Fore the Children a BIG Success!

What an incredible night celebrating six outstanding Women Who Move the City and raising funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County’s mentoring programs!  Congrats to our honorees: Liz Callahan, Shannon Sommer, Maggie Shea, Susan O’Sullivan, Carmaletta Zandi and Sister Mary Augusta Kaiser!  Thank you to our emcee, Janet Snyder of Kiss 98.5 and to our awards presenters, WWMTC event co-chairs and representatives from event Diamond Sponsors, Phillips Lytle and Ingram Micro.  We hope our honorees will proudly display their unique Women Who Move the City awards that were designed and created locally by our generous sponsor, Steel Crazy Iron Art. A BIG thank you to all of our Event Sponsors– we could not provide such a great event without your generous support!  Our…

In an effort to recruit more male mentors, we will be holding our first barbershop volunteer recruitment event “Grooming Men of the Future” on Saturday, September 28th from 11am – 3pm at three barbershops located in the City of Buffalo. The event is an opportunity for men to stop by in a relaxed & familiar setting to learn more about becoming a Big Brother from Big Brothers Big Sisters fraternity partner Alpha Phi Alpha. The barbershops opening their doors that day to BBBSEC are Styles of Man on East Delavan and the Signature Cutz locations on Main Street and Grant Street. Men who stop down that day will be entered to win a cut from a barber of their choice at each shop and into…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County (BBBSEC) received a grant of $37,950 from the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation to upgrade the organization’s outdated technology. Professional case management is critical to creating safe and long-lasting mentoring relationships. This technology upgrade strongly enhances the ability for BBBSEC’s professional case management to support and accurately document these relationships. “We were so very pleased to have the support of the foundation for a request that is very unique for an agency like ours,” shared Thomas Guagliardo, CEO of BBBSEC. “Our organization provides relationship support to hundreds of mentoring matches. To properly track these relationships and record outcomes, it’s very important we have a technology system that is up to date and efficient. Unfortunately, these are not the types…

The latest The Big News– Print Edition is now available for Download.  Readers will enjoy a note from our CEO, information about recent Big & Little match events and updates on agency fundraisers that help to make our work possible.  Additionally, we have a list of all of our Bigs & Littles that celebrated Match Anniversaries between January 2014 – June 2014 including over 20 matches that have been together 5+ years.  Lastly, this edition’s Match Highlight features Big Brothers Sean Myers and Little Brother Conyai.  The two have been matched since July of 2012 and have an incredible friendship. Read all about it by downloading now!  [wpdm_file id=10]  

Big Brothers Big Sisters is honored to celebrate Alexa Zappia as our first Women Who Move the City Wednesday (WWMTC) Honoree!  Alexa, a native of  Williamsville, is currently a senior at St. John Fisher College in Rochester. In 2009, Alexa faced tragedy when her life mentor, Susan Wehle, suddenly passed away in the Flight 3407 plane crash. Alexa wanted to do something that would make her proud by continuing to touch peoples’ lives as Susan touched hers. How does a 12-year-old grieve such a tragedy? To Alexa, she found her life’s purpose: to volunteer at struggling organizations within the Buffalo community. Since the plane crash, Alexa has accumulated over 3,000 volunteer hours. Alexa has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for three consecutive years during Barack Obama’s…

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County and Media Sponsor Kiss 98.5 & Janet Snyder are excited to celebrate Shannon Sommer as today’s Women Who Move the City Wednesday Honoree! Shannon demonstrates a strong passion for helping others, especially children. Shannon is a volunteer Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County (BBBSEC). Shannon has been matched with her Little Sister, Christina, since May of 2014. She spends a lot of time with her Little Sister doing fun new activities, while providing support and general guidance on life. They enjoy cooking, swimming and doing crafts. Shannon also is instilling in Christina the importance of giving back. This past summer they participated in “Walk Off Hunger” to benefit the Food Bank of WNY. Shannon loves being…