Vermilion Big Brothers-Big Sisters set to launch annual fundraising drive
January 26, 2007, Urbana/Champaign News-Gazette

By PAM G. DEMPSEY

DANVILLE – As part of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Vermilion County mentoring program, Daniel Anderson learned stuff he didn't know before, like how to fish and swim.

For the last four years, the 18-year-old Danville High School senior spent time once a week with his "big brother," attorney Bill Garrison. January marks National Mentoring Month and the beginning of "Bowl for Kids Sake," the local group's annual fundraiser.

"He taught me about plants," Anderson said of Garrison. "He knew a lot about plants."

Big Brothers-Big Sisters offers two types of mentoring programs – the traditional one that pairs adults and children of the same gender, and a school-based program where adults spend one hour a week at school with either a male or female child. An adult is matched with a child until he or she turns 18.

Under the traditional program, the mentor and child choose their own activities. The organization also offers Young Men Aware and Young Women Aware, an after-school program.

There are between 210 and 220 mentors and children paired up, said Executive Director Rose Henton. There are still about 100 kids waiting for a mentor, she said. Though the organization offers quarterly activities for the children on the wait list, it can take up to a year to find a mentor, she said.

Potential mentors must complete an interview, a background check and reference check.

"We've never come to a point where we've had more mentors than kids," Henton said.

An avid outdoorsman, 64-year-old Garrison has been a mentor for nearly 14 years. He was matched with Anderson soon after his first "little brother" turned 18.

"There's a crying need for male volunteers and my children were grown and out of the house," Garrison said. "I ran out of excuses not to do it."

Garrison said he took his two charges hiking, canoeing, to movies and basketball games.

The relationship he developed with the two boys affected both of them.

"They become a little more confident than they were before, a little more at ease in social situations," Garrison said.

The experience was "positive reinforcement", Garrison said.

"It gives you a feeling of doing something worthwhile," he said.

Anderson has two sisters and five brothers. He works 10 to 15 hours a week.

He plans to study mechanics and auto body repair at Danville Area Community College when he graduates. He said his mom was supportive of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters program.

"I was shy at first ... (then) it was fun," Anderson said.

He learned how to work a fishing reel in a park before trying it out on water. He said, once he graduates college, he might become a "big brother" himself.

Mothers don't often know about canoeing or shooting baskets, Garrison said.

"I think it's a worthwhile program because it provides a good role model to a child who doesn't have one," Garrison said. "You do it on a limited bases so (the child) grows up knowing what's expected of them."

Henton said people often assume the children have disinterested parents.

"That's not the case at all," she said. "For the most part, our parents are very good parents. Some of them are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet. They want the best for their kids. ... They are so glad somebody's helping, they just don't have the time."

Though the traditional mentoring program is the "bones" of the Big Brothers-Big Sisters organization, the school-based program has seen some success.

"On the days the mentors come, the kids don't miss, even if they have poor attendance," Henton said.

The local organization is now fundraising for its March event – "Bowl For Kids Sake." A team of five will collect pledges before bowling at Lincoln Lanes on March 10 during one of five sessions. Prizes and trophies will be given away, Henton said. The organization raised $64,000 last year and has set a goal of $72,000 this year.