MILWAUKEE— Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Milwaukee is in desperate in need of volunteers as their waitlist for kids in need of mentors grows to more than 500.
Group President and CEO Neil Willenson said program demand in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties has grown from about 1,000 to 1,400 over the past year, but interest in mentorship has lagged far behind.
“I think people are scared to raise their hand and say ‘I’m willing to be a mentor,'" he said. "We say you don’t need to be a perfect person, you need to be a good person.”
Recruitment Specialist Sierra Galien is one of several BBBS staff members that are constantly out in the community looking for new mentors but running into challenges, especially finding Big Brothers.
“Men to me seem like a little shy or it may be a lot of work but actually to be a mentor in our program, it can be as little as two hours a month,” Galien said.
She wants people to realize it doesn’t take a huge commitment to get involved. The BBBS volunteer page let’s you choose between three programs with different commitment levels and once approved organization staff is there to offer support.
“A lot of those kids are in single parent households, or they may have an incarcerated parent, or they may be being raised by their grandparent,” Galien said. “If they just have that Big Brother they can talk to, just a friend that they can go to, that’s not their family member than would make all the difference in their life.”
According to the group’s 2022 Youth Outcome Survey of those participating in BBBS’s mentioning program, 99% avoided involvement in the juvenile justice system, 98% didn’t use drugs or alcohol, and 87% of seniors graduated from high school on time.
Big Brother Anton Duncan has been a mentor for about 12 years, and he said the benefits of getting involved aren’t limited to the youth.
“My oldest now he’s 20, I had him since he was nine,” he said referring to his first mentee. “I still stay in contact with him. He’s no longer in the program but he’s like part of my family.”
Willenson said while it’s been frustrating seeing so many kids waiting for their services, they're doing what they can to build new programs that focus more on group mentoring and activities.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
