A Lifetime of Connection: Mike & Wesley

As you know, Big Brothers Big Sisters is about more than empowering our Littles in the here and now. We help make mentoring connections that last for a lifetime.

“It doesn’t happen overnight,” says Mike Carrel, who became a Big Brother (mentor) to Little Brother Wesley in the 1990s. The days and hours it takes for a bond to form between a Big and a Little lead to years of impact.

Wesley now has a family of his own and mentors youth in Chicago schools. And today, Mike himself is on Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s National Board of Directors. The two still stay in touch and try to get together whenever they’re in the same city.

Your local support supports years of mentoring connections between our Southwest Michigan Bigs and Littles (mentors and mentees). Connections to each other, to their communities, and even back to Big Brothers Big Sisters, where Wesley and Mike first met years ago.

There are hundreds of similar, decades-long stories here, in our community. Your support, as part of our village, ripples out nationwide, for generations. You, and your support and partnership, change the fabric of our community.

Thank you for standing with us.

In gratitude,
Amy Kuchta
CEO and Big Sister to Chloe