BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS

Logo.

But we have time and a big brothers and big sisters.

How you doing, man, Hey, I'm doing good, glad to be here.

Hey, what's shaken? I think we've got a little bowling action coming up.

We've got a lot of bowling action coming up. Yeah, bull for kid's sake. First Bowl date is this month. So yeah, we're getting ready for it. We're getting that lane fash. Yeah, it came around quick. Yeah, getting the lanes fired up, getting the getting them oiled and ready to go.

Now I understand that we have some days that are already filled up.

Yes, yeah, So the March seventh date, it's already booked. It's it's full. The lanes are lanes are all full. So we've got two more dates at Red Apple. So if you want to pick one, you need to sign up today.

What dates are those?

That's going to be the twenty eighth and March sixth.

There you go.

Okay, so you got that going yep. But boy boy, that's filling up quick.

That's good. That's a good problem to have.

It's a great problem to have. Yeah, we're we're sitting at sixty teams right now, so so so happy about the community coming together, putting these teams together. But the good news is, hey, there's still time.

It's Bull for Kid's Sake and this is something that's been going on for many, many years and it's got a grand tradition, and this is the biggest, one of the biggest fundraisers of the year.

This is our biggest fundraiser here in Bartlesville for Big Brothers and Big Sisters.

Yeah, my Heaven's sakes. And you can only have fun, that's right, I mean, what's the downside? There is no downside.

You have fun.

We raise some money, We make sure that the organization stays afloat, and it's a good way to actually learn a little bit more about big brothers big sisters, especially if you're kind of new to the Bull for Kid's Sake. And it's not a bad way to recruit mentors either.

No, Yeah, so it is. It's pretty awesome. And it's so I think last time we.

Were here, yeah, we needed we had thirty three waiting littles. We're down to twenty nine, so that number is shrinking. Yeah, so we still have twenty nine we're waiting on. But the community is stepping up and when we're getting some littles match with some bigs. People are hearing about what we're doing. And we actually had a new report come out. I thought this was really interesting. So they did a thirty year report where they took littles and then kind

That's great.

On all mentorship is if you can be a friend, you can be a big that's right. And what happens is what I've learned is that these littles actually get to see life through a different lens, you know, because you only know what you know.

You only know what you know. That's right.

And Yeah, unfortunately, we've got a lot of kids in our community that they don't have that person to kind of show them the ropes and show them what's going on. And so yeah, we need some people to kind of step in and say, hey, here's how you you change the oil in a car, Here's how you balance a check book, Here's how you go grocery shopping.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, you know a lot of these littles are coming from single parent households and they're watching that parent do everything and and they don't have really time to show or teach right, And this is a way to you know, take that time right, invest in a little bit of learning.

Yeah, you know that.

It doesn't take a whole lot, It just takes a hard Yep.

We are we're currently working on our Every year we do an impact report and we yep and we just we look at just just Bartlesville. What is the impact of big brother, big sister on our current littles. So we don't have all the details done, but one detail that we already have that just floored me. One percent of our littles avoided just the negative with the police.

And so that's just a that's a huge number.

I mean, that's a shocking impact to a lot of these kids that are constantly surrounded about around you know.

The police may be justice involved.

Yeah exactly.

So to see that mentor step in and say kind of show them a different way and to see that impact of one hundred percent avoiding those negative interactions with the police, man, this is making a huge impact.

You know, tell you what, that makes that first step into adulthood a lot easier when you don't have that following you. That's it, and you don't have that kind of shadow. Yep, next thing, you know, everything starts to be a little bit more positive.

Is this how this is working out for the kids?

Yep? Another huge one.

Ninety percent of our littles had increased academic performance.

I believe that.

I mean I just time and time again.

Every time I see these numbers, I'm floored and blown away what the impact of just one positive mentor can do in a child's life.

Let's make it clear. We're not saying anything bad about mom or dad. No, no, not at all at all. It's just that you've got an adult there that's got some time and can maybe just have a conversation, maybe shed some light on you know, education is pretty important.

It is.

It's not just something you exist through and hope to gosh it passes quickly.

This is something you could really use later on. That's right.

Make it a value instead of a Thing's right, Oh my gosh, this is wonderful. You know, miracles happen, Like to quote the poet Gump, miracles happen every day.

That's right.

That's right, My gosh, what else did your study show?

Well, that's that's about where I'm at with the full details. We're still still boiling with boiling it down.

There's we do a lot of data collection because we want to make sure what we're doing is making an impact. And how do you know unless you're tracking that. You got to have some metrics, that's right, But the problem is when you track a bunch of metrics, there's a lot of data to sift through.

So those are the two that I've I've.

Got solid right now, and those are huge and they are huge, but we track about forty different metrics, so.

We need to go on the positive. That is a plus.

Yeah, yeah, we're excited about it.

But yeah, the good thing bull coming back in and uh, we're ready to get going.

Now, how do we find out more about how to sign up? Where do we go, what do we do? Who do we talk to?

Yep, So you can either call me directly nine one eight two one three four five two four, Uh, you can go to big Oklahoma dot org or of course find us online.

Very good.

Now, if you want to be a mentor if you know someone who probably has those mentor qualities, where do we direct our friends.

The best place is to go to our website at big Oklahoma dot org.

Mm hmm.

And then so when you go on there, there'll be a little tap to say, hey, I'm interested in being a big and there'll be a little questionnaire and kind of fill it out and then we'll reach out to you.

All Right now, for the folks who have been kind of hearing a little bit about Bowl for Kids sake, this is your chance to get rolling.

That's right like now, like now, because you might get shut exactly.

Yep.

I think we're three weeks out from from that first that first day. Huh yeah, Grab some friends, grab some coworkers, some family members, get a team signed up and come have fun with us.

And you know what that is.

You turn the Red Apple into a big rock and place on the days that we have Bowl for Kids saying there's a lot of fun going on.

Yep, yep, we're gonna take the whole place over. We're lighting it up. We've got some Strobe lights coming in. We got a bunch of Marty Gral beads. If you get a strike, we're gonna be throwing beads around. So yeah, we're gonna have a good time. We've got a lot of really good prizes this year. So one thing we're looking at this is brand new best dressed or just craziest dressed. So we're hoping teams can theme out, you know, come like it's prom coming a cowboy hat, come in

Do you have any trick shooters.

I bet there's some that show up. I don't have any personally, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I've seen some guys and gals who kind of put on a little bit of a show.

They'll just sit there.

They're pretty good bowlers to begin with, and sometimes they'll just do some of the darness things just to just to show off a little have fun.

I like it.

Just curious about that.

Yeah, yeah, I know, I know.

Our board's got some some pretty solid shooters on there. So oh yeah, rollers, that's right, Yeah, we'll see.

All right, Hey, thanks for being with us.

Yeah all right, folks, both for kid's sake, look it up on the old computer and get yourself signed up before we run out of spaces.