Last year I was involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters as a teen mentor at Ecole Baker Elementary School. One day a week I visited children to talk, socialize and have fun with them. I made many new friendships and grew personally from the experience.
I learned to relate to these children by better understanding their priorities: being the most popular or best looking does not matter to kids; they just want to have fun and make a friend. Realizations such as these helped me to understand children more thoroughly and better appreciate them. I feel that some of the most amazing experiences in life come out of trying something new and for me, trying to relate to someone I have never met is quite a challenge; but I found it also to be very rewarding: seeing a child’s face light up as he or she would take in something new, or playing outside and getting dirty but not caring because we were both having so much fun, these were all encounters I will never forget. Mentoring was a life-changing experience that taught me many great lessons to carry into the future. Trying to communicate was not always easy, but as time went on I could see that all that was needed was a little trust, patience and respect both from the child and me. The teen mentoring program helped me to realize my true career potential – I found that I was able to make children feel comfortable and enjoy themselves and I developed many lasting relationships. The program helped me to realize that I wanted to work with children and this September I will attend the University of British Columbia with the ultimate goal of becoming an elementary school teacher. — Teen In-School Mentor Cheryl
Kwik Klean’s Coats for Kids (and Adults) was a big success. A lot of families in the community are a lot warmer now. Thanks to everyone who donated and to Kwik Klean for cleaning the winter apparel.
Thank you to everyone who has dropped off their pennies at 368 Vaughan St. We have collected $500 to date. The penny campaign is an ongoing fundraiser.
Shop early for Christmas! Buy shopping cards for many of our local businesses through BBBSQ. We receive a percentage of the revenue from the purchased cards. All of the money raised stays in our community. Different denominations of cards are available for numerous local retailers. These include: Extra Foods, Safeway, Esso, Petro-Canada, Subway, Dominos Pizza, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Mark’s Work Wearhouse, Shoppers Drug Mart, Sears, Staples and more. We are placing our next orders on Wednesday, Nov. 21 and Wednesday, Dec. 5. Contact us to place your order or to receive information.
If there are any companies/businesses that would like to be a Secret Santa for a family, please call our office at 992-7257.
Maggie Bello is executive director of BBBSQ in Quesnel.