Big Brothers Big Sisters marks National Mentoring Month with a special day

CEDAR RAPIDS, Ia.,  - Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids & East Central Iowa has designated Tuesday, January 17, 2012 as “Bring Your Little to Work Day.”  Coinciding with National Mentoring Month, the special day invites mentees to join their mentors at work to experience what a work day looks like and will raise awareness for Big Brothers Big Sisters' proven mentoring programs that help children facing adversity beat the odds.

“Bring Your Little to Work Day is really a two-fold event for us,” stated Linda Henecke, President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids & East Central Iowa.  “It provides a valuable match experience for our mentors and mentees and inspires kids to set career goals and think about the future, while also demonstrating the importance of mentoring to others in the hopes of building an even greater network of supporters.”

Bring Your Little to Work Day is a special workplace initiative designed to go beyond the common practice of shadowing an adult for a day.  Bigs and Littles are encouraged to work together during any part of the day.   Mentees will tour mentors' work facilities, speak with employers and see what it's like to spend a day at work, working as a team “on the job,” and sharing the story of their mentoring relationship with co-workers and partners. This event encourages others to start something for children by supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cedar Rapids and East Central Iowa, BeABigCR.org, provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.  Most children served by Big Brothers Big Sisters are in single-parent and low-income families or households where a parent is incarcerated.  As the nation's largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”).  Big Brothers Big Sisters seeks to facilitate the success of children living in our community by encouraging education and school attendance through providing focus in three competency areas:  Connectedness, Attendance, Resources, Extra Curricular (C.A.R.E).  Big Brothers Big Sisters has already seen that the Character Building Project is a springboard for greater success for the children served.  The Character Building Project is an initiative of Big Brothers Big Sisters to help children grow as individuals through education and exposure to a variety of competency areas.  For more information contact Kyla Loucks at 319-377-8993 or KylaW@BeABigCR.org.