Written by: William Mastin

“I was always waiting outside for him to show up…like a giddy feeling,” Little Brother Brandon Morgan remembers about Big Brother Doug Dewhurst.

Doug was only 23 years old when he first met 7-year-old Brandon. Doug had recently graduated college and moved back home to San Diego. Brandon lived with his mother, never having met his father even to this day.

“Are you my new Big Brother?” Brandon asked when Doug pulled up in his old BMW.

Later that day, the match headed off to Marie Calendars’ to share lemon meringue pie and start a friendship that has lasted the past 25 years.

Now, over two decades later, Brandon and Doug can truly appreciate the meaning of their time together.

““Having Doug allowed me to do and try things I probably would have never been able to do,” said Little Brother Brandon.

“I probably wouldn’t have played sports with out him and I certainly wouldn’t be golfing without Doug.”

In addition to golf, Doug introduced Brandon to soccer, baseball and deep sea fishing. Meeting two or more times a month allowed for a variety of activities as well as bonding time between the two.

Doug gets a kick out of playing golf with the adult Brandon, remembering how difficult is was to get the adolescent Brandon to give golf a try.

“My definition of a Big Brother is to provide friendship, support, and role model attributes while a young boy is growing up. Then, as years go by, true friendship and support remain in full force. Brandon is one of my best friends,” said Big Brother Doug.

When Brandon married his wife Lindsay last year, Doug was there.

“Being a Big Brother is awesome. It always has been special and has been rewarding to see Brandon grow and mature over the years. Every time I am with Brandon it gives me joy. It was special to be at his wedding last year and a true reflection of Brandon is his wonderful wife Lindsay. It is great to see,” said Doug.

“The thing that still blows my mind to this day is that he was 23 when he became a Big Brother. This spoke highly of the type of person he is. I know I was not in that frame of mind at 23,” said Brandon.

For Doug, the most important lesson learned as a Big Brother is the realization that even small gestures can make a big difference and that giving back to a child feels good.

Apparently Brandon picked up this same lesson over the years. Recently he sent his Big Brother a text message simply saying, “Thank you for taking the time to change my life… Love you Bro!”

There are a few simple ways to tell people in your networks about how to reconnect with Big Brothers Big Sisters. You would be surprised by how many people you know were once affiliated with Big Brothers Big Sisters as a Big Brother/Sister, Little Brother/Sister, parent/guardian, agency/event volunteer, donor, board member or staff. So, please take a couple minutes out of your day to do the following:

· Send a Tweet (example: If you are a Big Brothers Big Sisters Alumni:Celebrate 50 years of mentoring in San Diego County!
Reconnect at BBBSConnect.org and join them this summer at the Big Family Reunion Tailgate Party and Padres game!)

· Post this blog on your Facebook page (see option at the bottom of the page)

· Add one of the button ads below to your webpage by simply copying the code and pasting it in your site.

· Also, a great way to get your company involved is to ask if an ad below can be placed on the company’s intranet for employees or internet for customers for a period of time (one month or more).

If you have any questions, or need our help, please call Tina Rose at (858) 536-4900 x206.
Thank you. We can’t do this without your help!

Option 1:

Copy this code:

<embed src=”http://www.bbbsconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/bbs-banner1.swf” width=533 height=340>

The dimensions of the banner are 533×340.

Option 2:

Copy this code:

<embed src=”http://www.bbbsconnect.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/bbs-banner2.swf” width=960 height=200>

The dimensions of the banner are actually 960×200.

1.) …Each time Big Brothers Big Sisters pairs a child with a role model, we Start Something Big: a one-to-one mentoring relationship built on trust and friendship can blossom into a future of unlimited potential.

A survey conducted by Harris Interactive with adults who were formerly Little Brothers or Little Sisters (that’s you!) for at least one year found:

• Two thirds of responders noted that their relationship with their Big was extremely important
• More than six in ten responders consider themselves to be more successful than their peers who weren’t involved in the program
• Almost 90% of responders stated that their Bigs provided stability made them feel better about themselves and helped them make better choices in their lives
• More than 75% of responders indicated they did better in school because of their Bigs and 65% agreed their Bigs helped them reach a higher level of education than they thought possible

2.)… Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the oldest and largest youth mentoring programs in the United States, first beginning in 1904 in New York City. Here’s how it all started: A young New York City court clerk named Ernest Kent Coulter was seeing many boys come through his courtroom. He recognized that caring adults could help many of these boys stay out of trouble, so he set out to find volunteers. That marked the beginning of Big Brothers Big Sister of New York City and the Big Brothers movement. By 1916, Big Brothers had spread to 96 cities across the country. At around the same time, the members of a group called Ladies of Charity were befriending girls who had come through the New York Children’s Court. That group would later become Catholic Big Sisters, and also spread to cities across the country.

Years later, in a far off place, on the other side of the Country, Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego was about to get its start. It all began in an elevator in 1961 at the US Grant Hotel, where Union Tribune writer Frank Rhodes was inquisitive enough to ask Mr. Jack Levin about the meaning behind his lapel pin. Hours later, the men were still discussing the Big Brothers of Los Angeles Agencies and their mission to create mentoring relationships to young men. Realizing there was no such agency locally, they became motivated to bring the Big Brothers concept to San Diego County. Mr. Levin quickly contacted his San Diego business partner, Ben Townes, to get involved and the two paved the way for one-to-one mentoring! It wasn’t long after that fateful day, that Big Brothers of San Diego merged with Big Sisters of San Diego (that had already been started from the Catholic Big Sisters movement in New York City) and the two became one. This year marks Big Brothers Big Sisters 50th Anniversary, and it all started by a conversation in an elevator. It goes to show you never know what you can start, when you take the time to care!

3.)…Big Brothers Big Sisters is a top-rated charitable organization:

• Gold Star rating by Forbes Magazine as one of its top ten charities
• Four-star rating (the highest rating) from Charity Navigator, America’s premier Premier charity evaluator
• A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy
• Big Brothers Big Sisters meets the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance’s standards for charity accountability.

In other words, WE ROCK, which means SO.DO.YOU!

Stay tuned for my next blog, FUN QUOTES about giving. Have a super, FUN day!

As part of the build up to the BIG Family Reunion this summer, we’ve created a special networking site so former Bigs, Littles, Parents/Guardians, Staff and Volunteers can reconnect. We encourage every person whose life has been positively impacted by the work of Big Brothers Big Sisters to share your story, keep up to date on our latest news, create a profile so you can participate in our online forum for alumni and current members, and donate a bit of your time to the cause, even if that means just letting us know what new adventures you are up to these days.

We hope you can use this great new website to keep in touch with old friends and even make some new ones. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

This blog will have insider updates and news about fundraising events and reunions for the San Diego County chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters. We’ll also have continuing coverage leading up to our big 50th Anniversary celebration this summer! Check back for details as the we approach the big day. Stay tuned!

My Big Sister changed my life! We were matched when I was nine years old, and over the course of our match, Cynthia, my Big Sister had an enormous impact on my life! But it didn’t end there; to this day we are still very close, in fact just recently I brought my boyfriend “home” to meet her and her husband. No matter how much time goes by, I still call Cynthia my Big Sister. Cynthia taught me so much about life, about love, and being the best I can be. She would always say to me “you can do whatever you want to do, anything you want you can make it happen!” She made me feel like anything was possible, that if I set my mind to it, I could do it.

 Cynthia opened my eyes up to a world I would have never had the opportunity to see and I will always be grateful to her for the time she spent with me.

As fate would have it:
When I was matched with Cynthia she was working as a V.P. then later President for a big title company, years later after I graduated college I got a job at a different title company. Eventually Cynthia got burnt out of the corporate world and low and behold got a job with Big Brothers Big Sisters in Prescott, AZ.  By no doing of her own, 3 years after she was hired at BBBS in Arizona, I was hired at BBBS in San Diego. So do you think Big Brothers Big Sisters had a BIG impact on our lives? ABSOLUTELY!

As the momentum builds and we find new Alumni, I hope you will follow my blog. I will continue to post blog entries and will also be looking for guest bloggers. If you would like to share any comments or submit a blog for consideration please email me at kimberlyf@sdbigs.org.
I would love to hear from you!

Lastly, I would like to give a HUGE thanks to all our past Bigs, especially this month in January as we celebrate National Mentoring Month. Because of people like you, we are changing lives and positively impacting the way children grow up in San Diego, so here’s to you, I sincerely thank you!

Kim Fitzgerald
Former Little, Former Big
Development Coordinator-Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County