Bloomington's Best Buddies

Toward the end of another lackluster psychology lecture, senior Kimberly Ranney grows anxious and glances at her phone to check the time. Only six more minutes until class is over, and then it's off to Kady's highly anticipated first basketball game of the season, she thinks to herself. After picking her up from school and walking her to the locker room at the gym, Ranney finds a good spot in the bleachers and chants "Go Kady!" as she makes her debut on the court. Anyone who didn't know the pair would think they were sisters by the way they interacted, but they aren't. Yet even though their connection isn't a biological one, Kimberly is Katie's big sister in the eyes of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. \nBig Brothers and Big Sisters and the Boys and Girls Club, which tied for second place in the Best of Bloomington poll in the category of Best Place to Volunteer, draw hundreds of IU students and members of the community to get involved in the lives of local children. Although they are two separate organizations, they have similar missions and sometimes work in collaboration with one another. \nBoth organizations are wildly popular within the Bloomington community. \n"Right now we have 569 volunteers that are matched with a child, 347 of those being IU students and professors," says Andrea Smith, Big Brothers Big Sisters director of operations. \nRanney decided she wanted to be a volunteer after her first job at Big Brothers Big Sisters, during which she performed simple tasks to help out in the office. She got connected with the organization to fulfill a volunteering requirement for a class. \n"I went through an interview process, and they picked two or three kids that they thought were the most compatible with me based on the kids' interviews and information," she says. "I worked with a case manager and we looked at each of the different girls and what sort of activities they liked to do, and I picked the girl I thought I'd work best with."\nBig Brothers Big Sisters has three different programs that volunteers can take part in. Ranney is part of the Community Big program, the most intensive of the three. "Bigs" can spend as much time as they'd like to with their "Littles" and can drive them to different places to do activities, pick them up from school, take them to sports practices and other things along those lines. The other programs are the School Bigs program, in which volunteers go to the child's school for a certain amount of time each week. The third option is the Club Bigs program, which intertwines Big Brothers and Big Sisters with the Boys and Girls Club. \n"Every Wednesday afternoon, I hang out with my Little, who I have been with for about a year now," senior Adam Waltz says. "For about an hour and a half, we hang out at the Boys and Girls Club, or take walks to Kirkwood or play in the park near the club."\nIn addition to student mentors, the Boys and Girls club offers various services to children in the Bloomington community. According to their Web site, they provide tutoring services, cooking classes and life skills classes, along with an arts-focused program that exposes kids to writing, art and photography. Their facility is equipped with computer labs and places for children to work on their homework. Exercise classes from cheerleading to Tae Bo are offered throughout the week as well. \nLike Ranney and Big Brothers Big Sisters, sophomore Paolo Balmaseda began to work at the Boys and Girls Club as part of a class assignment.\n"I started volunteering at the Boys and Girls club last semester when I took a class that required service work in the Bloomington Community," Balmaseda says. "When the semester was over, I decided to keep going there because I enjoyed it so much." \nRather than working directly with one child as volunteers at Big Brothers Big Sisters do, Boys and Girls club volunteers work with a number of children when they spend time at the club. \n"I help supervise the gym and play with the children in games as they come and go," he says. "During free time, I usually play with one to three kids and either shoot hoops or chase them around the gym." \nThe majority of the people that volunteer in both organizations work with children that are underprivileged and come from low-income families, Smith says. For many of them, the activities and programs they take part in during their time spent with either organization are things they would not normally be exposed to.\n"Two weeks ago my Little missed a Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club because he was sick," says Walts. "The following week when I went to visit him he was really bummed that he hadn't been able to be there and spend time with me. He told me how sad he was to have missed just that one day and listed all the reasons why he liked spending time with me, and one of the main reasons was because he got to do fun stuff he doesn't usually get to do." \nNational studies have shown that the benefits of volunteer mentor programs for children are unmatched. Kids in these programs are 52 percent less likely to skip school, are more confident in their schoolwork and are more trusting in parents and other adults. They are also 27 percent less likely to start drinking alcohol and 46 percent less likely to start using drugs, Smith says.\nBut at the end of the day, it's not just the kids that enjoy the perks of these volunteer organizations.\n"Our volunteers love it so much, we often hear that they benefit more than the kids," Smith says. "Especially for IU students, it gives them an opportunity to do things in the community and we hear from a lot of students that it's a good release and fun way to get away from the stress of classes and working." \n"Going into this I was expecting to be a positive role model for these kids, by showing them that yeah, I go to college, they would want to be like me and want to go to college also," Walts says. "But I also did it to have fun, because this is a time where I can hang out with kids and sort of be a kid once again myself."\nBeyond an outlet to escape the pressures of schoolwork, volunteers enjoy working with these organizations because they see the results of the work they do every day. \n"One time when I was helping supervising children at the playground I had to take two kids back to the club and walk them across the street," Balmaseda says. "When we were about to cross, both of them just took my hands and walked with me. It just brought a good feeling when they held my hands. The kids know who I am and they listen to me, and I think the kids enjoy having an adult who plays with them"