A little over four years ago, I became a member of the brothers big sisters foundation and began what I thought would be a mentoring relationship with a young kid named Carlos. On the surface, he was a shy 12-year-old who had recently lost his grandmother. On the inside though, I came to know a caring, charismatic, thoughtful kid whose love for the NBA was unrivaled. Over the past four years, I’ve seen more movies with him than I have with anyone else. We’ve ridden go carts, played pick up basketball, gone to Knicks games at MSG, played video games, and even tried to introduce him to golf (still working on that!). He’s gone from a below average student to an above average student; a basketball enthusiast to a nationally ranked track star.  Most importantly, what I thought was a mentorship eventually turned into a friendship and Carlos is now ready to take on a new challenge as he begins applying for college.

A donation of any kind helps to link kids in our community with caring and trusted adults to support them. Because it costs $1200 to match and sustain a match for one year, that is my goal. Thanks for considering a donation to this great cause. Feel free to reach for more info. 

Grow Something Big is all about celebrating the life-changing impact of mentoring and bringing that opportunity to more kids throughout the Capital Region. We can all think of mentors who've helped us grow into the people we are today. Where would you be without that person? Some communities don't have acces to an information network of mentors. That's where you come in. You can bring caring mentors into children's lives. Mentors help them think about their futures, making healthy choices, and having positive relationships. When you make a donation of any size, it changes lives. 

$15 - pays to bring a child to and from the Site-Based Program to see their college-aged mentors

$25 - interview of one child and their parent

$50 - state and federal backgrouned check for one volunteer

$100 - volunteer recruitment efforts

$250 - full enrollment of one volunteer