Volunteering Makes a Difference
in the Life of a Child

By Andrea Schmidt
CyberNews Staff Reporter

February 27, 2002

Every week, Drake students offer their time to make a difference in the life of a child. Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Iowa provides mentoring for children between the ages of 6-14.

"Every week I walk in and my student gives me a big hug and is happy to see me," Laura Micheli (J1) said. When Micheli heard about the program she thought it would be a fun thing to do off campus.

Bigs in School is a program that works with students at several schools in Des Moines and Ankeny. Volunteers meet with their students at the school once a week. During this time the big brother or sister builds a relationship with his student. He also works on the child's schoolwork and plays games with him.

Volunteers take the opportunity to talk with the children and listen to them. This gives the children guidance and boosts their self-esteem.

"We have fun, but we get work done too," Micheli said. "We both benefit from this. It's good to know that I am making a difference."

Kym Galligan and Janet Tracy are the Bigs in School volunteer coordinators. Galligan said that the mission of the program is to "give children a positive role-model, someone to look up to, and to provide them with extra guidance."

The program encourages people in the community to get involved in a child's life. "Sometimes a lot of these kids just need to know that there is someone out there to be a friend," Galligan said.

Galligan said that the program, which began last spring, has had excellent success. More than 100 students receive mentoring. Galligan and Tracy are always looking for more volunteers. "We are in dire need of male volunteers," Galligan said.

Volunteers go through extensive training before they begin working with a student. They are told what to do if a student tells them about any abuse he has experienced. They are also taught how to identify if the student has been abused and how to handle learning disabiliies or attention deficit disorders that a student may have.

Gavin Daly (AS1) said he was instructed on how to deal with his student who has an attention deficit disorder. he was told to set rules from the beginning to make it easier to stay on track with his student.

Daly got involved in the program at the beginning of the fall semester. "I wanted to go outside the normal bounds of the college campus and see what Des Moines has to offer as well as contribute to the Des Moines Community," he said.