Local BBBS gets rare financial boost through mini-grant

The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bourbon County program recently received a financial boost.

The local program is one of several programs across the state to be awarded a mini-grant from Kansas Mentors, a statewide mentoring partnership. Members of the Kansas Mentors' advisory councils, including Kansas State University Wildcats Head Coach Bill Snyder, Dr. Andy Tompkins, and Kristy McKechnie, announced Tuesday the recipients of about $34,000 in mentor recruitment and retention mini-grants through the partnership's initiative. The local BBBS program received a $1,000 grant.

"Kansas' mentoring programs are reporting significant declines in funding while an increase in the need for services," Snyder said. "These funds are a strategic investment to ensure more young Kansans have access to a caring role model."

Sara Hassan, a case manager with the local program, said the grant funds will be used to help promote the program and provide information about the program throughout the community.

"We'll get $1,000 to do things that our program can't fund," she said. "We'll be getting brochures, banners, posters, and other promotional items ... things that get our name out there and generate more volunteers ... we don't have the funds to get the information out. That's why we applied for the grant."

Hassan said the program served 34 area youth during the 2009-10 school year, but there is a need for more volunteers as numbers of volunteers have been down in recent years and some area youth are not served. The program is currently attempting to recruit area residents who are willing to volunteer as mentors to youth in both community-based and school-based programs.

"We're not sure people are fully aware of the program, that we're here and we're local," she said. "There are several ways to volunteer. We want to tell people more about it if they want to know. We've been able to do a lot of that through word-of-mouth and working at the schools."

Grant funds will allow all recipients to implement a variety of recruitment and retention strategies over the next six months to engage more Kansas residents as volunteer mentors. Recipients were selected based on the program's ability to leverage local resources as match funds and collaborate with community partners, according to a news release.

Through the BBBS program, youth who are considered at-risk and are living in single-parent homes are helped. These boys and girls are able to achieve their full potential through long-term personal relationships with carefully screened and caring volunteers.

For more information about the program or to volunteer as a community-based match or school-based match, call BBBS of Bourbon County at (620) 223-3489.

To date, Kansas Mentors has awarded more than $510,000 to mentoring organizations statewide and is currently partnered with more than 175 mentoring programs serving 86 Kansas counties. The organization is committed to providing every young Kansas resident access to a caring and quality mentor through recruitment, awareness and training efforts, the release said.