Big Brothers Big Sisters announces RI’s Bigs and Littles of the Year

Posted 4/17/14

Rhode Island’s nationally recognized Big Brother and Big Sister were recently announced.

Julie Lefebvre of Warwick and David Bell of Pawtucket have been recognized by Big Brothers Big Sisters of …

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Big Brothers Big Sisters announces RI’s Bigs and Littles of the Year

Posted

Rhode Island’s nationally recognized Big Brother and Big Sister were recently announced.

Julie Lefebvre of Warwick and David Bell of Pawtucket have been recognized by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America for their work with their Little Sister and Little Brother. Bell has been matched with his Little Brother Bradley for over two and a half years. Bell often speaks to how easy it is to be a Big Brother.

“Often we will simply watch a movie, make a pizza and chat about our week. We play board games, put together puzzles or go catch a ball game,” he said.

Lefebvre, who will be celebrating four years together with her Little Sister Alexis, talked about how important being a mentor is to her because of her relationship with her mom.

“My mom was very strict, from Italy and didn’t have a ‘normal childhood’ filled with normal traditions such as dying Easter eggs, carving pumpkins, or going Christmas caroling,” she said.

Now Lefebvre is reliving her childhood with Alexis and having an opportunity to do all the things she never had a chance to do.

The requirements to be recognized nationally by Big Brothers Big Sisters of America are to be matched with your “Little” for a minimum of two years and a heartwarming essay is submitted by the volunteer to their match support specialist and evaluated internally by staff and committee members.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ocean State’s (BBBSOS) mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. As the leading youth mentoring agency in the state, BBBSOS currently serves over 500 boys and girls.  

The program is proven to increase high school graduation rates among participants as well as raise their self-confidence while decreasing their likelihood to engage in risky behaviors like drugs and alcohol.

BBBSOS’s latest outcomes for mentored children are impressive: 82 percent showed improvement in self-confidence, 79.8 percent were better able to express their feelings, 66.3 percent developed better decision-making skills and 63.1 percent improved their academic performance.  

BBBSOS is not just a mentoring program. Its donation center is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation working to raise funds in support of mentoring programs and offers convenient home pickup of donations of gently used clothing, household items and small furniture throughout Rhode Island and Southeastern Connecticut, and provides a tax deduction receipt. The program’s retail partner, Savers, makes good, quality used clothing and household items available to the community at a low cost.

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