If you take nothing else away from this column, take this: Your check for $1, $5, or $25 would mean something to an organization you find worthy this holiday season and beyond.
Michael A. Corriero, the executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters [BBBS] of New York City, could not have been more clear on that this week at “Two Legal Minds: A Conversation on America’s Youth” at his organization’s Manhattan headquarters.
“I get checks for two dollars, five dollars, one dollar and change, and I remember those people,” said Corriero, a former New York State Supreme Court judge and champion of children in the criminal and juvenile justice system.
The other "legal mind" joining Corriero was Karen Mathis, the newly appointed CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America and a former president of the American Bar Association who created its Youth at Risk program.
“The idea of volunteering is very uniquely North American,” Mathis said. “If you go to the continent of Europe, where I just spent the last year [as executive director of the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative], you find very, very little understanding of volunteerism. The concept of mentoring is mostly a North American idea. They don’t even have the concept really in the UK.
“So you start with the fact that Americans volunteer more than any other people in the world and then add to it we all have life cycles. Maybe you have small children, maybe you’re starting a new career, maybe you have a new employer, and it may not be the best time to volunteer, but I’d like to think you can always do something. We really are a donor-supported volunteer organization.”
While not everyone is in a financial position to write a check to support a BBBS “match” for a year (about $1,000-$2,000), the idea here is it shouldn’t dissuade someone from giving even $5 if this is an organization that speaks to them. Corriero points to the election of Barack Obama as an example of how getting people to donate $10, $15 or $25 can help amass a significant amount of money.
“Regardless of your politics, his election had tremendous symbolic power,” Corriero said. “His message has always been as a community organizer and that a community has to take responsibility.”
Obama’s Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has been making the rounds promoting what is a refreshingly bipartisan cause – the administration’s $4.3 billion Race to the Top Fund for education. Duncan was joined by Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton on Meet the Press last weekend and they talked about how they have been doing appearances together to advance this mission.
So where might mentoring come into play in all that?
“We have met, not me personally, but people from [BBBS] national have met with Secretary Duncan and some of his very senior aides,” Mathis said. “I think one of the things we don’t tell the story of well enough is just how much our programs impact education.”
For instance:
~ 89% of mentored youth report that the program helped them improve their school attendance and performance
~ 93% of mentored youth said that the program influenced them to finish high school and go to college
~ 73% of mentored youth stay out of trouble with the law
~ 70% of mentored youth would have gone on to commit criminal offenses except for effective intervention
Heartening, right? Now for some bad news. Among Mathis’ extensive experiences is working with all five branches of the United States military. So it was with particular passion that she cited this disturbing statistic:
“The United States military now estimates that 75% of America’s youth are not fit to serve in the military,” Mathis said. “They don’t have enough education, they can’t read at a sufficient level, they don’t have critical thinking skills and they’re physically unfit.”
And then back to hopeful: Mathis related a story of a “big” – the BBBS term for a mentor – who is an Air Force Staff Sargeant with an eight-year relationship with his “little.” The pair recently attended a Veterans Day ceremony to help launch BBBS expansion into mentoring military families. Mathis said when he visited the boy’s school in his uniform, the boy’s friends surrounded him and marveled at his medals.
“He was having an impact not just on his little,” Mathis said. “That’s why I think it’s fair to say we affect millions of young people’s lives.”
While tough economic times mean much of the emphasis for organizations like BBBS is on raising money, there is also nothing quite like the joy of volunteerism. So often we get into ruts and feel like we’re not in shape to help anyone else.
“Give yourself over to divine service while you are still a mess,” Marianne Williamson said to a crowd at an Open Center event in New York last week.
“That’s right,” Corriero said. “You can’t wait until you’re perfect to become a volunteer … I think volunteering is the only way to perfect yourself as a human being.”
And wouldn’t that, or writing a check however big or small, take your holiday season – and by extension, your spirit – up a few notches?
Yes, I believe it would.
Nancy Colasurdo is a practicing life coach and freelance writer. Her Web site is www.nancola.com. Please direct all questions/comments to FOXGamePlan@gmail.com.
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