Big Brothers

Our Big and Little Brother matches have one weekly outing lasting 2-4 hours out in the community. This program is a one year commitment. The community program is self-directed and flexible, allowing you to coordinate with the parent/guardian of your Little each week to find a time that works best for everyone involved.

There are so many things you can do with your Little Brother and we make intentional matches that ensure you’ll have overlap in your personal interests.

You don't have to do anything over the top in your weekly meetups – it’s all about consistent, quality time together. Some of our Big and Little matches try to do something different every time they meet, some have a specific activity they both love and do each week such as hiking, it totally depends on what you’re both interested in and enjoy doing together. We also send out a monthly newsletter with suggested activities that are free, or low cost in your area.

The children enrolled in our programs benefit in many ways. Mentored youth perform better academically, demonstrate less negative behaviours, and are less likely to suffer from peer pressure related anxiety. Children in mentorship programs tend to build confidence and have better emotional regulation and communication skills, leading to better relationships with their siblings, parents, school, and peers. Additionally, mentored youth are more likely to volunteer as adults.

Our volunteers represent a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and identities, just like the families and youth that we serve. The most important qualities we look for in volunteers are reliability, consistency, dedication, and being respectful of others. No specific prerequisite skills or experience is required.

Before you volunteer, we provide you with an in-depth training session to answer any questions and equip you with all the information you will need. Each match is assigned a Mentoring Coordinator who is there to support your mentoring relationship every step of the way, giving guidance, advice, activity ideas, and support where it is needed to make sure everyone is having a positive experience.

Absolutely! Provided the mentoring relationship works well for everyone involved in the first year, you're welcome to continue past the first year. In fact, lots of people who volunteer for this program choose to continue the mentoring relationship for many years! Beyond the first year of your match, you and your Little Brother can choose to reduce how often you see each other to a minimum of once every month. There's no pressure to volunteer past the first year, but if that is something your match would like, we are here to support you for the entirety of your mentoring relationship until your Little Brother becomes an adult.