Big Sister Kyra Smith receives special honor
Big Sister Kyra Smith was recently honored by YWCA Kalamazoo as a Young Woman of Achievement for her volunteer work as a Big Sister and with Western Michigan University. Kyra...
Friendship with Big Brother offered ‘a slice of normal’
“A slice of normal” is what former Little Brother Steve Ramus got from his Big Brother. Raised by his grandmother with no other children in the home, Steve says his...
High School Bigs featured in Marshall newspaper
By Nicole Marsh Staff Writer, ad-visor&chronicle It is important to Audrey Lewis to take time each week to go and see her Little Brother, Maurice, from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program....
‘I didn’t have much support … except for Leah’
Big Sister’s attention was one constant for Little Sister Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches shared under a picnic pavilion may not sound like the recipe for a life-changing friendship but...
Big Brother helps Little turn his life around
Ryan DeNooyer’s face lights up with pride when he talks about his Little Brother Shaquille. He is very proud of the progress his Little Brother has made in the three...
Teen volunteers despite brain injury.
16 year old named Barry County Outstanding Mentor of the Year It is easy to assume that a teenager who survived a serious accident would scale back all activities to...
Big’s influence still felt decades later
‘I can’t imagine where I’d be today without him’ In late 2000, now-retired Pfizer employee Bob Short was reviewing resumes when he came across a familiar name. The name matched...
Big Sister was ‘always there for me’
By the time Deeanne Rogers was 9 in 1974, she had already lived a life that was extremely unhealthy and full of emotional pain causing her to become aggressive towards...
Every place I went with her, I’d never been there before.
Former mentor’s influence compels current Big Sister to give back. As a young girl, Alexia Jones didn’t have the opportunity to experience life outside of her neighborhood and, unfortunately, the...
‘My favorite thing about being a Little Brother was having another person that I could talk to.’
Big Brother’s ‘mission’ to guide once shy child When Nelson Ramos became a Little Brother at age 11, he was shy and uncomfortable when meeting new people. It would take...
Bigs Share knowledge, male point of view with Little
A chance encounter at a laundromat in 2002 convinced Rich Mersereau that he needed to become a Big Brother. He remembers seeing a young boy repeatedly interrupting his mother as...