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Battlefords needs more Big Brothers

Mar 5, 2016 | 7:49 AM

There’s a long waiting list of Little Brothers and not enough Bigs to match with them.

Renee Sperling, who operates the Battlefords Big Brothers and Big Sisters, is asking for more males to volunteer and promises to be flexible.

“We will work around the Big’s schedule. We want a consistent amount of time. For some people that’s a couple of hours a week, for others it’s a larger chunk every two weeks.”

Sperling felt the main reason more people don’t volunteer is intimidation of the process but she said they shouldn’t be as the process is quite straight forward.

Right now, Sperling only has two male Littles paired up with Bigs and has more Littles enrolling. One of her matches has been together for over two years and has been very successful.

“The biggest goal for us is making sure that any youth in the community that wants a mentor has a mentor. There are just some Littles in the community that don’t have someone to go out and do activities with.”

Regardless of her recruiting struggles, Sperling believes the Battlefords supports its youth and encourages residents to volunteer.

“They are youth in the community, they are going to be great members of the community when they are older, and we want them to know that there are people who are excited about them and where they are going.”

 ghiggins@jpbg.ca           

@realgreghiggins