To the editor:

Who mentored you?  Every year we are each given the opportunity to ponder that question when it is asked during January, which is National Mentoring Month.

Who made an impact in your life?  Who showed you new ways of seeing the world?  Who made you want to be a better person?

For many of us, we can easily answer that question by thinking of our parents, grandparents or another family member.

For others, it may be a teacher, a coach or a work colleague.

But for many people, it is difficult to think of someone who mentored them as they were growing up.

And that’s where Big Brothers Big Sisters of Berrien and Cass comes in.

Building self-confidence and creating a vision for the future are core  goals of Big Brother and Big Sister mentors.

Big Brothers and Big Sisters not only serve as traditional community mentors to children in our community between the ages of 6 and 12, but they also may be Lunch Buddies – Bigs who meet their youthful mentee for lunch at school one day per week.

Or perhaps they mentor at The Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor as a Dinner Buddy.

All of these moments of mentoring can truly change the life of a child.

To celebrate these moments  —  and to invite others to join us — BBBS of BC is hosting three Mentoring Month receptions for Big Brothers and Big Sisters, as well as for prospective volunteers who would like to learn more.

Receptions will be: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Lake Michigan Catholic High School in St. Joseph on Jan. 14; 4:30-6 p.m. at our Niles office on Jan. 20; and from 6-7:30 p.m. at the New Buffalo Community Youth Center on Jan. 28.

For directions, call (877) 367-2244 or e-mail

info@bbbsofbc.org.

Please join us to celebrate mentoring on one of those dates.

But, in the meantime, thank your mentor today!

Kathryn Rossow

Executive Director

Big Brothers

Big Sisters

of Berrien and Cass

www.bbbsofbc.org