| Operation Bigs
San Diego is home to 800,000 active and retired military personnel and their dependents, the largest population in the US. In an effort to serve this population more effectively, Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego designed the Operation Bigs program, which provides mentors to children of military families through Big Brothers Big Sisters' School-Based program. Volunteers meet with children at their schools on base and provide quality one-to-one friendship time that is so important to a child whose parent is deployed, will deploy or is just returning from a deployment. Operation Bigs runs at five elementary schools on Camp Pendleton, two sites in Coronado and Point Loma, and an additional expansion to Linda Vista and MCAS Miramar.
|
Mary Fay Pendleton Elementary
San Onofre Elementary
Santa Margarita Elementary
Stuart Mesa Elementary
North Terrace Elementary
|
 |
|
Silver Strand Elementary, in Coronado
Milcon Community Center, in Point Loma
|
|
|
Serra Mesa Community Center, in Linda Vista
Gateway Youth Recreation Center, in MCAS Miramar
|
The goal for this expansion is to be able to serve Navy, and other military children who could benefit from one-to-one mentoring, in parts of San Diego where services are not currently being provided.
Bigs and Littles meet for one hour sessions in the classroom, school library, school computer room, or on the school playground. Bigs and Littles typically meet once a week to read together, play sports or computer games, or simply talk about life and personal issues - just as friends do.
For more information on volunteering, please contact us at (858) 536-4900 or apply online today.
Operation Bigs is the first program of its kind in the nation. California's First Lady Maria Shriver, as part of her initiative to find support for American military families, made an appearance at Camp Pendleton in September 2004 to help launch the Operation Bigs Program. Please click here to visit the First Lady's website for further information about the initiative and her involvement. Also, click here to check out Maria's "Take 5" interview with Paul Palmer, Big Brothers Big Sisters CEO/President (which also includes great resources for military families).
Assignment America:
 The Marines Change both Big Brother and CBS reporter Steve Hartman
and the Man he's Mentored Since the 3rd Grade, 'Little Brother' Lance Corporal Heinrich Soltow.
Read the full story HERE.
Thanks to the Jack in the Box Foundation, T. Boone and Madeleine Pickens, The Nice Guys, and other community supporters, the Operation Bigs program has taken off and continues to grow. But in order to serve a larger number of military children, additional support is still needed. If you want to support our military through a donation to the Operation Bigs program, please contact Terri Wetterberg at (858) 536-4900 x224 or Terriw@SDBigs.org. Or simply donate online.
Operation Bigs is one of three School-Based mentoring programs. Please click on Bigs in Schools or High School Bigs to learn more about our other School-Based programs.
More information about volunteering >>
|
