News & Stories

Holiday Corporate Partnerships  Urban Outfitters Partners With BBBS During the Holidays! In honor of Giving Tuesday, Urban Outfitters will donate 100% of the proceeds of reusable gift wrap sales sold in store and online, between December 1-31, 2019, to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Click here to download the list of stores that will be carrying the gift wrap, which will also be available online at www.UrbanOutfiters.com Urban Outfitters, Inc., is a lifestyle product and services company, that has a long standing partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence. The relationship began after one of their employees participated in Big Brothers Big Sisters, first as a Little and then as a Big. As a result, Urban Outfitters decided to start a program where a number…

Lasting Legacy of Friendship Big Sister Continues to Support Agency After Passing Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie, Niagara and the Southern Tier recently celebrated a thoughtful legacy gift made by long-time Big Sister, Janet McMahon, who recently passed away. Janet made one more gift to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program to honor her lifetime commitment to helping children reach their full potential. With Janet’s gift, six local “Littles” in the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program were chosen to receive a gift card to purchase school supplies with their Big Brother or Big Sister for the new school year. “A’laysia and I had a wonderful time shopping for school supplies for her first day of first grade. She told me she hasn’t gotten…

ATTENTION Bigs and Littles!     Unfortunately due to weather we have to POSTPONE our Welcome Summer Picnic that was scheduled for tomorrow (Thursday) June 20th!     Stay tuned for a new date from your Case Manager!   Please contact them with any questions.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Professional Development Opportunity! Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at AcQua Restaurant & Banquet 2192 Niagara Street, Buffalo, NY 14207 Registration – 7:30AM   Training – 8:00AM-9:30AM $ 30 Early Bird (Through 5/24) / $40 Regular Registration   Click here to register!     Questions? Please Contact Ashley Griffin 716-873-5833 Ext 243 or agriffin@beafriend.org

Kennedy Colon – Defender of Potential Kennedy Colon is a graduating Senior at the University at Buffalo where she studies Civil Engineering and is the current President of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Collegiate Chapter. Through her affiliation with NSBE and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) she actively searches and engages in any form of volunteerism as a way to serve her community, if there is no opportunity present she will create one. Under Kennedy’s Leadership her NSBE Chapter has won the Chapter of the Fall 2018 Semester for Region 1 and most recently the Silver torch award for conducting the most technical events/outreach in the Region. For the Academic year 2018-2019 she has devoted her time to creating a pipeline…

Gregory Straus – Defender of Potential  Greg Straus is the a Licensed Real Estate Broker at 716 Realty Group and co-founder of Redline Rentals of Buffalo, a high performance and luxury company. Starting from a young age, Greg was instilled with a sense of community and help for others. Greg’s father took care of all the neighbors growing up. Eventually, Greg took over care for those elderly neighbors and started his first business shoveling snow. Being a product of catholic schooling, he always found himself volunteering in some way.   Greg was moved to NYC after college for the local company he worked for and while he was there, he became a mentor to a young man named Joshua from Harlem, through a company-local school…

Tiffany Lewis – Defender of Potential  Tiffany Lewis, is currently the Founder and CEO of Confident Girl Mentoring Program, Inc (CGMP). Nationally recognized as a best practice for mentoring by MENTOR, CGMP an elite 501(c)(3) non-profit mentoring organization that utilizes evidence-based interventions to improve self-efficacy in girls ages 7-19. As a strong leader in youth mentoring with a demonstrated history of advocating for youth, Tiffany provides advocacy efforts on Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Teen Dating Violence, Self-Esteem and Confidence. Tiffany holds a Masters of Social Work from the University of Michigan’s School of Social Work, a dual degree in Criminal Justice and Religious Studies, additional certifications from Harvard Graduate School of Education and is also a Licensed Esthetician certified in Clinical Oncology Esthetics.   Notably, Tiffany…

Ryan Taughrin – Defender of Potential    Ryan Taughrin is the Assistant Director of Graduate Enrollment at the University at Buffalo’s College of Arts and Sciences. As a first-generation student who was raised by a single mom, and later adopted by loving parents of his best friend, Ryan tries to live every day working to pay it forward. From mentoring prospective undergraduate and graduate students, serving as a mentor in Big Brothers Big Sisters, to volunteering across Western New York with various non-profits, Ryan’s volunteering and mentoring mantra focuses on servant leadership and listening, more than speaking, whenever possible.   Organizations Ryan has volunteered and served in leadership positions include B Team Buffalo, the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County, Erie County Youth Board,…