Over the past 15 years, BBBSCI is proud to have provided 9,609 mentoring relationships to girls and boys in our community! To celebrate our past and look ahead to the future, we’ve asked some of the many people who’ve been a part of BBBSCI to reflect on their journey. Throughout January and February, we’re publishing blog posts written by staff, Board members, donors, and long-time supporters as they share in their own words why they’re proud to be a part of BBBSCI’s history.
Guest blogger: Darcey Palmer-Shultz
Staff member since: January 2006
As the daughter of a history teacher, I’ve always carried with me an appreciation for the past – the people and effort that led us to this point, the values and priorities that carry us forward, and the lessons that shape us along the way. Some of my favorite stories about this agency’s history are those about the merger of Big Brothers of Greater Indianapolis and Big Sisters of Central Indiana that bring us to the milestone we’re celebrating this month.
As Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana celebrates its 15th anniversary, I jotted down 15 reasons I’m proud and grateful to be a part of this organization’s history of service to our community:
To read numbers 1 – 5, click here. And to read numbers 6 – 10, click here.
11. Our 15 years as one organization benefit from the experiences and lessons of more than 30 years locally and 100 years nationally as part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters movement.
12. My almost four-year-old son wants to work at Big Brothers Big Sisters when he grows up. (Never mind the fact that he’s currently motivated primarily by our office’s proximity to The Children’s Museum.)
13. After experiencing relationships of 4 to 10 years, 55 matches will graduate from our program this year, our largest graduating class yet.
14. We build bridges between people. We give people who may otherwise never meet a chance and a path to learn from and care about each other.
15. I’ve personally met and been touched by so many truly inspiring people – a Little Brother who became a Big Brother to pay it forward; a Big Sister who lost her Little Sister in a tragic murder but was then fueled to amplify her life of service to others; a donor who wants to know just as much about how our staff is doing as he does how our program is doing; a friend who became a Big Brother for the third time; a mother is desperate for her son to have a friend after his dad passed away from illness; a Big Brother whose Little Brother dedicated his doctoral thesis to him and is moved to tears to this day at the thought; a donor who wants to personally make sure that Bigs and Littles enjoy memorable, one-of-a-kind experiences; a Little Sister who overcame homelessness to get a full ride to IU; and so on.
To everyone who has been a part of our story, thank you. If you’d like to add to my list with a personal anecdote or accomplishment, please contact us!