The month of August celebrates 3 staff anniversaries!  Sue started working with BBBSO in 2002, Sameera joined our team in 2006, and Stephanie in 2008.  Each has had a great impact on the work that we do and in helping us serve 1000 children annually.

For the past nine years, BBBSO has hosted a week long day camp for our Littles called Kids n’ Kops where we partner up with the RCMP 'A' Division, Ottawa Police Service, Military Police, and Ottawa Fire Department...

Earlier this year, we asked you to share your wonderful stories of the impact that Big Brothers Big Sisters Ottawa has had on your life. Thank you to all who participated. We received a number of submissions from matches, Bigs and Littles as well as this winning entry from Colleen, the mother of Little Brother Devin. Here is her perspective:

This past year BBBSO celebrated its fourth year of the Go Girls! program. The 2009 - 2010 school year was our most successful year to date, with programs running in 17 schools throughout the Ottawa area. We had over 40 dedicated volunteers that delivered the Go Girls! program to over 200 children.

The agency's strong staff team is what greatly attributes to the success of our mentoring programs. It's hard to believe that two years has already passed since Robert Eves, Executive Director, and Cindy Smith, Senior Director of Resource Development, were hired as part of the BBBSO management team.

All week the weather forecast called for rain on Sunday, but when Sunday arrived, there was hardly a cloud in the sky for our friendly ball hockey game!

Every year we have the opportunity to work with terrific schools and match Big Brothers and Big Sisters with Elementary School Littles. We like to take the opportunity to recognize those terrific School Liaisons, as they help us to serve more children each year.

"What do other matches do for fun?"  This is one of the questions I get asked the most by volunteers struggling to find new activity ideas for themselves and their Littles.  In truth, I don't envy these volunteers.  This has to be one of the hardest parts about being a Big.  I'm sure many of us out there can relate to the difficulty of finding new and exciting activities for teens that don't break any rules.  So how do you find these activity ideas?  Well, I am happy to report that I discovered the secret to solving this puzzle one day while talking to a match that has been doing it for eight years.  As it turns out, the answer is right under our noses...