For the month of September, Big Brothers and Big Sisters Lacombe has been super busy celebrating and trying to attract new mentors. In honour of Big Brothers and Big Sisters Month, the organization has a goal of finding 40 members in 40 days. As of today (September 22, 2021), the organization is a little more than halfway there with 25 people expressing interest so far. 

“If people are interested, we had a surge of kids over the COVID months that are experiencing, parental loss, loneliness, or isolation. So really, leading mentors and our intake of kids outweighed our mentors, so now we need to catch up,” said Executive Director of Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Crystal Zens.

Several of those who have shown interest have also put in an application and only need screening, and training before they can get matched with a kid. 

Earlier this month, the organization held an open house and ribbon cutting to spread awareness for their need for mentor and provide information to those who are considering becoming a mentor. City of Lacombe Mayor, Grant Creasey and Blackfalds Town Councillor, Jamie Hoover joined the event to help cut the ribbon. 

“We had about I would say about 120 people out for our beavertails track and our event. We gave away some door prizes and had a lot of fun. It was bad weather for part of it, but people still braved the weather and came,” said Zens.

Additionally, local businesses throughout the City have been ‘Turning the Town Teal’ in hopes of spreading even further awareness for their need of mentors. 

“We had 24 businesses come get kits and sign up for kids then turn their turn their business teal and support at Big Brothers. It's really great to see some people even coordinate it with products and support items to help our campaigns,” said Zens. 

Lastly, Big Brothers and Big Sisters also celebrated the month by with their Smile Cookie fundraiser through Tim Hortons. Zens said she was especially grateful to do the fundraiser to earn a bit more money for the non-profit. 100 percent of the proceeds from that fundraiser went towardsBig Brothers and Big Sisters Lacombe. 

“We had Smile Cookie Week both in Lacombe and Blackfalds. We were so fortunate to get that campaign because it really helps our agency, especially with the you know, loss of our big some of our big events and things like that. We were breaking some records here at the beginning of the week with our cookies sales,” said Zens. 

If you would like to help Big Brothers and Big Sisters Lacombe reach 40 mentors in 40 days, you can check out their website for more information.