The Big Brother/Big Sister organization at the Family Service Agency of DeKalb is experiencing a “volunteer drought” and is in dire need of “Bigs” to help shorten the “Littles” waiting list which is no longer “little.”

Organizers and little ones alike are getting a bit frustrated.

Big Brother/Big Sister is a mentoring organization that has aided children for more than 100 years and has been in DeKalb County for 35 years. Its purpose is to provide children – “Littles” – with volunteers – “Bigs” – who teach them the basic social and academic skills of life through various activities.

Littles consist of children ages 5-18 and include any child that needs a person they can count on to be around. “It gives them a friend to spend some time with one-on-one, and that builds self-esteem, self-confidence, makes a better student, and it helps them socially with peers,” said Karen Orser, director of Big Brother/Big Sister.

There are three different programs a Big can volunteer for. One focuses on community involvement, another looks at school performance and the last is the Learning About Different Abilities program.

“We have a community program where the Big and Little meet in the community and do activities several hours a week [and] a school-based program where the Bigs and Littles meet during the school day and do activities one hour per week,” Orser said.

The LADA program involves the Big going into the child’s classroom to help children appreciate and respect those with disabilities, she said.

At BBBS it’s all about the “little moments bringing big magic” into a child’s life, and many children need a positive role-model.

“There are 52 Littles on the waiting list for the community-based program and 12 for the school-based, most are young boys waiting for a Big Brother to hang out with and learn the guy things,” said Lindsey Katz, public relations and community relations coordinator.

The agency gets discouraged when Littles have to wait.

“It affects the children, therefore it affects the BBBS department,” Katz said. “We want to be able to match any child who wants a Big Brother or Big Sister, but without enough volunteers we cannot meet that goal.”

The children are not the only ones to benefit from the program.

It gives volunteers a sense of purpose and looks good on a resume, said Anne-Marie Winikates, FSA’s LADA coordinator. It is hard not to become attached to the child.

The FSA is looking for people motivated and passionate about becoming a Big and want to stress that anybody can volunteer and experience is not required.

The agency does expect volunteers to commit a bit of their time each week to their Little, and stay with the agency for one year.

“What we look for in a Big is motivation of becoming a Big Brother or Big Sister, and they shouldn’t feel discouraged if they have never done it before. However, we do encourage the Big to be consistent and responsible about meeting times for the child’s sake because they really look forward to it,” Winikates said.

Interested parties can contact 815-758-8616 or visit FSA’s Web site at www.realsolutionstoday.org.