July 22, 2025 • 30 mins
“Big Brothers/Big Sisters of South-Central PA receive top national awards for leadership, growth and the impact that their innovative mentoring programs have on local youth.” capbigs.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our local
communities and all of our listeners who live here over
the weekend. This is really ironic. I was watching the
TV program and immediately today's guests came to mind. If
you listen real close, I'll he do to where I'm
going with this. The program I was watching was a
(00:22):
true story. It was about a young woman in her
late teens. She was crying hysterically about what had happened
to her a few years earlier. She talked about how
she lost her younger brother when he got involved with
the wrong crowd and was eventually shot and killed. He
was only fourteen years old. Of course, she was heart proven,
not only because of the death of her baby brother,
(00:42):
but she had to come to realize that the same
thing could happen to her. When asked about her parents,
she remembered that from about the time they were little,
she and her brother never received any type of guidance
from her parents, nor do they feel anyone was there
to talk to them or listen to them not only
about their listen this interest, but also about their concerns
(01:03):
She added that their mother was never available. I'm not
sure what that meant, but her dad was an alcoholic,
so in reality, both parents weren't available. At the conclusion
of the program, this woman actually said, we need somebody
that we could look up to at that time, and
somebody to point us in the right direction, even occasionally.
We need a mentor. Oh my gosh, the light went on.
(01:25):
I thought, she's right. And although quite extreme situations like
what this woman and brother face do exist, putting them
at risk, but you know what, they didn't have to
if they only had a mentor. In fact, there are
a lot of kids everywhere, even in central Pennsylvania, whose
lives were improved drastically if they only had a mentor,
somebody to hear them, maybe even once or twice a
(01:46):
month that could encourage them, somebody to help them establish
and meet their goals. Think about how their lives would change,
Think about how society would change. Of course, this woman's
story made me sad, But then my light went on.
As they said, immediately thought about today's guests. There are
two remarkable women who are not only the forefront of
doing that as all all of those possible to secure
(02:08):
mentors for kids who need them. They and their organization
have recently received top national awards for leadership growth and
the impact that their innovative menoring programs have had on
local youth. With us from Big Brothers Big Sisters of
South Central Pennsylvania are Amanda Dunn, she's the vice president
of programs, and are Opal Christina Shultz, marketing and communications manager.
(02:30):
I just found out, guys that you got that or
a couple of weeks ago, and you know, I can
tell you right now it wasn't surprise to me. And
I've known you for a long time, and I know
how hard you work. I know you know you have
such awesome programs. I know how much of the communities
involved in your programs, and I know you really you guys,
(02:52):
you got to going on. How much time, I say,
I want to ask is starting with this program because
I know Christina has as well as I know her,
she's biting it the bit to talk about these wars
because she's Big Brothers and Big Sisters is their passion.
That story I just told it does happen? Do you
ever with Big Brothers and Big Sisters? Have you ever
come to see anywhere close to a situation like that.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
The short answer is yes, yes, yeah, we really do.
As an organization. Here are all kinds of difficult stories,
but our staff are trauma informed. We are able to
talk to these families in these situations. And the truth is,
we really try our best to be a preventative organization.
So knowing those statistics, knowing these things happen, we do
(03:40):
try to get to youth at a young age where
we can maybe help prevent, you know, some of those
later traumas that could be in their trajectory.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, I think it was amazing that that young well
at that point she was like nineteen twenty, and that
she said, if we only had a mentor, and I thought,
oh my gosh, how about that. That's amazing Christina. For
those who may not know, and I mean big brothers
and big sisters is they've been around for one hundred years.
You guys have been around for forty. I can't think
of anybody who doesn't know what you do. But briefly,
(04:11):
for anybody who if there's a chance they might tell
us about what's the basic thing that Big Brothers and
Sisters does.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So we are one to one youth mentoring organization. So
we connect youth with mentors who provide guidance, support and
friendship and professionally supported one to one mentoring relationships. And
actually big both Big Sisters of America celebrated one hundred
and twenty years.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow, Wow, holy doing it? Well? Okay, you have these
little I know you love to call the littles and
the bigs the bigs. How did what are the prerequisites?
How do you well? First of all, when you hear
about the program, how do you know if you being
a big would work out for you? And?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Oh, well, you know for our bigs. All we ask
is that you be interested in sharing a bit of
your time with a child or teen. That's essentially our
basic requirement, that you're willing to invest some time in
the life of a child or teen. And I say
that because we have mentors who come into organization who say,
(05:15):
you know, I haven't had experience with a child, I'm
not sure what I'm doing. And the answer is, you
don't need to have any experience. You don't need to
have any mentorship experience.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
We're just looking for you.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
To be a friend and a sounding board for someone
who could use an actual person in their life and
extra support.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Let me ask you this right now, at this period
here we're at twenty twenty five, are there a certain
type of mentor or I don't want to say sex,
but yes, sex, do you I would think, do you
do you have more of a need for men or women?
Or does it matter we.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Have youth on our waiting list both. You know, we
have individuals who we're looking for mentors, so honestly, anyone
walking in the door, because keep in mind, it's not
just that we're looking for anyone particularly mentor cover seven counties.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
We went from five counties to seven counties last year,
adding York and Adams Counties, and we have a huge
demand for mentors. We have parents and school districts and
guidance counselors that are referring youth to us. And it
depends upon geographical location, it depends on personality type. So
we match compatibly to ensure that the little in our
(06:22):
program is match with a mentor who's going to be there,
who's going to have a foundation for a friendship, that
they have some similar interests, similar personalities, and so you
never know. Anyone who walks in the door one day
you could be the perfect match for a little So
we just asked that you consider signing up.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You guys have any kind of training for the mentors?
Must they have?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, the first thing I thought of was just to
give a call and connect with our staff because each county,
sorry each area we serve, there are also different opportunities
and so often people think of that community based mentor model,
which of course was how the program started and something
that we.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Will always have.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
However, we have a number of specialized programs that I
think people don't even know about, and so in call
to find out and talk to our staff about what
is available in your county, in your area, in your workplace.
There's opportunities to get involved in many different ways with
our organizations. So starting that conversation helps start that relationship
(07:24):
so we can get to know this mentor this person
so we can better match them as well. We want
everyone to have a positive experience in the program.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And we're going to talk about those programs in at
a little bit. But as far as these mentors do,
they go through a background check? Is that a big
deal nowadays? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yes, So there are a number of background checks. There
is a whole screening process that involves an interview, there
are for background checks actually, so all of the things
that they would need really to work in a school,
we do all of those same background checks and screening process.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
So I will say our enrollment is not.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Always the shortest or the quickest, but it is the
most thorough. It does have the best outcomes, and so
it is an important part of the process.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Let me ask you this, As Christina mentioned, a couple
different things have made you guys successful. One on one
is so important.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Why so having that one on one relationship. Historically, the
Grosthbak System of America has done a variety of studies
that indicate that that one to one mentoring relationship has
positive outcomes not only during the period in which the
mentorship takes place, but post high school graduation. The youth
(08:41):
are more likely to attend college. The youth in our
programs are more likely to earn higher wages over the
course of their lifetime. And we know that those youth
have better confidence, they are doing better in school, that
they have better social and emotional connections with their peers,
with their families, and with their friends. So having that
(09:02):
one on one connection, we know, based on our data
that it makes such a huge impact on that child's life.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's your evidence based practice, right, that's what you're calling that,
and evidence of that in your own on your own
staff is Corey, Corey Dupree. He's how old is Cory?
In his early thirties mid thirties. Yeah, and he's still
friends with his uh, with his big brother. It can
go on forever, right. What he's saying went to his
college graduation when he got mad. That is so awesome.
(09:32):
I know we're going to talk about this because I said,
our Christina is by ed the bit. I have two
hundred and thirty organizations across the country. Take it, guys, So.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Two hundred and thirty organizations across the US Big Brothers,
Big Sisters affiliates. We were one of four recognized as
Agency of the Year.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Okay, and what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
So that means that we were recognized for incredible growth
and accomplishments in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I could have told them that got.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
So we last year we served one three hundred and
twenty youth That is the greatest number of youths we've
served in a single year over the past twenty years.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow, Wow, amazing. What else We also had mentioned your
you picked up two more counties.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yet we added two more counties.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
What counties do you serve? Did you serve in? What
you did you on?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
We served Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Perry counties. We
added York and Adams counties. Now, keep in mind, there
was a Big Bosbig Sisters of York and Adams counties,
so we acquired York and Adams to be part of organization.
So there is still a York and Adams office and
they are still serving the same youth that they have served.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
For over forty years. Okay, let me ask you this
to one of the things I had read about was
one of the reasons you got this. What was your
youth leadership some what's that about?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, so we have an annual youth leadership summit. I'm
happy to answer this since this is my brain child
and my baby, because we are across over thirty school
districts at this point in our programming, and the students
never really had a chance. These are high school students
who have never met each other, so they're all part
of Big Brothers Big Sisters programs, but they never got
(11:19):
a chance to come together and collaborate and work together.
And so we brought together this past year. It was
over two hundred high school students and to hear from speakers,
to work together, to collaborate and learn from each other
with a focus on their leadership skills, and then to
go back to their communities, go back to their Big
Brothers Big Sisters programs and be able to continue working
(11:42):
on their leadership skills and make an impact either. Some
of them were mentors, so we have high school bigs mentors,
and then we also have mentees where they have a mentor,
and so to come together for that summit, we were
making that an annual event.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
This year will be our third.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Oh that's awesome. That is I'd love to be in
the off all those kids talking about that stuff. What'd
you learn? I'm sure you have an opportunity to talk
to some of these kids.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, we learned so much from them, and I remind
them we learn best from each other, and so they
have so much to share. A huge part another reason
we want Agency of the Year was our work with
Youth Voice. So we're asking the youth to share their opinions,
to tell us what they need, what do they want?
To learn about, and we created a Youth Advisory Board
where the youth actually are able to tell us what
(12:28):
they need, what they know, what they want to learn about,
and we're asking them.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
What do you think are some of their biggest concerns?
Is because I'm you know, I used to think that
young people don't get involved like they did when I
was a kid growing up, or even when I was
in my twenties or thirties. But I'm finding out that
the youth have a lot to say. Now, what did
you find out? What are their biggest concerns? These kids,
I mean, they all come from different backgrounds and things
that they face or things they want to do, But
(12:54):
are there any common denominators as far as what they're
what they feel the direction of the world needs to go.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
A huge part is connection. They want to be connected
to people learn from each other. And I know you say, oh,
they have social media, but really it's that real world connection,
being able to network, being able to talk to each
other and many people one on one have conversations. Those
skills are so important and they know that that connection
is really needed and of course their future, you know,
(13:23):
just really looking ahead. Part of it is helping them
see their potential, and part of that is awareness of
they don't even know what the possibilities are sometimes, so
helping them to see, you know, some of the options
available to them and helping them have that voice to
create it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Well, you know, I know, having had Christine here a
couple of times, the business community has been real supportive
of you guys. Was a Deloitte and Giant talk about
that a little bit over the years. What's happening as
far as your programs.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
So I'm assuming you're referring to a beyond school Walls programs.
So that is our workforce development program where we connect
high school youth with workplace mentors. So we actually coordinate
having the high school students transported to a local business
where they meet with their mentor one on one. And
it's not just building that relationship, but it's giving them
(14:14):
the opportunity to prepare for post high school graduation so
that they when they exit our program, they aren't just
exiting high school. They are exiting with a plan, They
know where they're going, what they're doing, and they're ready
to become enrolled and listed or employed.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Wow, that's amazing. Well, you know, when you go out
and you talk to these businesses and you want to
have these mentors. You want to see to the situation.
Are they usually receptive? What do you think are they
really and and you know a lot of times people say, yeah,
I don't know, But what do they say to you
when they first hear about it? Go hey, soda? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
For us, we're able to really show them that return
on investment that they're providing, and we're able to show
them not only the numbers, but the names and the faces.
And it's really also creating a pipeline for their organization.
So not only do we have the data to show
it helps with their own employee retention, it helps Yeah,
it helps them to see youth exposed to that as
(15:13):
a career option. And so we're able to continue that
relationship with these companies. So we currently have, like you said, Deloitte, Giant,
Penn National Insurance, UGI, the gas Company, Midpen Bank, and
Capital Blue are the ones for this coming school year,
but we're always looking for more.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
To be honest, it's it is a win win in
that packground.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I mean, come on, I find a business, I'd be
jumping on that real quick. So okay, so I want
to talk to you. I think people learn and hold
onto things better with examples this program in particular. Do
you guys, can there anything you can share about any
of the students that were there.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Beyond school walls? Oh yeah, so I think this is
one of my favorite stories. So I got to meet
a student who was in one of our programs, and
she was She came across to her mentor as though
she didn't need any assistance. That the mentor expressed, you know, hey,
(16:13):
I think she knows what she's doing. She seems put together,
she has a plan. She you know, you know, I
don't know that I can help her. But as the
year went on, the mentor found out that really what
the young lady needed was just somebody who was there
to look over a college resume, to give her a
second opinion about, you know, questions that she might have had,
to help guide and fine tune that plan that she
(16:37):
had already started working on, and give her that opportunity
to really blossom and to build more confidence. You know,
she wasn't necessarily shy, but it was still an opportunity
for her to grow and become, you know, a very
confident young lady stepping and walking across the graduations.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Now we call me that not just the kids. I mean,
there's always something that we can learn. Tell us about
the na here here it is HBCU Fair. What was
that about.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So it's a college and career fair that we have
annually Big Brothers. Big Sisters has a national partnership with
the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and so they also helped
to co lead this. And again it's all about exposure,
so exposing students to different colleges and universities so they
might not know about it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You put the word out to kids.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
It's a college fair. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So there's also it's a career fair as well, so
there's some other people who come to expose them to
different career paths and options. And we make sure that
it's a free event for area high schools to come
together for that event that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I just thought of another partner I need to introduce
you guys to. But anyway, okay, the biggest thing for
me over this last maybe ten twelve years is that
people are sending their kids to college to be a
doctor or lawyer, whatever, but there's a huge need for
skilled workforce. Do you have representatives there that because that
(17:59):
goes across every industry, and do you find that kids
are interested in that?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, so when I was in high school, same thing.
They just really it was for year college and that's
not the right fit for everyone. And so we have
taken a great shift with that specialized tagline to customize
and say enrolled in, listed, employed, that to have that
plan is workforce development. To have that plan, it could
(18:23):
be military, maybe it is college, maybe it's a two year.
There are so many different paths and really exposing to
those trades because we know that that is super needed.
And so that is part of it as well, is
that manufacturing side. There's so many jobs available that are
really needed and we wish yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Every industry, agriculture, medicine, that's where the future that in
AI and I had talked about this several times on
my program Before that, there were two gentlemen that came
in here about ten fifteen years ago, and we're talking.
They own both home manufacturing plants. Actually they were looking
for kids want to do to work in robotics, and
(19:03):
they said, these kids will train them when they're seniors.
It doesn't cost them anything, we'll hire them. They'll start
at sixty eighty thousand dollars a year. They're going to
be freaking nineteen twenty years old. And that's all you guys.
I keep on thinking of you as being that young,
but I know you're not. But kids at age, that's
all they want, you know, And there is an opportunity.
(19:26):
And I've heard this before too, because I recently said
to my grandson he's going to college to the fall,
I said, Josh, you listen, find something that you're going
to be able to do, but find something that you're
going to want to do every day, because the worst
thing to do, because you're going to be spending the
rest of your life doing this, is to go to
a job you desperately hate. And that also gives the
(19:49):
kids up an opportunity out there to learn about some
of these careers. So they may find out, oh my gosh,
I didn't know I could do that, or oh my gosh,
I didn't know that was involved on it suck at math,
you know, those kind of things that a lot how
many times the kids go to school and they get
into college and they change their majors because they don't
know what the heck they're doing. So this also gives
them an opportunity to learn about different career paths. As
(20:13):
you said, I think that's fantastic. Well, you know, one
of your favorite or not your favorite. But one of
the things that it might seem like an older idea,
but that I've always thought was it was the Biggs
in Blue program. Is that still going on? Of course? Okay,
tell about that. Love love it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So our Bigs and Blue program is our opportunity to
connect youth with local law enforcement, giving this youth that
are in the mentoring relationship the opportunity to see the
person behind the badge, and giving the officers an opportunity
to connect with the community understands, you know, better, the
youth that they are serving in the communities that they
(20:51):
are serving. And this program has continued to grow as
especially with our connection with the Pennsylvania State Police, where
we are in most of our counties serving big some
Blue programs. I believe did we launch one or two
programs last year?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
We launched two new programs last year.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I will say coming up in a couple of
weeks in August, we're going to be at their national
Night Out events at Yeah. So we will be and
our staff will be spread out among our seven counties
at those events.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
I think that's great. And your your staff isn't all
that big, is it's pretty small? Yeah, And we've grown grown.
But what I'm trying to make is, not only have
you come up with these incredible programs, you've gotten bigger.
Now you're getting national awards and you guys, I'm telling you, guys,
rock Imman, tell me about the Sports Buddies.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, so we have. Again, it's all about those partnerships.
So whether it is with our police departments or other nonprofits,
different companies and organizations. So Sports Buddies is a partnership
with the YMCI, and so that partnership is helping to
expose youth to you know, healthy living and to those
matches who maybe want to do exercise together as part
(22:07):
of their activities. And so it's a really neat partnership
actually with the YMCA where they can go to the
YMCA together and work out. So we have it in
Carlisle is the main one for Sports Buddies, and then
we have additional ones. We've had conversations in York, in
Harrisburg and other YMCAs.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Can you share anything big deal you're working on right now?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Something big that we're working on right now. Well, you know,
coming off of having won the Agency of the Year award,
we are actually preparing for forty fifth year anniversary coming
next year.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Next next year. Yeah, let me tell you. Next year,
Dauphin County is going to be two hundred and fifty
years old. The United States is going to be too.
You're going to have a lot of big guilt things
going on next year. Yes, yes, we're very expected. Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, we're gonna plan something fun for that forty five
year anniversary. And the other big thing is it's already
mid July, so I'm really preparing already for our school programs.
So we're starting to line up back to school because
we are really expanding in your cast about that. Yes,
so we are bringing on about seven new school districts
(23:22):
for this coming school year, and so we're already having
the conversations with their superintendents and the planning is taking place.
So even though it's summer, we are getting already for
the fall because we really are going to expand and grow,
especially in York and Adams Counties this year.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And it's still that same little staff that's doing all
this work. Amazing do it guys, ever, sleep, Yes, I
understand because I deal with so many wonderful people nonprofits
and I'm so I'm have so much empathy. I just
(24:03):
and am totally inspired. But let me ask you, guys something,
What made you get into this field?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Then?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Why is big brothers and big sisters? Why is it
it for both of you?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay, so I know my answer. I actually I started
as a high school big when I was in high school.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Did you really Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I was a high school big at Hanover High School,
and I was exposed to big brothers, big sisters, and
it actually led me to want a career in education.
So it changed my trajectory to expose me to education,
which is something that is a possibility. And we have
a couple of programs like that as well. But for me,
(24:42):
that was it was. I became a high school big,
I was a mentor, I was looking for community service hours,
and I just really fell in love with the organization
and wanted to go into education.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
From that experience.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Well, I didn't encounter big both big sisters until you know,
an adult looking for a new position. But for me,
the start of my journey was basically when I was
really little my parents put me into martial arts and
heading into high school, I ended up doing a fundraising
event through my martial arts school to donate to local
nonprofit organizations and from there, I've always wanted to be
(25:16):
a support system, and partly I think because I was
in martial arts where there are built in mentors in
that you know, cultural system. For me, it was just
a very natural fit to look at big brothers, big
sisters and say, I understand how important it was to
have those individuals in my life. People that were not
related to me, were not part of my family, but
they became part of my family.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You guys said, you have people on kids on the
waiting list for this. You just need more big brothers
and big sisters. How do people find out about you?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Word of mouth is a big one. I mean, obviously
we have our website. You can always visit our website
for more information. You know, we are on Facebook, Instagram
and LinkedIn. But I would say word of mouth is
one of the biggest ways because there are so many
people who have been impacted. We have parents who used
to belittles in our program bring their kids to our
program knowing how much of an impact it had. On
them and wanting it to have, you know, that positive
(26:07):
impact on their kids now and today.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
That could be such. I mean, why aren't they using
the big brothers and big sisters or planning like there
in social service agencies, it's a simple go ahead. Yeah, No,
we do.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
We have partnerships. Yeah, with Dauphin County Children in Youth,
we do. We work with them as well. And I
will say we go out of our way to engage
our weight lists, So I don't want people to be
discouraged thinking, oh, if there's a weight list, maybe I
shouldn't sign up. No, because our back to school block
party is coming up August second.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And well, our back to school block party is yeah, okay,
so August second. It is right outside of our Harrisburg
office on Third Street, and this will be our fourth
year doing this where we are giving out over We
have five hundred backpacks filled with school supplies, We have
haircuts on site, we have shoes that we're giving out
to the students. We have so many community resources and
(27:03):
partners and so we bring people together and we engage
our wait list, we engage the public, We engage of
course our matches, but really that is a big community
event because to go back to school, yes you want
the backpack and the pencils and you need that, but
you also need the full experience to feel.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Ready to go back to school.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So that's why it's so important to have those haircuts there,
to have those shoes and really give them everything they
need to feel ready to go back to school.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
You need anything else for your party, I call your party?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Oh always, yeah, we have a yeah letter, get a list.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I was gonna say we yes, please do.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
We can have that conversation because we are looking for
additional people from the community who want to have a table.
There have vendors. We still are accepting people if they
want to come be part of it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Absolutely. Oh my gosh, well I want to get to
We only have a Manard Cu left and I want
to quickly talk about your golf tournament. When is that?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
So that is coming up on September twenty sixth. It's
at Briarwood Golf Club. This's a eleven thirty am shotgun start.
So this event actually is from the York Adams uh event.
So we are very excited to have lots of people
come out and golf. So visit our website catpigs dot org.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Okay, the biggie, who are you pushing off a building
this year?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So many people we're going over the edge repelling in
downtown Harrisburg.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Okay, so please come out.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
October tenth, registration is open again at our website catpigs
dot org. Please make sure you register today because there's
some still plenty of time to fundraise.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
She did all that Cat Bigs or I was going
to do that.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I gotta slide in there.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
This is awesome if you believe like I do that.
Nothing nothing's important as our kids. Become a sponsor, make
a donation, get involved in it. Be a big big
brother or big sister. Go to cat bigs dot org
and from Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Pennsylvania.
My buddy's Amanda Done, vice president of Programs and Christ
the Initials Marketing Communications Director. Guys, congratulations on this awesome
(29:04):
award Again. A huge congratulations also to a president CEO
of Big Brothers and Sisters of South Central Pa. Amy wrote,
her remarkable staff is always out there. Remember that you
can catch insight every Sunday on one of our ten
iHeart stations, or anytime on your favorite podcast step. I'm
Sylvia Moss. This has been Insight. Thanks so much for listening.
See you next week. Hi, this is iHeart, Public affairs
(29:26):
director and host of Insight, Sylvia Moss. Each week on Insight,
we address and try to provide the best local resources
for issues that you tell me are the most important
to you, the ones that have the biggest impact on
your everyday lives. Insights also a place where we can
let you know about exciting community events and introduce you
to many of the incredible people who work hard every
single day just to make all of our lives better.
(29:48):
If you're not able to listen to Insight when it
airs on this station each week, then catch it on
your favorite podcast stapp Thank you for listening. Nothing
Hi, I'm Sylvia Moss, and this is Insight, a presentation
of iHeartMedia where we really do care about our local
communities and all of our listeners who live here over
the weekend. This is really ironic. I was watching the
TV program and immediately today's guests came to mind. If
you listen real close, I'll he do to where I'm
going with this. The program I was watching was a
(00:22):
true story. It was about a young woman in her
late teens. She was crying hysterically about what had happened
to her a few years earlier. She talked about how
she lost her younger brother when he got involved with
the wrong crowd and was eventually shot and killed. He
was only fourteen years old. Of course, she was heart proven,
not only because of the death of her baby brother,
(00:42):
but she had to come to realize that the same
thing could happen to her. When asked about her parents,
she remembered that from about the time they were little,
she and her brother never received any type of guidance
from her parents, nor do they feel anyone was there
to talk to them or listen to them not only
about their listen this interest, but also about their concerns
(01:03):
She added that their mother was never available. I'm not
sure what that meant, but her dad was an alcoholic,
so in reality, both parents weren't available. At the conclusion
of the program, this woman actually said, we need somebody
that we could look up to at that time, and
somebody to point us in the right direction, even occasionally.
We need a mentor. Oh my gosh, the light went on.
(01:25):
I thought, she's right. And although quite extreme situations like
what this woman and brother face do exist, putting them
at risk, but you know what, they didn't have to
if they only had a mentor. In fact, there are
a lot of kids everywhere, even in central Pennsylvania, whose
lives were improved drastically if they only had a mentor,
somebody to hear them, maybe even once or twice a
(01:46):
month that could encourage them, somebody to help them establish
and meet their goals. Think about how their lives would change,
Think about how society would change. Of course, this woman's
story made me sad, But then my light went on.
As they said, immediately thought about today's guests. There are
two remarkable women who are not only the forefront of
doing that as all all of those possible to secure
(02:08):
mentors for kids who need them. They and their organization
have recently received top national awards for leadership growth and
the impact that their innovative menoring programs have had on
local youth. With us from Big Brothers Big Sisters of
South Central Pennsylvania are Amanda Dunn, she's the vice president
of programs, and are Opal Christina Shultz, marketing and communications manager.
(02:30):
I just found out, guys that you got that or
a couple of weeks ago, and you know, I can
tell you right now it wasn't surprise to me. And
I've known you for a long time, and I know
how hard you work. I know you know you have
such awesome programs. I know how much of the communities
involved in your programs, and I know you really you guys,
(02:52):
you got to going on. How much time, I say,
I want to ask is starting with this program because
I know Christina has as well as I know her,
she's biting it the bit to talk about these wars
because she's Big Brothers and Big Sisters is their passion.
That story I just told it does happen? Do you
ever with Big Brothers and Big Sisters? Have you ever
come to see anywhere close to a situation like that.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
The short answer is yes, yes, yeah, we really do.
As an organization. Here are all kinds of difficult stories,
but our staff are trauma informed. We are able to
talk to these families in these situations. And the truth is,
we really try our best to be a preventative organization.
So knowing those statistics, knowing these things happen, we do
(03:40):
try to get to youth at a young age where
we can maybe help prevent, you know, some of those
later traumas that could be in their trajectory.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, I think it was amazing that that young well
at that point she was like nineteen twenty, and that
she said, if we only had a mentor, and I thought,
oh my gosh, how about that. That's amazing Christina. For
those who may not know, and I mean big brothers
and big sisters is they've been around for one hundred years.
You guys have been around for forty. I can't think
of anybody who doesn't know what you do. But briefly,
(04:11):
for anybody who if there's a chance they might tell
us about what's the basic thing that Big Brothers and
Sisters does.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
So we are one to one youth mentoring organization. So
we connect youth with mentors who provide guidance, support and
friendship and professionally supported one to one mentoring relationships. And
actually big both Big Sisters of America celebrated one hundred
and twenty years.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Wow, Wow, holy doing it? Well? Okay, you have these
little I know you love to call the littles and
the bigs the bigs. How did what are the prerequisites?
How do you well? First of all, when you hear
about the program, how do you know if you being
a big would work out for you? And?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
Oh, well, you know for our bigs. All we ask
is that you be interested in sharing a bit of
your time with a child or teen. That's essentially our
basic requirement, that you're willing to invest some time in
the life of a child or teen. And I say
that because we have mentors who come into organization who say,
(05:15):
you know, I haven't had experience with a child, I'm
not sure what I'm doing. And the answer is, you
don't need to have any experience. You don't need to
have any mentorship experience.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
We're just looking for you.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
To be a friend and a sounding board for someone
who could use an actual person in their life and
extra support.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Let me ask you this right now, at this period
here we're at twenty twenty five, are there a certain
type of mentor or I don't want to say sex,
but yes, sex, do you I would think, do you
do you have more of a need for men or women?
Or does it matter we.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Have youth on our waiting list both. You know, we
have individuals who we're looking for mentors, so honestly, anyone
walking in the door, because keep in mind, it's not
just that we're looking for anyone particularly mentor cover seven counties.
Speaker 4 (06:01):
Now.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
We went from five counties to seven counties last year,
adding York and Adams Counties, and we have a huge
demand for mentors. We have parents and school districts and
guidance counselors that are referring youth to us. And it
depends upon geographical location, it depends on personality type. So
we match compatibly to ensure that the little in our
(06:22):
program is match with a mentor who's going to be there,
who's going to have a foundation for a friendship, that
they have some similar interests, similar personalities, and so you
never know. Anyone who walks in the door one day
you could be the perfect match for a little So
we just asked that you consider signing up.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
You guys have any kind of training for the mentors?
Must they have?
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Yeah, the first thing I thought of was just to
give a call and connect with our staff because each county,
sorry each area we serve, there are also different opportunities
and so often people think of that community based mentor model,
which of course was how the program started and something
that we.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Will always have.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
However, we have a number of specialized programs that I
think people don't even know about, and so in call
to find out and talk to our staff about what
is available in your county, in your area, in your workplace.
There's opportunities to get involved in many different ways with
our organizations. So starting that conversation helps start that relationship
(07:24):
so we can get to know this mentor this person
so we can better match them as well. We want
everyone to have a positive experience in the program.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
And we're going to talk about those programs in at
a little bit. But as far as these mentors do,
they go through a background check? Is that a big
deal nowadays? Oh?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yes, So there are a number of background checks. There
is a whole screening process that involves an interview, there
are for background checks actually, so all of the things
that they would need really to work in a school,
we do all of those same background checks and screening process.
Speaker 4 (07:59):
So I will say our enrollment is not.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Always the shortest or the quickest, but it is the
most thorough. It does have the best outcomes, and so
it is an important part of the process.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Let me ask you this, As Christina mentioned, a couple
different things have made you guys successful. One on one
is so important.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Why so having that one on one relationship. Historically, the
Grosthbak System of America has done a variety of studies
that indicate that that one to one mentoring relationship has
positive outcomes not only during the period in which the
mentorship takes place, but post high school graduation. The youth
(08:41):
are more likely to attend college. The youth in our
programs are more likely to earn higher wages over the
course of their lifetime. And we know that those youth
have better confidence, they are doing better in school, that
they have better social and emotional connections with their peers,
with their families, and with their friends. So having that
(09:02):
one on one connection, we know, based on our data
that it makes such a huge impact on that child's life.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's your evidence based practice, right, that's what you're calling that,
and evidence of that in your own on your own
staff is Corey, Corey Dupree. He's how old is Cory?
In his early thirties mid thirties. Yeah, and he's still
friends with his uh, with his big brother. It can
go on forever, right. What he's saying went to his
college graduation when he got mad. That is so awesome.
(09:32):
I know we're going to talk about this because I said,
our Christina is by ed the bit. I have two
hundred and thirty organizations across the country. Take it, guys, So.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Two hundred and thirty organizations across the US Big Brothers,
Big Sisters affiliates. We were one of four recognized as
Agency of the Year.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Okay, and what does that mean?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
So that means that we were recognized for incredible growth
and accomplishments in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I could have told them that got.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
So we last year we served one three hundred and
twenty youth That is the greatest number of youths we've
served in a single year over the past twenty years.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Wow, Wow, amazing. What else We also had mentioned your
you picked up two more counties.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yet we added two more counties.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
What counties do you serve? Did you serve in? What
you did you on?
Speaker 3 (10:26):
We served Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, and Perry counties. We
added York and Adams counties. Now, keep in mind, there
was a Big Bosbig Sisters of York and Adams counties,
so we acquired York and Adams to be part of organization.
So there is still a York and Adams office and
they are still serving the same youth that they have served.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
For over forty years. Okay, let me ask you this
to one of the things I had read about was
one of the reasons you got this. What was your
youth leadership some what's that about?
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, so we have an annual youth leadership summit. I'm
happy to answer this since this is my brain child
and my baby, because we are across over thirty school
districts at this point in our programming, and the students
never really had a chance. These are high school students
who have never met each other, so they're all part
of Big Brothers Big Sisters programs, but they never got
(11:19):
a chance to come together and collaborate and work together.
And so we brought together this past year. It was
over two hundred high school students and to hear from speakers,
to work together, to collaborate and learn from each other
with a focus on their leadership skills, and then to
go back to their communities, go back to their Big
Brothers Big Sisters programs and be able to continue working
(11:42):
on their leadership skills and make an impact either. Some
of them were mentors, so we have high school bigs mentors,
and then we also have mentees where they have a mentor,
and so to come together for that summit, we were
making that an annual event.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
This year will be our third.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Oh that's awesome. That is I'd love to be in
the off all those kids talking about that stuff. What'd
you learn? I'm sure you have an opportunity to talk
to some of these kids.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, we learned so much from them, and I remind
them we learn best from each other, and so they
have so much to share. A huge part another reason
we want Agency of the Year was our work with
Youth Voice. So we're asking the youth to share their opinions,
to tell us what they need, what do they want?
To learn about, and we created a Youth Advisory Board
where the youth actually are able to tell us what
(12:28):
they need, what they know, what they want to learn about,
and we're asking them.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
What do you think are some of their biggest concerns?
Is because I'm you know, I used to think that
young people don't get involved like they did when I
was a kid growing up, or even when I was
in my twenties or thirties. But I'm finding out that
the youth have a lot to say. Now, what did
you find out? What are their biggest concerns? These kids,
I mean, they all come from different backgrounds and things
that they face or things they want to do, But
(12:54):
are there any common denominators as far as what they're
what they feel the direction of the world needs to go.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
A huge part is connection. They want to be connected
to people learn from each other. And I know you say, oh,
they have social media, but really it's that real world connection,
being able to network, being able to talk to each
other and many people one on one have conversations. Those
skills are so important and they know that that connection
is really needed and of course their future, you know,
(13:23):
just really looking ahead. Part of it is helping them
see their potential, and part of that is awareness of
they don't even know what the possibilities are sometimes, so
helping them to see, you know, some of the options
available to them and helping them have that voice to
create it.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Well, you know, I know, having had Christine here a
couple of times, the business community has been real supportive
of you guys. Was a Deloitte and Giant talk about
that a little bit over the years. What's happening as
far as your programs.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
So I'm assuming you're referring to a beyond school Walls programs.
So that is our workforce development program where we connect
high school youth with workplace mentors. So we actually coordinate
having the high school students transported to a local business
where they meet with their mentor one on one. And
it's not just building that relationship, but it's giving them
(14:14):
the opportunity to prepare for post high school graduation so
that they when they exit our program, they aren't just
exiting high school. They are exiting with a plan, They
know where they're going, what they're doing, and they're ready
to become enrolled and listed or employed.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Wow, that's amazing. Well, you know, when you go out
and you talk to these businesses and you want to
have these mentors. You want to see to the situation.
Are they usually receptive? What do you think are they
really and and you know a lot of times people say, yeah,
I don't know, But what do they say to you
when they first hear about it? Go hey, soda? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
For us, we're able to really show them that return
on investment that they're providing, and we're able to show
them not only the numbers, but the names and the faces.
And it's really also creating a pipeline for their organization.
So not only do we have the data to show
it helps with their own employee retention, it helps Yeah,
it helps them to see youth exposed to that as
(15:13):
a career option. And so we're able to continue that
relationship with these companies. So we currently have, like you said, Deloitte, Giant,
Penn National Insurance, UGI, the gas Company, Midpen Bank, and
Capital Blue are the ones for this coming school year,
but we're always looking for more.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
To be honest, it's it is a win win in
that packground.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
I mean, come on, I find a business, I'd be
jumping on that real quick. So okay, so I want
to talk to you. I think people learn and hold
onto things better with examples this program in particular. Do
you guys, can there anything you can share about any
of the students that were there.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Beyond school walls? Oh yeah, so I think this is
one of my favorite stories. So I got to meet
a student who was in one of our programs, and
she was She came across to her mentor as though
she didn't need any assistance. That the mentor expressed, you know, hey,
(16:13):
I think she knows what she's doing. She seems put together,
she has a plan. She you know, you know, I
don't know that I can help her. But as the
year went on, the mentor found out that really what
the young lady needed was just somebody who was there
to look over a college resume, to give her a
second opinion about, you know, questions that she might have had,
to help guide and fine tune that plan that she
(16:37):
had already started working on, and give her that opportunity
to really blossom and to build more confidence. You know,
she wasn't necessarily shy, but it was still an opportunity
for her to grow and become, you know, a very
confident young lady stepping and walking across the graduations.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Now we call me that not just the kids. I mean,
there's always something that we can learn. Tell us about
the na here here it is HBCU Fair. What was
that about.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So it's a college and career fair that we have
annually Big Brothers. Big Sisters has a national partnership with
the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and so they also helped
to co lead this. And again it's all about exposure,
so exposing students to different colleges and universities so they
might not know about it.
Speaker 1 (17:23):
You put the word out to kids.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
It's a college fair. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
So there's also it's a career fair as well, so
there's some other people who come to expose them to
different career paths and options. And we make sure that
it's a free event for area high schools to come
together for that event that.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I just thought of another partner I need to introduce
you guys to. But anyway, okay, the biggest thing for
me over this last maybe ten twelve years is that
people are sending their kids to college to be a
doctor or lawyer, whatever, but there's a huge need for
skilled workforce. Do you have representatives there that because that
(17:59):
goes across every industry, and do you find that kids
are interested in that?
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Yeah, so when I was in high school, same thing.
They just really it was for year college and that's
not the right fit for everyone. And so we have
taken a great shift with that specialized tagline to customize
and say enrolled in, listed, employed, that to have that
plan is workforce development. To have that plan, it could
(18:23):
be military, maybe it is college, maybe it's a two year.
There are so many different paths and really exposing to
those trades because we know that that is super needed.
And so that is part of it as well, is
that manufacturing side. There's so many jobs available that are
really needed and we wish yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Every industry, agriculture, medicine, that's where the future that in
AI and I had talked about this several times on
my program Before that, there were two gentlemen that came
in here about ten fifteen years ago, and we're talking.
They own both home manufacturing plants. Actually they were looking
for kids want to do to work in robotics, and
(19:03):
they said, these kids will train them when they're seniors.
It doesn't cost them anything, we'll hire them. They'll start
at sixty eighty thousand dollars a year. They're going to
be freaking nineteen twenty years old. And that's all you guys.
I keep on thinking of you as being that young,
but I know you're not. But kids at age, that's
all they want, you know, And there is an opportunity.
(19:26):
And I've heard this before too, because I recently said
to my grandson he's going to college to the fall,
I said, Josh, you listen, find something that you're going
to be able to do, but find something that you're
going to want to do every day, because the worst
thing to do, because you're going to be spending the
rest of your life doing this, is to go to
a job you desperately hate. And that also gives the
(19:49):
kids up an opportunity out there to learn about some
of these careers. So they may find out, oh my gosh,
I didn't know I could do that, or oh my gosh,
I didn't know that was involved on it suck at math,
you know, those kind of things that a lot how
many times the kids go to school and they get
into college and they change their majors because they don't
know what the heck they're doing. So this also gives
them an opportunity to learn about different career paths. As
(20:13):
you said, I think that's fantastic. Well, you know, one
of your favorite or not your favorite. But one of
the things that it might seem like an older idea,
but that I've always thought was it was the Biggs
in Blue program. Is that still going on? Of course? Okay,
tell about that. Love love it.
Speaker 3 (20:30):
So our Bigs and Blue program is our opportunity to
connect youth with local law enforcement, giving this youth that
are in the mentoring relationship the opportunity to see the
person behind the badge, and giving the officers an opportunity
to connect with the community understands, you know, better, the
youth that they are serving in the communities that they
(20:51):
are serving. And this program has continued to grow as
especially with our connection with the Pennsylvania State Police, where
we are in most of our counties serving big some
Blue programs. I believe did we launch one or two
programs last year?
Speaker 4 (21:08):
We launched two new programs last year.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
And I will say coming up in a couple of
weeks in August, we're going to be at their national
Night Out events at Yeah. So we will be and
our staff will be spread out among our seven counties
at those events.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
I think that's great. And your your staff isn't all
that big, is it's pretty small? Yeah, And we've grown grown.
But what I'm trying to make is, not only have
you come up with these incredible programs, you've gotten bigger.
Now you're getting national awards and you guys, I'm telling you, guys,
rock Imman, tell me about the Sports Buddies.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Yeah, so we have. Again, it's all about those partnerships.
So whether it is with our police departments or other nonprofits,
different companies and organizations. So Sports Buddies is a partnership
with the YMCI, and so that partnership is helping to
expose youth to you know, healthy living and to those
matches who maybe want to do exercise together as part
(22:07):
of their activities. And so it's a really neat partnership
actually with the YMCA where they can go to the
YMCA together and work out. So we have it in
Carlisle is the main one for Sports Buddies, and then
we have additional ones. We've had conversations in York, in
Harrisburg and other YMCAs.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
Can you share anything big deal you're working on right now?
Speaker 3 (22:30):
Something big that we're working on right now. Well, you know,
coming off of having won the Agency of the Year award,
we are actually preparing for forty fifth year anniversary coming
next year.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Next next year. Yeah, let me tell you. Next year,
Dauphin County is going to be two hundred and fifty
years old. The United States is going to be too.
You're going to have a lot of big guilt things
going on next year. Yes, yes, we're very expected. Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, we're gonna plan something fun for that forty five
year anniversary. And the other big thing is it's already
mid July, so I'm really preparing already for our school programs.
So we're starting to line up back to school because
we are really expanding in your cast about that. Yes,
so we are bringing on about seven new school districts
(23:22):
for this coming school year, and so we're already having
the conversations with their superintendents and the planning is taking place.
So even though it's summer, we are getting already for
the fall because we really are going to expand and grow,
especially in York and Adams Counties this year.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
And it's still that same little staff that's doing all
this work. Amazing do it guys, ever, sleep, Yes, I
understand because I deal with so many wonderful people nonprofits
and I'm so I'm have so much empathy. I just
(24:03):
and am totally inspired. But let me ask you, guys something,
What made you get into this field?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
Then?
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Why is big brothers and big sisters? Why is it
it for both of you?
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay, so I know my answer. I actually I started
as a high school big when I was in high school.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Did you really Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I was a high school big at Hanover High School,
and I was exposed to big brothers, big sisters, and
it actually led me to want a career in education.
So it changed my trajectory to expose me to education,
which is something that is a possibility. And we have
a couple of programs like that as well. But for me,
(24:42):
that was it was. I became a high school big,
I was a mentor, I was looking for community service hours,
and I just really fell in love with the organization
and wanted to go into education.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
From that experience.
Speaker 3 (24:54):
Well, I didn't encounter big both big sisters until you know,
an adult looking for a new position. But for me,
the start of my journey was basically when I was
really little my parents put me into martial arts and
heading into high school, I ended up doing a fundraising
event through my martial arts school to donate to local
nonprofit organizations and from there, I've always wanted to be
(25:16):
a support system, and partly I think because I was
in martial arts where there are built in mentors in
that you know, cultural system. For me, it was just
a very natural fit to look at big brothers, big
sisters and say, I understand how important it was to
have those individuals in my life. People that were not
related to me, were not part of my family, but
they became part of my family.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You guys said, you have people on kids on the
waiting list for this. You just need more big brothers
and big sisters. How do people find out about you?
Speaker 3 (25:45):
Word of mouth is a big one. I mean, obviously
we have our website. You can always visit our website
for more information. You know, we are on Facebook, Instagram
and LinkedIn. But I would say word of mouth is
one of the biggest ways because there are so many
people who have been impacted. We have parents who used
to belittles in our program bring their kids to our
program knowing how much of an impact it had. On
them and wanting it to have, you know, that positive
(26:07):
impact on their kids now and today.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
That could be such. I mean, why aren't they using
the big brothers and big sisters or planning like there
in social service agencies, it's a simple go ahead. Yeah, No,
we do.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
We have partnerships. Yeah, with Dauphin County Children in Youth,
we do. We work with them as well. And I
will say we go out of our way to engage
our weight lists, So I don't want people to be
discouraged thinking, oh, if there's a weight list, maybe I
shouldn't sign up. No, because our back to school block
party is coming up August second.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
What's that?
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And well, our back to school block party is yeah, okay,
so August second. It is right outside of our Harrisburg
office on Third Street, and this will be our fourth
year doing this where we are giving out over We
have five hundred backpacks filled with school supplies, We have
haircuts on site, we have shoes that we're giving out
to the students. We have so many community resources and
(27:03):
partners and so we bring people together and we engage
our wait list, we engage the public, We engage of
course our matches, but really that is a big community
event because to go back to school, yes you want
the backpack and the pencils and you need that, but
you also need the full experience to feel.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
Ready to go back to school.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
So that's why it's so important to have those haircuts there,
to have those shoes and really give them everything they
need to feel ready to go back to school.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
You need anything else for your party, I call your party?
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Oh always, yeah, we have a yeah letter, get a list.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
I was gonna say we yes, please do.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
We can have that conversation because we are looking for
additional people from the community who want to have a table.
There have vendors. We still are accepting people if they
want to come be part of it.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Absolutely. Oh my gosh, well I want to get to
We only have a Manard Cu left and I want
to quickly talk about your golf tournament. When is that?
Speaker 3 (27:59):
So that is coming up on September twenty sixth. It's
at Briarwood Golf Club. This's a eleven thirty am shotgun start.
So this event actually is from the York Adams uh event.
So we are very excited to have lots of people
come out and golf. So visit our website catpigs dot org.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Okay, the biggie, who are you pushing off a building
this year?
Speaker 3 (28:20):
So many people we're going over the edge repelling in
downtown Harrisburg.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Okay, so please come out.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
October tenth, registration is open again at our website catpigs
dot org. Please make sure you register today because there's
some still plenty of time to fundraise.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
She did all that Cat Bigs or I was going
to do that.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I gotta slide in there.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
This is awesome if you believe like I do that.
Nothing nothing's important as our kids. Become a sponsor, make
a donation, get involved in it. Be a big big
brother or big sister. Go to cat bigs dot org
and from Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Pennsylvania.
My buddy's Amanda Done, vice president of Programs and Christ
the Initials Marketing Communications Director. Guys, congratulations on this awesome
(29:04):
award Again. A huge congratulations also to a president CEO
of Big Brothers and Sisters of South Central Pa. Amy wrote,
her remarkable staff is always out there. Remember that you
can catch insight every Sunday on one of our ten
iHeart stations, or anytime on your favorite podcast step. I'm
Sylvia Moss. This has been Insight. Thanks so much for listening.
See you next week. Hi, this is iHeart, Public affairs
(29:26):
director and host of Insight, Sylvia Moss. Each week on Insight,
we address and try to provide the best local resources
for issues that you tell me are the most important
to you, the ones that have the biggest impact on
your everyday lives. Insights also a place where we can
let you know about exciting community events and introduce you
to many of the incredible people who work hard every
single day just to make all of our lives better.
(29:48):
If you're not able to listen to Insight when it
airs on this station each week, then catch it on
your favorite podcast stapp Thank you for listening. Nothing
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