When 14-year-old Saranetta needs help with her spelling homework, she knows where to turn.
Or if she just needs someone to talk with, “Big Sister” Kendall Cordova is waiting with a friendly ear.
Cordova and her “little sister” met more than a year ago through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado, a longtime nonprofit that provides mentors for at-risk kids. As in many of the relationships forged through the program, Cordova isn’t just a mentor. She has grown into one of Saranetta’s friends. When Cordova recently married, Saranetta was there. When Saranetta appeared in a school play this month, Cordova was there.
“My role in her life is just a support to her and her family,” Cordova said. “Not a financial support but to encourage her, … to provide an outside voice to show her different ways of life and different things people experience.”
They meet a few times a month and do simple activities, such as walking in the park or making guacamole at Cordova’s house. It’s quality time and talking, more than it is about the activity.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Colorado began in 1918 after a juvenile probation officer became alarmed at the growing rate of “lawlessness” among young boys whose fathers were overseas during World War I.
“What boys need much more than critics and policemen is examples. There is no greater community service than brothering a needy boy,” Claude Blake, Denver’s chief probation officer, told community leaders in 1918. That program was based upon the Big Brothers program started in New York in 1904 for similar reasons.
Its mission is as relevant today as it was nearly 100 years ago, supporters say. Over the years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has blossomed into a multidimensional program, offering more than just its core, one-on-one mentoring. The agency has applied for funding from this year’s Post-News Season to Share campaign.
“We’ve expanded our programs because people are so busy,” said Mike McCubbin, director of corporate and community relations.
To get more men through the door, they have created a six-month program called “Sports Buddies,” where a group of male mentors get together with a group of kids for sporting events once a month for a six-month period. Big Brothers provides the tickets and the transportation.
“It’s our way of providing the structure and conduit to friendship,” McCubbin said.
The core program, though, is community-mentoring, where volunteers such as Cordova meet with a young person two to four times a month for one year. (Cordova also is a paid employee for Big Brothers Big Sisters.)
Most of the children served by the program are between the ages of 8 and 12 and are being raised by a single parent. They usually live in poverty in high-crime neighborhoods and often attend underperforming public schools.
The programs are designed to improve each child’s sense of self, their sense of their future and their school performance.
Big Brothers Big Sisters has big plans, but it needs more help. Its goal is to eventually serve 1,900 kids, but it needs 500 more mentors. Since the majority of the kids they serve are minorities, and the bulk of their volunteers are not, they desperately need ethnic minority men as mentors.
Even though the relationships only “officially” last one year, Cordova sees no end in sight for her relationship with Saranetta.
“I can’t imagine us not being in contact,” she said. “I’ve created a friendship, and there’s no reason to end that relationship.”
Season to Share
Post-News Season to Share, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, gave more than $1.73 million to 56 agencies last year serving children, and people who are hungry, homeless or in need of medical care. Donations are matched 50 cents to the dollar, and 100 percent of the donations go to the charitable agencies. To contribute, please see the coupon on 6A, call 888-683-4483 or visit seasontoshare.com.
