“Big Sister of the Year” Has a Special “Ring” to It!

Every Saturday at 2:00 the doorbell rings in the Melendez household. Little Sister Ariana doesn’t have to ask who is at the door — she knows it’s her Big Sister Crystal, visiting her “regular like clockwork.”

It’s a system they worked out because the Melendez family doesn’t have a phone. Of course, they can’t change plans suddenly, but that’s just as well. Many young people who need mentoring crave consistency and steady, positive relationships with adults who won’t let them down — which is just the kind of friendship Crystal has provided for the last three years.

Mentoring Helps Make the Grade … and the Girl.

Ariana was going through a tough time three years ago. She was getting into fistfights. Her grades were Ds and Fs. Her mother has a number of smaller children and couldn’t always give Ariana the one-on-one time she really needed. She believed that a Big Sister could make a difference for her daughter. She was right!

Within just a few weeks of meeting Crystal the fighting stopped and Ariana’s grades improved dramatically. Today, each time her name is called out on the honor roll, she feels proud and confident in a way she never did before. “She is a much more positive person now,” says Crystal.

Mentoring is a Real “Family Affair.”

What starts as a friendship often ends up feeling like a member of the family. That’s certainly true for Crystal, who has invited Ariana to many of her family functions. And the influence has rubbed off on others — Crystal reports that two of her sisters, as well as her brother-in-law, have all become “Bigs” because of the example she set. “They have seen first-hand how being Big Sister and Little Sister have helped Ariana and me to become better people.”

We congratulate Crystal for winning Big Sister of the Year, and we thank her family members for becoming “Bigs,” too. But there’s still plenty of need for Big Sisters and especially Big Brothers throughout the country. Can you give an hour a week to a young person, just doing fun activities you both enjoy? Volunteer now »