Thursday, May 13, 2010

MEET OUR BBBS STAFF

Each Staff member was asked
  • what do you see as your role within the agency
  • something personal you would like to share
  • your vision for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington

Rosalie Wilson











Rosalie Wilson
Administration

Rosalie is the agency expert on Razer’s Edge. She processes applications and inputs receipts and letters for donations.
Rosalie is a mother of three, and enjoys reading, watching good movies, exercise and being physically active. Rosalie wants Big Brothers Big Sisters to be recognized as the organization for mentoring in Hamilton and Burlington.

Kim Irish










Kim Irish
Case Worker/ Soar
Kim is a new case manager to the agency, and has a small case load. She screens and interviews both families and volunteers. As well, Kim will work with the Go Girls program while Lisa is on maternity leave.
Kim is a recent graduate from McMaster University. She enjoys traveling has recently begun playing hockey (something she had always wanted to do) with the encouragement of Rebecca and Bob.
Kim would like to see the day when there is no wait-list at Big Brothers Big Sisters, and every child who needs a mentor, has a mentor!

Vicki Farthing













Vicki Farthing
Intake Case Worker

Vicki is the intake Case Worker for all ‘Little’ applicants. She is also the photocopier expert and the office administrator.
Vicki went back to school in her 40’s and believes that everybody can achieve their goals at any age. She did her placement here and loved it so much that she stuck around!
Vicki hopes to have all the kids on the waitlist matched thus eliminating the waitlist.

Joyce Mullally










Joyce Mullally
Bookkeeper

Joyce is the Bookkeeper for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington.
Joyce is looking forward to retirement in the next few years in hopes that she will finally have the time to do all of the things that she doesn’t have time to do now.
Joyce would like to see Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington be successful in maintaining their goals of helping children in the community and have the funds available to do it!










Michelle Cleugh
Case Worker

Michelle has been with Big Brothers Big Sisters for nineteen years. She is a Case Worker in the traditional program. Michelle says that the best part of her job is when she calls a Little to tell them that she has a Big waiting for them. Michelle loves the relationship part of being a Case Manager.
Michelle is a full-time mom of two who loves spending time with her husband and kids. Michelle wants to make a difference by having an impact on the lives of children by providing great mentors where enriching, life changing experiences happen.

Miriam Oda










Miriam Oda
Case Manager - ISM

Miriam has worked at BBBS since September 1996. The ISM Program is very close to her heart. Miriam considers herself to be a creative and organized person. Among many of her personal interests she enjoys traveling, photography, cooking, reading and scrapbooking.

Miriam echos the vision of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada—whose own vision is that every child who needs a mentor gets a mentor. Miriam would like to see every school in Hamilton and Burlington have the ISM Program or other school based programs that can help kids who might not otherwise get a Big Brother or Big Sister.

Rebecca Hart










Rebecca Hart
Case Manager

Rebecca is a Case Manager in the traditional matching program. She screens volunteers, assesses families’ needs, facilitates training sessions for volunteers, matches children to volunteers and monitors those friendships. At the moment, she is the Case Manager for 92 friendships.
Rebecca enjoys playing hockey, and has been playing defense for the same team for the past fourteen years. She is a strong advocate for females in sport.
Rebecca would like to eradicate the waiting list for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington. She would like to see every child who needs a mentor, have a mentor!

Helen Metz










Helen Metz
Case Manager

Helen is the Case Manager for Burlington. She interviews and screens volunteers and families. She matches and monitors Bigs and Littles in Burlington, Dundas, Waterdown, and Carlisle.
Helen is a mother and a grandmother and declares this as her claim to fame!
Helen would like to see more government funding for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hamilton and Burlington because it is an excellent program! She believes that matching has the potential to make a significant difference in the life of a child, as well as making the volunteer feel good.

Laura Hickerson










Laura Hickerson
Director of Communications

Laura has been in the Not for Profit world for over fifteen years and joined the Big Brothers Big Sisters team in July 2006. In her role as the Director of Communications, Laura is responsible for managing existing special events, securing new financial resources for services and recruiting new volunteers through marketing campaigns and partnerships. She enjoys being part of the BBBS team, spending time with family , friends and her garden. Laura hopes that we as an agency continue to be innovative, proactive and true to our mission as we continue to expand services to the children and families in the Hamilton and Burlington areas.

Greg Whelan










Greg Whelan
Director of Service

As Director of Services Greg’s responsibilities are varied but none more important than the oversight of the program offerings ensuring that the delivery of our services are in compliance with Big Brother Big Sister of Canada child safety standards and BBBS of Hamilton & Burlington governing policies.

Greg’s first exposure to Big Brothers Big Sisters occurred in February 1979 when he was hired by a discrete Big Sister agency in Welland to work as a Parents Group Coordinator. Not soon after he was matched to his first Little Brother. In 1989 Greg was hired as the Executive Director of Big Brothers of South Niagara. Michael remains a huge part of his life and that of his family and for that he has been truly blessed.

For Big Brothers Big Sisters Greg sees a period of program innovation coming forward creating partnerships with like minded groups to capture those who may be overlooked by current service offerings..

Marianne Noakes



Marianne Noakes Executive Director
Marianne Noakes is the agency Executive Director a position she has held since coming to Hamilton in 1999. Marianne’s career with BBBS has spanned over 30 years, within four different communities and with progressively changing roles.

Marianne and husband Greg have two grown children, Sarah who has followed her mother’s footsteps in the social service sector and Jordan who is currently teaching in Taiwan. The Noakes are soon to be first time grandparents (says Marianne with a delighted smirk!).

In terms of a vision for the organization, Marianne feels strongly that we need to move the organization to a “centre for mentoring excellence” position in the community so that we can share and lead in the process of ensuring that every child who needs a mentor is greeted with the news that a special friend has been found just for them. In order to move to this positioning we need to create new synergies with organizations who are serving kids in the communities of Hamilton and Burlington.

Announcing our new communication name for our blog.

Thank you so very much to those who responded to our request for submissions naming our blog. BETWEEN FRIENDS received the most votes and therefore our BBBS Blog has been renamed Between Friends.

Thank You

Thank to you the Hamilton Community Foundation's Youth and Philanthropy Program. Under the Youth-led Community Action Program, current Co-op Students will launch a Co-op Mentoring Recruitment Campaign. Funds will be used to help encourage high school students to enter the co-op program and become In-School Mentors. Current Co-op Students will create display boards, brochures and share their mentoring experiences with other students. Thank you Hamilton Community Foundation for supporting this endeavor.

National Volunteer Week

In celebration of national volunteer week, which took place during the month of April, Big Brothers Big Sisters wanted to pass along this message of thanks:

This year……….
You baked more than 100 dozen cookies
You introduced more than 40 kids to the fun of fishing
You explored more that two dozen different hiking trails
You watched more than 80 movies
You cheered on your little brothers and sisters at more that 75 soccer games and 130 hockey games
You taught your little brothers and sisters how to swim, skate, dance, canoe, write stories, use a library, master a video game, create a pizza from scratch and hit the top corner with a puck.
This year………You helped to produce more than 10, 000 smiles on the faces of children in our community. Thank you for your continued support of our agency and the children who need us most.

We are hoping you will help us continue to spread the word that mentoring is fun, rewarding and a great chance to be a kid again. Please send the following message/link to your friends, family and co-workers.

Celebrate Spring! Plant a seed of hope and become a mentor. Visit www.callbigbrothers.com for details.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

THREE CHEERS FOR OUR VOLUNTEERS

THREE CHEERS FOR OUR VOLUNTEERS

As I am writing this, we as a nation are celebrating national volunteer week. Did you know that there are over 12.5 million volunteers in Canada?
National Volunteer Week is a special time set aside in April to honour the people who donate their time and energy. The week also raises awareness of the vital contributions volunteers make to our communities.

From coast to coast, volunteer involvement enriches our community’s one act at a time.

At Big Brothers Big Sisters we know the individual impact one person can have on another human being. At Big Brothers Big Sisters please know that your volunteer commitment is inspiring, important and life changing.

Whether you have signed on to rake our garden, help count money at BFKS, make a leadership contribution or mentor a child please know that you are a valued member of our team. Our most sincere thanks.

Marianne Noakes
Executive Director