The Big Buddies program has blossomed over the past year or so adding many small-group activities and connecting Little Buddies with Big Buddy mentors. But even though some 23 Little Buddies have been placed with a Big Buddy, the need for more mentors continues to grow.
“Although we have 23 Little Buddies matched up with Big Buddies, we still have 15 Little Buddies in need of a Big Buddy mentor,” said Hannah Reardon, Big Buddies county coordinator for Jackson and Cottonwood counties. “This summer was a busy one for us as we offered our Little Buddies numerous small-group activities to do, from fabric art and bird watching to cooking, photography and crocheting. One of the reasons we offer the small-group activities is to allow the Little Buddies who are not yet matched with a Big Buddy opportunities to learn some new skills or hobbies and have fun with other Little Buddies too. Two activities that were their favorite this summer were horseback riding and bird watching.”
The horseback riding was actually a two-part activity, Reardon said, with Day 1 a lesson on tack and horsemanship and Day 2 actual riding.
“We have several small-group activities coming up too,” Reardon said. “We will be having a small-group activity where we will be making fleece scarves Oct. 16 that the Little Buddies will be donating to the Coats for Kids, and on Nov. 6, we will be holding a Schwan’s fundraiser in Jackson and Cottonwood counties.”
The Jackson County Schwan’s fundraiser will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Dan Pike Auction Center parking lot in Lakefield. The Cottonwood County fundraiser will be at the Staples Oil parking lot next to the Fulda Credit Union in Windom.
And an activity done earlier in the summer involving the residents at the Windom Good Samaritan Society and the Little Buddies called “These Storytelling Hands,” an intergenerational project, will more than likely be repeated at the Jackson Good Samaritan Society, as Reardon has been talking with Nancy Garvin there about doing a similar activity.
“Margaret Horkey, community relations director for the Windom Good Samaritan Society, told me about a project she read about in their 2007 annual report about a Good Samaritan Society in Jasper, Ind.,” Reardon said. “The residents there had done a project called, ‘These Story Telling Hands,’ with the local Boy Scout Troop. And Horkey had been wanting to replicate that project at Good Sam in Windom.”
Horkey suggested the project might be a good one for the Big and Little Buddies. So Reardon followed up on it and brought her Little Buddies and their Big Buddy mentors to Good Sam in Windom to do it.
“The project coupled a photograph of the hands of the residents holding an object that was meaningful to them with a brief story of what those hands had accomplished in their lifetime,” Reardon said. “The two items were then framed together and presented back to the residents and their families as a keepsake at a special program at Good Samaritan Society there.”
After that, the residents were able to display them in their rooms if they wished.
“We hope to do that same project in Jackson at the Good Samaritan Society,” she said. “We already have someone to take the photos and make the frames for them, but we need barn boards for the frames for the project.”
The Big Buddies group continues to have 15 Little Buddies on the waiting list. In the past six months, Reardon has had four new Big Buddies sign up for the program, yet the influx of new Little Buddies has continued to increase at a much greater rate.
Reardon said she has really struggled in trying to find people willing to be a Big Buddy mentor. She has come up with a new campaign to motivate others to volunteer to mentor a Little Buddy as a Big Buddy.
“It only requires a commitment of as little as one hour a week for a year,” she said. “I’ve been letting people know that they have 168 hours a week and I am asking if they are willing to give just one hour of that time to make a difference in the life of a child.”
On average — according to the statistics Reardon has compiled — each person works 40 of those hours, sleeps 58 of those hours weekly, spends 10 hours on average driving, eight hours eating, six hours grooming and bathing, five and half hours on food preparation and three hours on religious or spiritual things. But it is from those 34 hours on average of each week spent on entertainment that Reardon hopes people will be willing to give up just one for a Little Buddy.
“Right now, for example, I have two little boys that just need a grandpa figure in their lives,” she said. “And there is an 11-year-old girl that is looking for a big-sister figure in her life at this time. Anyone 16 years old or older can be a Big Buddy. But I believe it is the fear of the unknown that keeps many people from volunteering to do this. And it is the commitment for some as well as their not knowing who they are going to be matched with that keep them from being a mentor. Beyond Big Buddies, we also need snacks for the kids when we do the small-group activities — things like pretzels, nuts or granola bars, as the cost of those items add up.”
Reardon said matches are carefully made, bringing Little Buddies and Big Buddies together that have similar interests.
“We have four Big Buddies that will be recognized on Nov. 22 at a soup super at the school,” she said. “It will be our first recognition event and those four Big Buddies will be presented with the President’s Volunteer Service Award at the bronze level. They had signed up to be a part of the program committing 100 to 174 hours of their time to it and will be recognized for their service.”
Anyone interested in checking out Big Buddies and how to become a Big Buddy can call Reardon at 847-2623 or 800-658-2480, ext. 5. She can also be reached by e-mail at hannah.reardon@wcainc.org.
