clouds roll in later. About 60,
the shore 66 degrees inland,
then a couple showers possible
for Mother’s Day. We’ll talk
more about that coming up when I
see you tonight at 11:00. You’re
probably familiar with Big
Brothers Big Sisters. The
volunteer program pairs an adult
with a child for youth,
mentorship, bonding, and all
kinds of fun activities. Since
the nonprofit was founded in
Connecticut in the mid 1960s, it
has offered services to more
than 100,000 kids statewide. And Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Connecticut currently serves
1000 kids, and here now is
someone behind that initiative.
Brian Kelly, Director of
marketing, and Brian, you’ve been with Big Brothers Big
Sisters for 25 years. You are
about to enter retirement. True.
How are you feeling going into
that next step? Elated and a
little bit apprehensive. It is a
big move. I want to talk about
your career over the past 25
years. What have you seen and
how has Big Brothers Big Sisters
impacted lives? I think it has
broadened the horizons for many,
many children. I’ve seen actual
examples of that and it’s very impressive. One of the things I
remember most, one child who
lived in the north end of the
city, who had never seen the
riverfront and the riverfront,
was three blocks from his house, and we had an event where they
went boating, and he could not
believe that the river was this
close. That’s one example, but
there are so many examples of
kids whose horizons have been
broadened. Why is this bond
between the mentor and the child
so crucial? It’s very often the child doesn’t have a father
figure or the child has. There’s
nobody for the child to confide
in. And the parent very often is
a well-meaning and hard working. But they very often have two
jobs, and they just don’t have
time to spend with the child.
And the child needs somebody
that they can depend on and
listen to and take guidance from
and tell things to. And I
understand from the adult
volunteers that it’s really
rewarding for them as well. It
is it is a very often they’ll
tell me they do things that they
haven’t done since they were
kids, like going sledding, going
on a roller coaster. And it’s
rewarding because they realize
the impact that they can have in
a child’s life over the course
of your career, how have you seen the organization evolve
here in Connecticut? That’s been
huge. When I first started, the
organization was basically in
the Hartford area, and it
covered 40 municipalities, and now it covers the entire state.
At an event recently, the
organization surprised you with
a lifetime achievement award.
What does that mean to you to
get that special recognition? It
just shows me I’m a small cog in
that big machine, and it is a
small cog because the most
important thing there are the people who work so hard every
day to make these programs for
kids and make them work, and to
be part of that is terrific. And
that’s what I interpreted from
the award. And if I, if I was
just a small part of that,
that’s very gratifying. Very much well deserved. All right.
Brian Kelly retiring after 25
years from Big Brothers Big