The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta is to transform the lives of children through professionally supported, one-to-one mentoring relationships with caring, well trained volunteers.
HMP Success Story
Kimberly met her Little Sister, Adriana, at the age of 6 and now they have been matched for almost 6 wonderful years. Kimberly has definitely demonstrated to be a remarkable Big Sister. One of the biggest challenges in this match was the language barrier and Adriana’s family not being familiar with the American culture. Adriana’s mother didn’t speak a word of English and was unable to help Adriana with school work. Consequently, Adriana also didn’t speak fluent English and was doing poorly in school.
When Kimberly met Adriana, she was failing all of her classes and was even held back a school year in 2004. Being committed to the match, Kimberly took action and tutored Adriana in reading and spelling, which were the areas she was needing help in the most. A year later, Adriana and her parent proudly announced to Kimberly that she had passed all her classes and was going to pass on to the 3rd grade. Kimberly stated that this was such a rewarding experience and to this day, she continues to work side by side with Adriana’s mother. Adriana now has achieved good grades in school, and self esteem as well.
Kimberly has also exposed Adriana to the American culture and has taught her how to play golf which, for the most part, is a non familiar sport to the Hispanic culture. Kimberly has been a positive influence to Adriana and her family. Adriana’s mother has moved to a better home in a safer neighborhood, which is also located in a better school district.
Kimberly now has developed a close knit relationship not only with Adriana, but with her family as well. She has shared great times with Adriana’s family by attending weddings, baby showers and quinceaneras. It is also evident that Adriana’s family feels the support and love from Kimberly and have voiced that she is like a family member to them.
Kimberly has conveyed that the most rewarding part of being matched in the Hispanic Mentoring Program is that she was also exposed to a new culture and is now able to better understand and appreciate it.
