BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS

Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome. It's time now for our community connection right here on K one, the one you tried and Ian studio. Today we have Charlene do with big brothers, big sisters, and you brought friends I did. Who'd you bring along this time? I think he looks familiar.

This is Ted Todd Edwards, our new area director for Bartlesville and.

One of the listeners to get to know him a bit, and and here his plans for the for the future.

All right, So we're going to get to that here in just a little bit. Charlene, I understand that we got a little thing coming up for you on Friday.

Yes, I am retiring after thirty five years, thirty five years here in Bartlesville as the area director, forty two years total. It's two years in Norman and five years in Manitoba, Canada.

So it's a little.

Cold up there, doesn't you know? It does?

Des Moines Ia was as far north as I was ever going to go, and I was I can't imagine that. But we're blessed to have you here in our community. You're not going to go anywhere.

I'm not going anywhere. Good, So I will take some time to just reset and figure out what the next section of my life looks like.

We'll take your time on that, please, because everyone I've talked to who has gone through this, it says take at least six months to a year. Don't rush.

Yes, that's is the wisdom from everything you read and anyone that has been retired there just they like, just unplugged and reset and figure out who you want to be in the next era of your life. And that's what I intend to do. So making no commitments until next fall. Good and so don't ask me, you know, the same timing as everything. Yeah, yeah, call me in September.

Call you in September. All right, Todd, let's get to know you a little bit better. Todd. You used to hang around here a little bit. I did.

Yeah, wife and I are family's been here for about fourteen years. So we're fully integrated. We're vartions. We love the community. That's kind of I was looking for a job really to kind.

Of connect with the community.

I've worked with kids in the past, so I saw this opportunity pop up and thought, man, this is this is going to be great.

So here I am.

I've been in the role now about three weeks. Charlene has done a fantastic job of giving me the ins and outs. They are definitely big shoes to fill, but yeah, excited about it.

Wait a wait a minute, those are tiny, little that's true. That's true, that's true. But I know what you're talking about.

How about this standing on the shoulders of a giant? But I don't know if that works either.

I don't know.

We can try metaphor galory here, you know, there you go and cliche of the day. But the thing is, we're going to have a big event coming up, Charlene, And now I don't know, Todd, you're ready to fill those bowling shoes.

We have been working on the ball really hard a lot. I am really excited about that. We've got some new changes coming up to it. I've been thinking about some new awards, So we've got some exciting, brand new awards. I don't think we've ever done here in Martinsville. So we've got some a party, a launch party coming up very soon. So those will be coming out next week.

So, Charlene, you've been showing him around, showing him all the folks that you've been doing business with, and all the partners for Bowl.

And we've been doing stewardship visits with all of our sponsors. Yeah, and committing the twenty twenty five sponsorships for both both.

For Kidsick and big events.

And I wanted our sponsors in particular to meet Todd and shouldn't make that connection. Todd's bringing some new energy, fresh ideas, and I'm quite confident that he and the board will take this program to the next level. And you know, from where I sit, that's the best you could.

Hope for us. Both for kid's ake is coming. We have it every year. The bull dates.

Are the end of February February twenty eighth, March sixth and seventh, and that information will start going out this week. And the website is up so anybody it doesn't have all the information on it or the sponsor logos because it's brand new, but if but it is BFKS Bartlesville dot org. And so start getting your teams together. We had eighty four teams last year. We're looking for ninety six this year. Same goal one hundred and fifty five thousand. So it's it's going to be fun.

Well, you know, it is going to be a blast on tod. I hope you really paid attention here in class, because she's been doing this a couple of years now, and you know, it's got a good formula going here. She does keep it on the rail sid yep. Yeah, I'm kid kidding you. I'm kidding. I know you're going

That would be wonderful what it would be.

We this last year in twenty twenty four, we recovered from the pandemic. Sure we got back to twenty twenty levels, and so now it's just looking at going going forward. Bartlesfield's Bowl for Kid's Sake has always raised more per capita than anybody in the state and probably more than a lot of balls in the country. Good and so it's a mature fundraiser, so we've got we've got room for growth, but we're you know it's we're not going to add one hundred teams.

ID So DoD you said you got some new awards. Can you tell it? Can you give us a little peak behind the curtains, give you we're doing to kind of get people stoked a little bit.

One of them is Best Dressed Award. So we're gonna of course some yeah, some funds. We're gonna add a lot of excitement to this bowl.

So that's something you can look Ford. Yeah, that's all I can see is and do a little bowl and having some fun. There you go, this is gonna be great. And you got another way there real quick.

Yeah, the most creative fundraiser. So it's yeah, I'm looking for some ideas. We're gonna get some excitement going. So yeah, I want people to think outside the box. What can we do that's just really exciting, right, and add some fun.

It's not about the bowling, it's about raising the money that supports one to un mentoring and having some fun while you're doing it.

You've had some long term teams with a bowler partisis.

Oh yeah, we've had teams that have been bowling as long as I've been here.

Oh wow, And they still do it.

Yeah, they're they're the faithful.

And for some where bowling we also have.

We've been really trying to promote the last couple of years the virtual fundraisers. Yeah, that are you know individuals that are like, you know, I'm over bowling or I can't bowl anymore, but they can still have a pledge sheet. They can still do an online pledge sheet and collect pledges.

They just don't bowl.

Oh okay, so it's a.

Virtual virtual fundraiser, no bull party, and that is We probably have ten people who do that, and I think there are more people out there who have a heart for the mission who would be interested in Yeah, I'll do that.

I'll ask my.

Network of friends to support me and I'll be a virtual fundraiser if I don't have to bowl because I can't or.

They don't want to.

Yeah, things well, yeah, Biggs obstacles getting the way. So right now all that fulled the website, we can get all the information right now, and that that's super. How many kids do we have waiting.

For bigs thirty two they're twenty two boys and eleven girls. And the need for one to one mentors is ongoing and we especially need men.

And couples to match with the boys.

We've made twenty six new matches nice, and I think there's four three or four more that are in the process of getting made. And I think there's two or three volunteers in the enrollment. So we're really trying to get to thirty six by the middle of December.

And if you've been.

Thinking about it, now it's the time to pull the trigger and get more information and come in and make a difference in a child's life.

Todd How we go about doing this? How do you become a big One.

Of the best ways just come by, come see us. If not, you can go to the website and that's we got great, really easy application.

All right good, and of course you've got to do a little questionnaire. There's got one to make sure that the matches match up pretty good and everything's.

All cool and right.

And they can call the office or they can go to Big Oklahoma dot org is the website. The website has all the information, has a little video that you can watch. If you have questions, you can call the office be happy to talk with you about it. It is an online application, sure, and that's the first step to getting the process started.

Well, if you've been waiting for a while, here's your nudge do it.

This is your sign to be a big.

Yeah, there you go. If you've been thinking about it this long, it's time to go ahead and make the commandment. And I know that's what a few people just did recently, so you know, kind of follow their lead and to find out what it's all about. I've not met any person who's been a big who's been disappointed. In fact, they kind of have a tendency to go back for more.

Right.

Well, volunteers will frequently say that they came in to help a child, but they were surprised at how much that it benefited them to be part of the program and to be part.

Of that child's life.

And for those who are thinking, oh, we're coming up on the holidays, it can't possibly do anything before January.

If you're interested in being a mentor, I would say.

Apply, get the interview out of the way, and if you need to be matched with your little in January, that can that can happen, but it's going to take four weeks to get through the process, So go ahead and do the application, the interview, and get all of that going so that come January you're ready to be matched.

Alrighty well, God, good meeting you. Yeah you as well, and Charlene, I.

Will see you Friday, all right, wink.

Wink nudgs nuts. All right, folks, you have been watching and listening to our community connection with big brothers, Big sisters. Charlene.

Thanks