Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
KS Big Brothers Big Sisters on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 267
We share a full slate of new and returning events that fund mentorships across Riley County while laying out simple ways to become a Big. Our focus is on shortening the waitlist, growing male mentors, and sustaining longer, stronger matches.
• Bowl for Kids’ Sake details and $20,000 goal
• Women’s Drives for Dreams golf tournament launch
• Fairways for Futures open luau-themed golf event
• Studio 54 Manhattan gala planning and timing
• 75 new matches target in Riley County
• Persistent waitlist and the need for male mentors
• School-based lunch mentoring and community-based options
• Step-by-step path to become a Big at kansasbigs.org
• Match length growth from 13 to 33 months
• Grow Green Match Day impact and date
Put that on your calendar for April 22
Philanthropy today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode, we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour, as heard on news radio KMAN.
SPEAKER_01:Let me ask you this what's going on?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, we're excited to kick off our 2026. And we have lots of fun events coming up that we're excited to tell you about. Our match goals and all that fun thing. So just me to keep going. I'll just keep going.
SPEAKER_01:You can just keep going. If you want to interview each other. Yeah, we'll talk amongst ourselves. We really can.
SPEAKER_03:We really can. So Melissa, what do we have coming up first?
SPEAKER_02:So we're excited. First, we have coming up this year, we're doing a our first match event is going to be um over with Metal Art. And we will be partnering with them to do our match event. And then for community-based, um, we have our Bowl for Kids' sake. So we're really amping up that we've um secured several sponsors, new and continued sponsors. Adair Law is again going to be our community partner for this year. So uh lots of thanks to them for continuing that as well as a slew of continued sponsors. So if that's something that you're interested in, Michelle and I are working on our community sponsorships right now, which are such a cool thing because we created a package in which you help support events, but also it helps support a match for us. So going into the year, that's something that will only be available to the end of the month. So if there's a business or an individual that would like to support all of our events as well as a match, connect with us. Um, but on yeah, February 7th, we'll have our big Super Bowl, Bowl for Kids' sake. It's the second bowling event that Michelle and I have put together. It's uh a traditional fundraiser that Big Brothers Big Sisters across the state does, and this will be the second time that we've put it on together.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, so I'm excited, and I was just thinking that we probably need um outfits to start wearing to promote that. So we should work on that today, also.
SPEAKER_01:You've got a month.
SPEAKER_03:We do, we do. We have like one day. We'll come up with something.
SPEAKER_01:Doesn't take much.
SPEAKER_03:No, it doesn't, yeah. But bowl for kids' sake is really awesome. We're gonna do it a little bit differently this year. So um it is going to be$300 for a team of six, and then that gets you pizza and bowling on the day before the Super Bowl, so on February 7th. Um, we'll have some fun games. You can uh dress up in um your team theme, and we'll have some prizes to give out. Uh for an extra$300 donation, um, all of your team members will get uh a t-shirt or bowl for kids' sake t-shirt, um, and uh and then have some extra fun.
SPEAKER_01:So you're gonna have your own bowling shirts.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, Melissa and I will. Yes. Yes, for sure. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01:Yours yours stand out.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because you have to.
SPEAKER_03:We have to.
SPEAKER_01:It's it's in your DNA.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we should probably get um referee shirts since it's bowl for kids' sake, and we can be the referees. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So make sure you have really thick eyeglasses too, because all officials need to have thick.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Yeah. Yes, yeah. Okay, come on quick. So bowl for kids' sake is coming up. We're excited for that. Um we're adding another new event this year. Um, and it's going to be a golf tournament that is for um women only called Drives for Dreams. And that is gonna be held at the Wamigo Country Club, and that golf tournament will actually um support Junction City, Manhattan, and Wamigo, the proceeds for that. And uh, it's gonna be a Kentucky Derby theme. So if there's any um companies out there who are interested in letting their ladies get off for a golf day, because a lot of times it's um, you know, four men that get to go. Let's let the four ladies go and drive for dreams. So that's gonna be super fun.
SPEAKER_01:And when is that?
SPEAKER_03:That is going to be April 28th. On April 28th.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah. And then But wait there's more. But wait there's more. Yes. Then we'll have our Fairways for Futures, which is our open golf tournament. So available to anyone.
SPEAKER_01:So guys can play.
SPEAKER_03:Guys can play in that one. Thank you. That's gonna be a luau theme. Mm-hmm. So you can dress up in your Hawaiian shirt to come um do some golfing and raise some funds to support Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And that's gonna be on June 1st at the Manhattan Country Club. But wait, there's more. We also will have the Manhattan, um, which is going to be a um Studio 54 1970s theme. Uh oh. I know. It's gonna be so fun.
SPEAKER_01:Uh oh.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, yes. And um, the date on that will be in September TVD, depending on um the football games. So we're just waiting for that schedule to come out.
SPEAKER_01:That could be a little difficult to work around.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. You know, we're used to that in Manhattan. So yeah. So those are our events that we have scheduled for um for 2026 that we're excited about. Um, but the reason we do this, of course, is to support our matches. Um, our match goal this year is to make 75 new matches um in here in Riley County. And um so we've already gotten started. I think we'll kick off the year with probably four to five just getting made here in the first couple of weeks. So um we're excited for that. Already one made last Friday, right?
SPEAKER_02:Already one for the second day of the new, but one was made last week.
SPEAKER_01:Good.
SPEAKER_02:Kicking off the new year. That's a heck of a way to cook it off. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Black eyed peas and big brothers gets a new match. Big brothers, big sisters gets a new match. Um do you have quite a few on your wait list still?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, we kind of consistently have about 45 kids um on our wait list. Um, the average little brother waits up to two years before they find their best fit match. And that's because we have more little brothers that tend to be enrolled into our program. Um, and we could always use more male mentors um signing up to hang out with a kid. And we have two different ways you can serve. Um, Melissa and I have both been in uh school-based bigs, which is where you go meet with your little um during the school day. So it's about half an hour out of your workday, and then we also have community-based, which is where you go hang out with your little for um one to like one to two hours um at least twice a month. So it's not a ton of time and can make a huge difference in your life and theirs.
SPEAKER_01:What's that process like in order to get yourself in the line for being a big?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, first thing to do is just sign up um at our website, which is kansasbigs.org, um that say that you're interested in being a mentor. And then usually one of us will do an info session with you, which is about a 15 to 30 minute overview of the program and expectations. And then we have you complete an application, and we do, of course, a background check, we do a reference check, and then you have an interview that's about anywhere from one to three hour long interview. And once you've completed all that, we know you're really committed. Um, and if you feel like it's a if we feel like it's a good fit for our program, then you have a file showing. So you um the match support specialist look through and find um kids on our wait list that they think would be a good fit for you. And then you read through a little bit of their um background and history and things that they like, and then you actually pick the little that you connect with the most and get started. That's the whole thing. It's really fast.
SPEAKER_01:It's a little more difficult than adopting a puppy.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I don't know, because I had to give a reference on my neighbor for adopting a cat. So I think they do they do quite a bit for the animals, but um we want to make sure we want to make sure that we're getting yeah, we're getting good good people and getting good matches. But um, yeah, I think time is probably people's biggest barrier. And um if you take a lunch break, you can be a big. That's the words of Rob Wilde. If you like lunch, you could be a big.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's important.
SPEAKER_02:If you don't like lunch, you can also still be a big. Yeah. Okay. I think one of the things to also share along with that, that we've been super excited and want to uh present a lot of kudos to Michelle is in her time as our area director. We've seen our length of match go up from 13 months. It was right about 13 months, um, and we just finished um last year finalizing that. We're up to 33 months for the length of a match. You more than doubled that. That's that's a lot. Isn't that it's been so exciting? And one of that is coming from really trying to connect with community members. So we're very thankful of the community members who um have signed up because if you're here in Manhattan, your ability to have that longevity relationship lasts, as well as the change with our uh K-State community of changing them through to this lunchtime scenario where they can go and make an impact for 30 minutes and really match schedules with the kids and take that barrier away of I'm trying to find time. Well, here's the time, it's already defined time. So that's made it really, really exciting.
SPEAKER_01:I know we always talk about fundraisers, but you know, we also want to make sure that people understand the impact that Girl Green Match Day has. Put that on your calendar for April 22. Yes, yes, and that's a big day for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, too.
SPEAKER_03:It is, it's a big day. We um have consistently raised um over$20,000 on that day for Big Brothers, Big Sisters, or I should say um our community has raised. And um, it's really, really awesome to see the community come together like that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, cool. Anything else? Did we cover everything? Excuse me. Did you cover everything?
SPEAKER_03:Um, yeah, we think we got most of our papers all spoken about.
SPEAKER_01:I got all things crossed off on here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, very awesome.
SPEAKER_01:We had goals and we met them.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Sounds good. That's what we're doing this year. So$20,000 for uh Bull for Kids' sake, that's our um our next adventure. So for the community, we love it if you come hang out with us and help us out.
SPEAKER_01:Michelle Sink is her name. She is the executive director of Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Kansas, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, serving Riley County. And then I guess I should specify the North Central Kansas, because you've got a wide area.
SPEAKER_03:We do have a wide area, but you know, we we like to give them all love.
SPEAKER_01:And development director Melissa Solden. Thanks for being here. Thanks for being patient with me today. Now Micah's gonna be coming in. She's like going, oh my God, what have I got myself into on this Monday? It's the GMCF Community Hour here on News Radio KMAN. We're gonna power through it. That's what we're gonna do. And we're gonna talk with uh Micah Carl in a little bit. Uh she is with Infant Toddler Services of Kansas, serving Riley County. I think this is your first time in, isn't it? So we got a lot to learn today here on the GMCF Community Hour, here on News Radio KMAN.