Airdrie’s Big Brothers and Big Sisters organization has just put the sign up in front of their new office space in the Community Links building downtown.

The organization has been in Airdrie for eight years, but mentoring coordinator Jason Heer said there are still several people who don’t know the organization exists, or think it’s only based out of Calgary.

Heer said the goal of opening the office space is to increase awareness of the organization within the community.

“We’ve been in town for eight and never had something like this,” Heer explained. “This gives us an opportunity to be more accessible to the community and offer better programming.”

Big Brothers and Big Sisters pair kids and youth, known as ‘littles’, with an adult mentor of the same gender, known as ‘bigs’.

The pairing is meant as an opportunity for mentorship and guidance for children and youth who may not have a lot of positive role models in their lives, or who just need some extra guidance.

“We want everybody to talk away knowing this has been the best possible experience and gave them the opportunity to succeed down the road,” said Heer.

Last year BBBS Airdrie paired 40 littles with their big mentors. The goal for 2019, is to find matches for 50 kids and youth in the city.

Heer said there is currently a wait list of around 21 kids who are looking for mentors, over half of those are boys who need big brothers.

“[We need] male mentors stepping up to be that active role model for these guys who possibly don’t have a father or male figure in their life and so they’re just in need,” said Heer.

“Unfortunately a lot of these guys have been on the waiting list for a year to two years and they’re just looking forward to that day where they can actually have someone be a part of their life.”

For more information on how to get involved click HERE.

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