth are well supported. Join us and donate today.
Tell us about your charity and how the community can help your organization
At Big Brothers Big Sisters of Langley, our mission is to enable life-changing mentoring relationships to ignite the power and potential of young people. Like many community services, we have been forced to think critically about what happens to that mission when we are asked to stay at home, keep our physical distance, and in-person gatherings are cancelled. What happens to the established mentoring relationships and the over 30 children and youth in Langley who were waiting to be matched?
We have learned through this pandemic that Big Brother Big Sister agencies are uniquely positioned to ensure mentors continue to connect with children and youth who need it the most, when they need it most – which is right now. We are one of the few youth-serving organizations that can continue to operate because our matches can connect in many ways.
Our agency has responded to the current crisis by concentrating our efforts in 3 areas:
1. Building Social Connections at a Time of Physical Distancing -- Matches are being empowered to connect virtually across a variety of platforms so that they can continue to build valuable developmental relationships that support mental health, wellness and achievement motivation during these difficult times.
2. Protecting Youth and Community Wellness – We are providing Mentors with the tools and resources to continue to build their relationship with their Mentee virtually and while physically distancing. We are working closely with our schools and community partners to assist with wrap-around services for vulnerable families across our communities, mobilizing resources or making referrals for required assistance.
3. Supporting Learning and Motivation to Achieve – Our Mentors and Mentoring Coordinators are promoting distance learning and school connectedness by engaging Mentees in activities that provide cognitive stimulation and reinforce school habits, curiosity and future planning during school closures.
But we need financial support to ensure we can respond to deepening needs and growing demand for mentorship in our community.
Our team is doing everything we can to ensure our agency can sustain the financial aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Monthly Giving Program gives donors the opportunity to contribute to our mentoring programs over time, to help our agency secure our future in the Langley community.
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https://langley.bigbrothersbigsisters.ca/monthl...