October 2020
To our friends,
Does anyone else get confused by what month it is? Better yet, what day it is? It's hard to believe that October has already come and gone. But that only means that we're getting closer to the holidays and I think we could all use some holiday cheer!
With the changes that have come in our world, we've decided to make some changes as well. Welcome to our NEW monthly e-newsletter. With a fresh new look, we are excited to continue sharing with you all of the updates happening here at BBBS of Dane County and more about what our Bigs and Littles have been up to. I am looking forward to connecting with you more each month.
Stay well and warm,
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Sandy Morales
Chief Executive Officer
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Meet Big Sister Jodi & Little Sister Chaveah
Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Dane County is pleased to recognize Big Sister Jodi as the Volunteer of the Month.
Jodi was motivated to become a Big Sister because she wanted to mentor a child and help support their growth. She wanted to make a fun, supportive and long lasting impact on a young person’s life and that is exactly what she has done!
Jodi and her Little Sister Chaveah have been matched since March of 2017. They both really enjoy spending time together. Jodi and Chaveah always enjoy talking about their day and learning new things together. Before COVID-19, they enjoyed attending different events together through BBBS. They also enjoyed spending time outdoors, going to different workshops and arts and craft classes. Just recently, Jodi and Chaveah made glass art and went for hikes in Wisconsin Dells. Sharing adventures together is what they do best.
Big Brothers Big Sisters is very thankful to support such a great match! Thank you Jodi for being an incredible Big Sister and continuing to be there for Chaveah during these trying times.
Interested in becoming a Big? Click here to learn more!
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Uprooting Bias
Over the past few weeks, we have offered Uprooting Bias, an online learning challenge from Step Up: Equity Matters, to all of the Bigs in our program.
Uprooting Bias creates space for individual, confidential reflection while building a shared framework for change based on the Step Up Approach to recognize, own, and disrupt biases. It's important for each of us to examine our own biases, especially as they relate to how we work to ignite the power and promise of youth.
At the end of the Challenge, Step Up will compile and analyze the anonymous results to help our organization identify next steps for continued learning and engagement.
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How Big Brother Matt Turned a Community Event into a Learning Opportunity
"One of the bigger turning points in our Match has been when I decided to begin to institute a new rule that once a month we would go out into the community and find ways to volunteer to help others in the community. Our first venture out into this idea was a Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Call to Action Day organized by the Urban League of Greater Madison, where we participated in different workshops.
"When walking back from this day Malachi admitted to me, 'I guess this was pretty good.' Something that can be high praise coming from him. He told me he enjoyed everything, but had some criticisms for the leader of the workshop teaching to question what modern forms of oppression look like. These criticisms made me understand where he was in his understanding of racism and how it operates. He did not seem to understand that the presenter was presenting on systems of oppression and still only understood racism as an individual action. It also helped me understand his experience with racism as he thought that it happened so infrequently and named that only a few experiences in which his friends had been called racial slurs...I still believe that this could be a window into mentoring him into a deeper understanding and perhaps growing our bond as a Big and Little.
"When I brought him back home his parent told me about how much of a connection he felt to Dr. King. Saying that when Malachi was younger, he learned about Dr. King and that he felt special because he shared a birthday with one of the world’s greatest civil rights leaders."
- Big Brother Matt Fraser
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Vote for us Through Target Circle
We’re participating in the Target Circle program! Through their loyalty program, you can now vote for BBBS of Dane County and help direct Target’s giving to benefit BBBS and the youth in our community! You have until December 31st to get your votes in so you have the whole holiday season to vote for us! Remember, you get a vote with EACH purchase so make sure you vote each time.
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Humorology Beneficiary
We are honored and excited to announce that we've been selected as the beneficiary for this year's Humorology event! Humorology, or "Humo" for short, is an annual musical/variety show that takes place at UW Madison in April of each year. Humorology has been a UW Madison tradition since 1948, touching the lives of students and the community through the friendships that are made, and funds that are raised.
Each year, over 600 students spend the course of the academic year on a team (cast), writing, composing, choreographing, and directing original mini-musical comedies. This year, nine casts will compete for six spots in the final show. The casts also compete against one another to raise the most money for the philanthropic partners Humorology chooses to donate to that year.
We look forward to this partnership that will allow us to continue supporting the youth in our community. Thank you, Humorology, and we can't wait to see the creativity that comes out of this year's event!
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Welcome our NEW Match Support Manager
We are very excited to announce that former Match Support Specialist, Simon Gott, will be moving into the new role of Match Support Manager at BBBS of Dane County! Simon has been with our agency for over 2 years. He has shown tremendous initiative in his role as a Match Support Specialist and then Senior Match Support Specialist while also consistently meeting his individual Match Support goals!
Congratulations, Simon!
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TOGETHER, WE ARE DEFENDERS OF POTENTIAL |
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