‘Big Brothers Big Sisters’ to expand into Tioga County, New York

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Twin Tiers is working to expand in Tioga County, N.Y. in an effort to not only help more children, but to find more adult mentors as well. Serving Tioga, Bradford, and Sullivan Counties in Pennsylvania and Broome County in New York, Nikki Restino, Community-Based program director for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Twin Tiers, said pushing into Tioga County, N.Y. next made geographical sense. 

“Big Brothers Big Sisters is a national non-profit and our goal is to have a presence in every county in the country,” Restino said. 

The purpose of the organization is to pair children with like-interested adults who can serve as mentors. 

“What we do is we match adult mentors in the community with kids, who we call littles. We start interviewing kids at the age of six to 14 and if they are matched they can be with that mentor until they are 18 years old,” Restino added. 

Interested mentors are vetted and interviewed and asked to make a minimum of a one-year commitment to being in the program. 

“Being a big is a year commitment at least, and at least four to six hours a month must be spent with their little, taking them out into the community to do things like bowling, arts and crafts, and going to movies. Things normally they wouldn’t get to do because they don’t have that positive role model in their lives,” said Restino.  

The model the organization is rooted in established studies that determined that children with non-family role models tend to be more successful, higher educated, and less prone to criminal behavior. 

“It’s an evidence based program, research has said that a child with a positive role model other than family will be more likely to succeed in all aspects of life. Less likely to skip school, use drugs, and have a higher aspiration for education. We believe every child has the potential to achieve, and the need is not only in Tioga, but across the county. It’s just basic research that we know having someone on their side will help them achieve their goals,” Restino said. 

In an effort to get the word out that the program is in Tioga County, Restino said she has been reaching out to principals, counselors, social workers and more throughout Tioga County. 

“We are not going to open an office in Tioga County, it’s already so close to the Broome County office and we have staff who will travel as needed to Tioga,” Restino said. 

Run entirely through grant money, Restino was adamant that there is no expense whatsoever to the families of children of participants in the program. 

“Any family, regardless of economic status, can apply for a big. We just need more bigs to accommodate the kids who need someone to help them grow and do all the fun things that they normally don’t get to do,” Restino said. 

She added that helping children not only helps communities of the present, but the communities of the future as well. 

“And often times our bigs will tell me that the littles they worked with had as much of an impact on their lives as they had on the littles,” Restino said.  

If you are interested in participating in Big Brothers Big Sisters, visit www.bbbstwintiers.org for more information or call (570) 265-3009.