HEARTLAND BIG BROTHERS-BIG SISTERS

What if every child graduated high school? Went on to college? Grew up to have a job that supported a family? It would be the start of something BIG. Heartland Big Brothers Big Sisters operates under the belief every young person has the ability to succeed in life. As a part of the nation's largest mentoring network, we help make meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”). Many kids grow up without the attention and direction they need from a caring adult. The long term effects of having just one extra trustworthy grown-up in the life of a child are real. Big Brothers Big Sisters' mentoring is proven to have a lasting positive impact on the kids we work with. In 1970, the YMCA and the Lancaster County Sheriff's Department began a program called Y-Pals to serve the needs of local youth at-risk. The program later became an affiliate member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and a branch of the Lincoln YMCA. The program changed its name in 1995 to Heartland Big Brothers Big Sisters. Effective January 1996, Heartland Big Brothers Big Sisters separated from the Lincoln YMCA and became an independent agency. Big Brothers Big Sisters is primarily a prevention program. Its mission is to improve the self-esteem and enhance the quality of life for children in Lancaster county, and to provide support and friendship through one-to-one companion relationships between children and positive, caring, mature volunteers. We presently have about 300 of these matches. The program services primarily single parent, limited income families.