By Lauren McMillan
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Chesapeake has launched a campaign to recruit an additional 100 men by the end of the year to help mentor Baltimore youth.
The Bmore Be Big campaign was initially set to run until the end of November, but representatives of the nonprofit mentoring organization say it has been extended through December. The organization has about 250 boys ages 6 to 18 who need big brothers.
“We’ve definitely received a positive response,” said Danielle Chan, the director of marketing and communications for Big Brothers Big Sisters. “We’ve seen more inquiries and an increase in applications.”
Chan said the campaign has seen success through social media outreach as well as through promotions on radio stations and news articles in major publications. The organization also held a recruitment session at City Hall earlier in the month.
“We have been partnering with [the Baltimore] City Council,” Chan said. “A lot of councilmen have been promoting us on social media.”
Chan said another part of the campaign is asking women who are currently volunteers to reach out to the men they know who might be interested in getting involved.
“We are asking the women who are volunteers to ask the men in their lives — a brother, a husband, an uncle, a friend — if they can be a volunteer,” Chan said.
According to the organization’s website, Big Brothers Big Sisters saw an increase in the number of men who applied to become big brothers after the Freddie Gray demonstrations that hit Baltimore last April. However, only 2 percent of the applicants actually followed through to become big brothers. The campaign aims to recruit at least 100 men from the Baltimore area.
Chan said the application process is lengthy and that some people complete the application but don’t make it through.
“We really pride ourselves on safety standards,” Chan said.
Chan said Big Brothers Big Sisters completes a full background check before inviting potential volunteers in for an interview.
“We have a really great professional staff that [is] good with matching bigs and littles,” Chan said.
Besides the long application process, she said that some people also get a little intimidated because they think being a Big will require a lot of time and money.
“You don’t have to spend a lot of money,” she said. “The kids really appreciate just going on a walk or the park.”
Chan said that volunteers only have to commit to seeing their little brother twice a month and can do any healthy activities like going to the library or just going for a walk and talking.
Although the campaign was set to run through November, Chan said the effort will definitely continue after this month.
“I think it will take us not only a couple of weeks but at least to the top of January,” said Shannon Sneed, the director of volunteer recruitment.
Chan and Sneed said they hope to see an increase in donations and volunteer applications around the holidays.
“I think we will have some really great results,” Chan said.