Each year Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Indiana honors our “Matches of the Year”. We had 10 matches of the year in 2021, and each of these matches was interviewed for a series of short videos.
We weren’t able to fit everything into the Match of the Year videos, so here’s a deeper look into one of 2021’s strongest matches!
Big Sister Mindy and Little Sister RaeAnna have been matched since August of 2019, and supported all along the way by RaeAnna’s mom, Rhonda.
Mindy has always loved working with kids and became a Big to make an impact in a young person’s life. Mindy and RaeAnna have spent the last few years making a ton of great memories, but Mindy shared that “donut day” stands out as one of her favorites. As soon as Mindy said, “donut day”, RaeAnna jumped in with an energetic “oh yeah” and continued her agreement continued throughout the story.
Donut day was a day when RaeAnna picked 4 different donut shops to visit. They went to the different shops and “tried so many donuts”. Mindy’s review was that they “were on a major sugar high, then had a major sugar crash, but had a blast the whole time.”
RaeAnna is grateful for all the new experiences she’s had through our program. She shared that, “you get matched with someone you’ve never met, and their world is different from yours, so it’s a chance to step into someone else’s world and try new things.”
This was an idea RaeAnna came back to multiple times. Through our program and her relationship with Mindy, she has had the opportunity to try things she “never thought she would do, or never had the opportunity to do.” When asked what some of her favorite moments were, RaeAnna shared multiple experiences of volunteering with Mindy. For Mindy’s birthday, the two of them went around town and did 50 good deeds. RaeAnna also has experience volunteering downtown with her mom, Rhonda.
Rhonda wanted to get involved with Big Brothers Big Sisters because RaeAnna is an only child. She thought this program would give her the opportunity to “meet more people, learn about other cultures, and maybe give her the desire to become a Big someday.”
Rhonda is a single parent, and shared that with a busy schedule and monetary restrictions, Rhonda is grateful that RaeAnna has another person who can take her to do things. As RaeAnna’s mom, Rhonda knows her better than anyone. But she shared that she is always glad to know that if there’s something RaeAnna doesn’t want to talk to her about, she can always talk to Mindy.
There are over 1,000 kids like RaeAnna on our waitlist. They’re waiting for a mentor, for someone to stand in their corner. Learn more about how you could make an impact like Mindy as a Big.