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Bowl for Kids' Sake 2008 Has Begun!
Bowl for Kids’ Sake (BFKS), the region’s largest charity bowling event, is a fun-filled day of bowling, games, excitement, and an opportunity for everyone in our community to make a difference in the lives of at-risk youth.
Get involved and start a six-member bowling team! Then collect pledges from friends and family members and join other teams on the event day for excitement, prizes, giveaways, celebrity appearances, and a round of bowling in which fun counts more than the scores.
All we ask is that you raise $100 per team member or $500 per team. It's easy! Check out our "How To" below:
2008 Bowling Dates:
March 9, 2008
at AMF Mt. Lebanon Lanes
10:00 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. or 3:00 p.m.
March 30, 2008
at FunFest (Harmar)
11:00 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.
April 6, 2008
at Rt. 19 Bowl (Washington)
2:30pm
Important BFKS 2008 Links
Event and Participant Information Packet>>
Sponsorship Information Packet>>
Learn more about the Corporate Champion Sponsor Option>>
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Toy Drive Brings Christmas Morning Smiles
 On Saturday, December 8, the members of the Creative TreeHouse (http://creativetreehousepgh.com/) in Bellevue put their artistic talents to good use and held a toy drive for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh.
In exchange for a toy donation, six area photographers took family portraits all day amongst a backdrop created by members of the Creative Treehouse.
The drive brought in 66 toys.
In addition to the Toy Drive, staff members of Business Records Management, Automart, Ajalon Finance, BBBS Of Greater Pgh, Chris Greco of American Eagle Outfitters and The Dinnin Families adopted families in our program and donated toys as well.
All of the toys were collected and distributed (in time for Christmas) among the most needy children in our program.
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The backdrop created by the members of the Creative Treehouse (with some members having fun). |
While there were plenty of smiles photographed during the drive, they can't beat the smiles of the kids who received a special surpise on Christmas morning.
Thanks to all of those at the Creative Treehouse, and all those who donated toys. Your efforts exemplify what Chrismas is all about.
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Big Tip:
Getting Connected – Communication is Key!
By Cheryl Jones - BBBS Special Services Coordinator
Whether you are a brand new match or you have been matched for some time; you understand that making and maintaining a connection with your Little is imperative for match success. In order to make that connection, you need to consistently meet with your Little to build shared experiences.
A common pitfall that Bigs run into that can lead to trouble in a match relationship is not following up when there is breakdown in communication. Was your Little not home when you arrived to pick him/her up for a scheduled outing? Have you been unable to get through to your Little on the phone? Did your Little or his/her parent fail to call you back to confirm an outing?
These are common scenarios that are familiar to all Bigs. At some point in your match relationship you will encounter any or all of those situations. The action that you take when faced with such a scenario will determine if your match will be one of the successful ones or one of the matches that unfortunately fades away before it ever had the chance to get started.
The key to being one of the successful matches is realizing that as the Big you are responsible for driving the relationship.That means establishing and keeping the lines of communication open with your Little and his/her family.
Here are a few tips to help get things off to a good start or back on track:
• When you make a plan with your Little for an outing, make sure his/her parent/guardian is aware and approves of the outing. Call and confirm with both the day before the scheduled outing to ensure likelihood of everyone still being on the same page.
• Having trouble establishing contact by phone? First thing you should do is call your Match Support Specialist to enlist their assistance in contacting the family. The US postal service can be your friend as well. Drop the family a note and let them know you are having trouble reaching them.
• If you and your Little both have busy schedules, think about establishing a routine day/time for outings and give the schedule to the Little and his/her parent/guardian after each outing to serve as a reminder.
• Does your Little have his/her own cell phone? While it can be a great way to keep in touch, do not forget to keep the parent/guardian in the loop. Avoid relying on quick text messages to plan/confirm outings.
Most importantly do not give up! Keep trying, your persistence will more than likely pay off. Showing that you are committed to the relationship by going the extra mile and keeping the lines of communication open will not go unnoticed and will undoubtedly help your match relationship grow.
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Bigs and Littles Celebrate the Season on Ice!
 The weather smiled upon BBBS once again as over 265 Bigs, Littles, BBBS staff and volunteers arrived at the annual Holiday Party held at the Schenley Park Ice Rink on Saturday December 8 ready to skate! The ice rink, with a fresh cover of snow and a great view of downtown Pittsburgh provided the perfect setting for an afternoon of outdoor seasonal fun!
Before matches donned their skates they were treated to an array of food and festivities inside the meeting room. Bigs and Littles had the chance to create some holiday crafts as well as compete against each other in games such as “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?,” as well as Speed Cup Stacking. Little Sister Amanda garnered quite a crowd as she put on an impressive demonstration of effortlessly stacking and un-stacking 15 cups in mere seconds!
Matches were also treated to an extraordinary display of magic tricks by one of BBBS’ newest staff members, Adam McDivitt! Adam’s magical alter ego put on quite a show that had matches interacting with him, and each other, as they tried to figure out… “How did he do that?”
Many matches also took time from the festivities to create cards to be  sent to soldiers currently recuperating at Walter Reed Army hospital in Washington, DC. Heartwarming cards were created sending “Well Wishes,” “Thank Yous,” and “Holiday Greetings.” It is certain they were appreciated by the soldiers.
As has become tradition at BBBS events, the day culminated in a grand door prize give-a-way in which Littles could select from a vast array of prizes including Penguins tickets, toys, games, craft kits and of course the ever popular singing penguin! Everyone is a winner at a BBBS event so for those that did not win the gift of their choice, every Little received a gift bag as they left the event!
The following companies and individuals deserve a huge “thank you” for helping make this year’s event a success: American Eagle Outfitters, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, Arsenal Bowling Lanes, Fun Fore All, WPXI, Business Records Management, Vince Papi, Pat Lucas, Brett Moraski and Mike Jennings.
See pics from the event>>
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Google Hosts Build a Robot Day!
 What started out earlier this year as graduate student project at Carnegie Mellon University, 100 Robots for 100 Kids has developed into an exciting opportunity for our matches. It gives the children in our program a first-hand opportunity to build a robot from scratch and develop an interest in robotics.
The project started when local CMU doctoral student Mark Palatucci received a check for $1,000 from a friend with the instructions to “Do some good in Pittsburgh.” In an effort to help kids who don’t have the access to technological toys to spur that interest, Mark and his friends raise money to supply kids with Lego Mindstorms NXT robot kits to be built with the assistance of his/her mentor.
100 Robots for 100 Kids has been popular from the start and through a grassroots effort to obtain donations the project was able to put 24 robot kits into the hands of eager matches from BBBS. In early December Google donated $5,000 to the project which allowed for the purchase of 20 more Lego MindstormNXT kits!
How Google Pittsburgh followed up with this generous donation  highlights their committment to the communities they work in. In mid December, Google Pittsburgh opened their doors to host a robot build for 14 BBBS matches. The majority of the Bigs and Littles were first time builders and received the kits made possible by the donation from Google. In addition to providing snacks and pizza, many of the Google Pittsburgh staff attended to serve as facilitators in the building of the robots.
Each of the new builders were able to get their robots assembled and to follow along the lines on a paper track. Two matches who were “veteran builders” were able to get to their robot to stand on their feet and walk (and actually racing one another)! It was an amazing afternoon for all the matches that participated. Based on the animated conversations about robots and Google, the company may have seen an early glimpse of its recruitment class of 2017!
Thanks go out to all who not only made this one event so successful; but to everyone who has donated and participated over the course of the year to make the project such a positive experience for those involved.
See pics from the event>>
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Know Someone Who Would Make a Great Big?
If you have a friend or a relative who you think would make a great Big Brother or Big Sister, let us know! We promise not to annoy or pressure him/her (after all, we need people who really WANT to be a mentor).
I know someone who would make a great Big! |
 Please support the following Champions Network members and thank them for their support when you stop by!
If you own a business, or know a business owner, that would like to help promote mentoring as a member of the Champions Network, please contact Ian DeJesus, Communications Coordinator, at 412-204-1225 or e-mail, idejesus@bbbspgh.org.
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Big Brothers Big Sisters is Hiring
Washington County Part-Time Match Support Specialist
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December New Matches and Match Anniversaries
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