TCC enters mentoring partnership with local organization
Diana De Leon
managing editor

  Students and faculty “BIG” enough to mentor, listen, guide and spend time with a child can become a big brother or big sister to a local child.
TCC has partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas in an effort to provide volunteers for the program, which has a current waiting list of over 1,500 children.
“This one experience can change a child’s life,” Candis Low, director of partnership for BBBS of North Texas, said.
Students and faculty can volunteer for different programs offered by the BBBS.
The school-based program requires spending one hour two to four times a month in the child’s school helping with homework, watching a game or offering encouragement.
One hour a week can mean a lot to a child, and it is an easy way to make a difference in a child’s life, Low said.
“It is a lasting friendship,” she said. “It means a lot to the child that you are there when you say you will be there.”
The community program allows the “BIG” to take the child out for a day or a few hours of fun at any sports venue, museum or restaurant in the area.
BBBS plans picnics, baseball games, roller-skating and other fun and educational events.
“Volunteering with BBBS is not about spending money; it is about spending time,” Low said.
The BBBS constantly receives free tickets to local sports events and passes them on to the “Bigs” and “Littles,” according to Low.
The partnership was the brainchild of Donna Arp, chairwoman of the TCC Foundation Board and a member of the BBBS Board.
“I was depressed about the waiting list at BBBS,” she said. “Then it came to me. TCC and BBBS are both in the business of helping people.”
Arp knew that both organizations could help each other tremendously, and she believed no one would be better than the students and faculty of TCC.
“The students and faculty are wonderful role models,” she said. “It just seemed natural.”
Arp took her idea to the TCC board who embraced it immediately.
Erma Johnson Hadley, vice chancellor of administration, was instrumental in the partnership agreement with the Big Brother Big Sister organization.
Hadley met with the BBBS and hammered out an agreement that would make things easier for TCC students.
“I thought it was a great idea,” she said, “I wanted a special program for our students.”
Although the partnership agreement has been worked out between the two organizations, Hadley said how each campus and instructor involved will handle the specifics has not been determined.
BBBS is 100 years old and has been in Tarrant County for 72 years.
Students or faculty interested will go through a volunteer process that includes an application, background check, interview, application review and an orientation.
According to Low, the “Big” relationship is based on friendship through support, mentoring and just being there for the child.
The match between the “Big” and “Little” is careful and calculated because everything about the match is looked at, Low said.
“The match process is intense,” she said. “It is not an exact science, but we truly try to match interests.”
The “Littles,” who enter the BBBS at age 7, come from all walks of life.
Safety is critical, which is why there is a background check and no male “Bigs” are matched with females, Low said.
Volunteers are not just given a “Little” and then turned loose on their own, Low. All volunteers receive agency support.
The BBBS offers assistance through a match consultant to ensure that a match is successful.
Specifics on the student program are currently being worked on, but students who are interested can call Bryan Stewart, division chair of the math/science division on SE Campus, at 817-515-3316 for general information on the BBBS partnership.