Tuesday, September 30, 1997
Is there a future for the agency or not?
By JERRY DANIEL REED Senior Staff Writer
News of the death of Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Abilene may
be slightly premature, but the agency isn't exactly alive, either.
The agency's board, which 11 days ago announced that Big Brothers-Big
Sisters would fold, met Monday evening to consider a proposal
of additional funding support that might bring the agency new
life. Its supervision of matches of adult men and women with children
of the same sex was terminated as of the board's action.
Many "bigs", as the adult volunteers are known, vowed
to continue to interact with their matches, with parental permission.
After Monday's meeting chairman Linn Monkerud said the board
would contemplate the proposal presented by a community group
Monday. She gave few details, but noted that Big Brothers-Big
Sisters operations were through for 1997. If the agency were to
start up again, it would be next year, she told reporters.
"For us to even consider (it), there's many, many details
to work out," she said after the one-hour board meeting.
But she added: "The board is going to take a look."
For the period Jan. 1, 1998 through Dec. 31, 1998, Big Brothers-Big
Sisters would need $110,000 to operate. The proposal presented
Monday contemplated raising about $30,000 to help get the agency
back on its feet, said Janet Ardoyno, a community volunteer leader.
Ironically, a big push to try to save Big Brothers-Big Sisters
grew out of the crape myrtle billboard controversy, said Ardoyno,
creator of the billboard slogan to sell crape myrtles for citizens
to plant and enhance the city's appearance.
Amid a flurry of calls to Power 103 radio about the supposedly
sexy billboard "Myrtle," someone called to protest that
while everyone was talking about the controversy, "Big Brothers-Big
Sisters was going under and nobody was upset about that,"
Ardoyno said.
Tres Michaels of Power 103 and officials of two other radio
stations started pushing the notion of reviving the agency, and
the Volunteer Center of Abilene took up the cause, planning some
activities on Make A Difference Day to spotlight Big Brothers-Big
Sisters.
Monkerud said the Big Brothers-Big Sisters board is concerned
not only about funding, but volunteer support. When it ceased
operations, the agency had 78 adult-children matches, and many
more children on the waiting list.
More than 400 local Big Brothers-Big Sisters agencies across
the country provide adult mentors to spend time with children
7 to 14 from single-parent families.
Extensive screening and monitoring requirements for the adult
volunteers, as a protection to the children, makes the agency
expensive to operate, Monkerud said when the agency announced
its closing.
She could not give a date for the next board meeting to consider
the proposal from the community further. Because it takes 30 to
90 days for such an agency to complete its shutdown, it would
be possible for the agency to resume operations without having
to start from scratch.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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