Agency aims to recruit adult mentors in highest need towns for youth on the waitlist throughout the month of March
Cape Cod & Plymouth, MA — This March, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands (BBBSCCI) is launching The One Campaign, a community-driven effort to recruit volunteer mentors for local youth waiting to be matched with a Big. Each week throughout March, five Cape communities will be challenged to help reach the agency’s goal of recruiting enough volunteers to serve the nearly 100 young people currently on the waitlist across the region.
The campaign, titled The One Campaign, focuses on creating change, one volunteer, one community, and one mentoring match at a time — with the ultimate goal of eliminating the wait for local youth who need a caring adult mentor.
“Recruiting volunteers, particularly male mentors, is our agency’s greatest need right now,” said JR Mell, Regional Director for BBBSCCI. “By targeting our towns where kids wait the longest, we hope to inspire people to step forward and eliminate the wait for Cape & Islands youth seeking a mentor. Mentoring is a powerful way to give back, and many of our volunteers tell us they gain just as much from the experience as they give.”
Local organizations, businesses, and community members have already begun rallying around the campaign. Community engagement and recruitment events will kick off in March, beginning with the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Yarmouth on Saturday, March 7. Town level recruitment efforts will take place in Barnstable, Plymouth, Falmouth, Wareham and Yarmouth.
Partners for this campaign include Yarmouth Police, Barnstable Police, Cape & Coast Bank, Lemonadio, Cape Cod Coffee, Falmouth Starbucks, Hole in One Donuts, Ten Pin, Falmouth & Plymouth Farmer’s Market, Cape Cod Beer, Cape Cod Mall, Old Colony YMCA and Cape Cod, Falmouth, Yarmouth & Mashpee Chamber of Commerce’s with more added daily. BBBSCCI continues to welcome partners who are willing to amplify this campaign’s messaging, host an info session, or give BBBSCCI a platform to speak about the need to their employees.
“The youth of Cape Cod, Plymouth, and the Islands need us right now,” Mell added. “I’m confident our community will rise to the occasion — one youth, one mentor, and one mentoring friendship at a time.”
Individuals interested in becoming a mentor or learning more about The One Campaign can visit: https://emassbigs.org/theone/.Organizations interested in supporting the campaign can contact JR Mell, Regional Director, at jrmell@capebigs.org or 508-827-8170.
About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cape Cod & the Islands: BBBS is on a mission to help children in under-resourced families thrive by providing transformational, one-to-one professionally-supported relationships with caring adult mentors. Founded in 1974, and a part of BBBSEM, BBBS is the only volunteer based, one to one, professionally supported mentoring program serving every town on the Cape & Islands. BBBS currently impacts over 700 kids throughout the region as part of Commitment:1000. For more information please visit: www.CapeBigs.org