Our 2007 Partner: Big Brothers Big Sisters

In 2007, Band Together held their Main Event at Lincoln Theater featuring alternative country group, Son Volt.  At the end of the night, thanks in part to the more than 1200 audience members at the event, we handed over a check to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Triangle for $68,000.

The funds raised allowed BBBS “to prepare for sustainable growth reaching over 1,000 children annually,” says BBBS CEO, Kim Breeden. Since then, BBBS has continued to offer mentoring programs to children around the Triangle which allow participating “Littles” an engaged role model and friend, and gives participating “Bigs” an opportunity to assist in the development of confident, healthy children in our community.

BBBS has been operating in the triangle since 2000, and in 2011 was able to boast 293 new “Big”/”Little” matches.  The strong bonds and encouraging friendships between “bigs” and “littles” through community and school-based programs encourage students to stay in school, improve grades, and avoid risk behavior such as drugs and violence.  Breeden says the Band Together partnership gave BBBS “the capacity to grow and effectively carry out its Strategic Plan reaching more children than ever before.”

In 2008, Big Brother Big Sister of the Triangle initiated a new mentoring program specifically designed to address the unique needs of children of incarcerated parents with their Mentoring Children of Prisoners program.  In 2011, this program supported 118 mentoring relationships whose goal is to break the cycle of incarceration.  Breeden also commented that the BT/BBBS partnership “ brought awareness and funding that allowed us to reach beyond our limits”.  These days Big Brother Big Sister hosts very successful fundraising events of their own including the annual Big Night Ball, and their Charity Golf Tournament.  “We are forever grateful for BT's support and are where we are today because we were a BT partner”.