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After rigorous screening and carefully individualized preparation, volunteer mentors are matched with their Little Brother or Sister. Once a friendship has been established, the major challenge for BBBS staff is nurturing and maintaining this friendship so that it develops into a stable and supportive long-term relationship. We at BBBS provide a strategic follow-up plan which includes regular, individual phone support and supervision as well as group training sessions every two months with a professional in the field of mentoring.

Jerusalem is the heart of our organization and the location of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Clubhouse, a center of activity and a meeting place for pairs from both Jerusalem and Gush Etzion. As well as regular enrichment activities which take place at the Clubhouse, we also provide organized group outings - “Fun Days” - for pairs from all three of our branches, for example: kite-flying, a visit to an air-force base, and an outdoor activities day.

Additionally, BBBS has a Personal Assistance Fund in order to support our most destitute families, so that their children can be sent to summer camps and afternoon clubs, and to finance emergency psychological evaluations for at-risk kids, and finally, to help with basic needs such as purchasing home furnishings and electrical appliances.

BBBS founded in Jerusalem in June 2003, is modeled after the American Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations and is the Israeli affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters International. BBBS answers an unmet need in Israeli society by providing long-term, committed adult mentors for lonely children and teens at-risk for whom short-term mentoring programs are inadequate. These Little Brothers and Sisters from isolated single-parent homes are matched with dedicated, adult volunteer mentors (Big Brothers and Sisters) who meet with them weekly in order to achieve a warm, supportive and long-lasting relationship. Support for the volunteers includes careful, individualized matching of pairs, group and individual supervision and ongoing organized recreational activities. Since our first match was made, we have matched up more than 500 pairs.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Israel's (BBBS) main purpose is to provide trained, caring and committed adult volunteer mentors for lonely girls and boys from single-parent families, and to ensure that these long-term relationships reach their full potential as per the successful BBBS model worldwide.

Dawit and Ben

Little Brother Dawit, eighteen, and Big Brother Ben, 28, have been together for 4 years. Ben is a young lawyer, and Dawit has finished high school and is serving in the army, in large part thanks to Ben.
Dawit was born in Ethiopia and made the arduous trip to Israel together with his mother and siblings. The trauma of the journey caused his mother to suffer from irreversible emotional damage, and once in Israel she was hospitalized numerous times.

Ben came in to Dawit’s life at a point in time when Dawit was convinced that it was inevitable that he would land up being picked up by the police for some minor infraction and see his whole future collapse --
as was happening to his friends, one by one. Ben encouraged him to believe that he could decide that this was not going to happen -- that if he believed in himself he could make it through high school and into the army as a combat soldier, which was his dream. Ben helped him to get a driver’s license, and Dawit worked his way through high school. Dawit is now serving in the army, in the same engineering unit that Ben once served, and is talking about how one day, he too, may become a lawyer.

From the USA:  “Meet a Match” - Adopt a pair (a big and a little brother/sister) and create a virtual relationship online or via other methods (regular mail!). Use JChoice, Facebook, webcam send pictures, share ideas and activities, send games and activity books, etc.