Ken & Justin: 2024 Alumni Hall of Fame
Every year, BBBSCI inducts a new Alumni Hall of Fame Class – a celebration of mentoring relationships and friendships that have spanned more than 50 years.
In 1993, Little Brother Justin Jeter was matched with Big Brother Ken Yedlick in the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana program. During this first year of their match, Justin and Ken spent a lot of time together at Indianapolis sporting events, cheering on the Pacers and the Colts.
However, the most impactful activity that Justin and Ken ever took part in was a trip to Deer Valley YMCA Family Camp in Fort Hill, Pennsylvania. Today, Justin looks back on that trip fondly.
“I fell in love with the camp, the counselors, the songs, and just the whole experience. It also awoke the spirit of Ken’s time at the camp as a child, when his father and mother used to take Ken and his two sisters to camp.”
Little Brother Justin Jeter
Ken agrees that their trip to Deer Valley kickstarted their match. He introduced Justin to a variety of activities like sailing, canoeing, whitewater rafting, and cave hiking, which helped them to form a close bond.
Ken and Justin continued to attend Deer Valley YMCA Family Camp every year of their match and for seven years following their graduation from the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Twenty-five years later, Justin still makes the yearly trip out to Pennsylvania to attend the camp, but now with his own family.
Aside from the positive impact of their annual trip, Ken proved to be a huge source of support for Justin when it came to navigating school, future career plans, and daily life. Justin said that Ken taught him about life’s dos and don’ts; helped him discover what success in a career looked like; and showed him what selflessness and sacrifice could do for another person.
“The effort that Ken put into introducing me to new things that I would have otherwise not been able to experience helped to form the person that I am today, and I couldn’t be more grateful to him and to BBBSCI for making our match possible.”
Justin
For Ken, he sometimes feels like he got even more out of their match than Justin did. Ken went on to serve on the BBBSCI Board of Directors from 2012-2018 to give back even more to the agency. He says he always enjoyed all the activities they did and would highly encourage anyone who may be on the fence about becoming a Big to take the leap!
“You’ll be amazed on how it feels to make a difference in a Little’s life.”
Big Brother Ken Yedlick
