Be a Real-Life Bigs Mentor, Virtually

Stuff We Love

By Lynda Wheatley | April 18, 2020

Over the past 17 years, Traverse City’s Tony Anderson has run — and finished! — 50 marathons, every single one to raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northwestern Michigan, which connects kids in need with supportive mentors. The pandemic derailed plans for his final Marathon4Kids in Cincinnati, Ohio, but true to form, Anderson isn’t missing a step.

This Sunday, May 3, he’ll log his last 26.2 miles in a sanctioned virtual race in — where else? — his hometown of Traverse City. For obvious reasons, you can’t be there to cheer him on, but there’s another option we bet Anderson would appreciate even more: Right now, you can volunteer to become a real-life Big mentor, virtually.

The Bigs program last week opened a virtual mentoring program to help kids in Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Antrim, Charlevoix and Emmet counties who are feeling especially isolated these days. Every step in the enrollment and mentoring process is accomplished virtually. You’ll “hang” with your Little by phone, Facetime, email, or video-conferencing a minimum of once weekly. And you’ll have full access to mentor training and Bigs’ professional staff for support every step of the way — even to get ideas for virtual activities. Volunteer or learn more at www.bigsupnorth.com/volunteer.