Sherburne County Area United Way Volunteer Site

School/Site-Based Mentoring

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota

In the Big Brothers Big Sisters' school and site-based mentoring program, mentors (Bigs) are paired with mentees (Littles) in kindergarten through eighth grade at a local school. BBBS currently has school-based programs in the St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Pierz, Foley, and Holdingford school districts. The Big and Little meet at the child's school two to four times per month for 30 to 60 minutes at a time. While together, they can do a variety of activities including arts and crafts, board games, sports, reading, and more. These matches can only meet on school property or at an agency sponsored activity.

Additional Details

Application, interview, and background check required

Who We Are

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Minnesota is a mentoring organization that believes that every child has the potential to succeed and thrive. We support youth between the ages of 5 and 21 across Stearns, Benton, Sherburne, Morrison, and Northern Wright counties. We have a variety of programming options for volunteers and youth, including community-based mentoring, school/site-based mentoring, Bigs on Campus, and Sports Buddies.

What We Do

We create one-to-one mentoring relationships between volunteer mentors (Bigs) and local youth (Littles). Each match is professionally supported by trained staff. Every month, BBBS hosts activities for matches ranging from craft nights to attending local sporting events so that matches have the opportunity to get together.

Highlights/Requirements

BBBS of Central Minnesota serves more than 500 kids each year
Mentors are high school students or adults from the community who commit to at least one year of being matched with a local youth.
As well as our community-based program, BBBS has site-based programs at six local school districts (St. Cloud, Sartell, Sauk Rapids-Rice, Pierz, Foley, and Holdingford), and Bigs on Campus programs at Saint Ben's/Saint John's, St. Cloud State, and St. Cloud Technical & Community College
Our annual youth survey reported that 90 percent of youth in our program improved their attitude towards risky behaviors, and 83 percent improved trust with their parent or guardians.