Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Calgary & Area Review

Amazing staff, well organized and committed to serving the children and youth in the Calgary area.

Wonderful program and staff. I encourage more people to volunteer

Fantastic mentoring program with 18 times social benefit rating!

I love what these guys do for our community! Everyone is so nice and understanding. Keep up the good work everyone.

I was a Big Sister with this organization for 6 years and I still continue to see my "little" as she is a grown women now. I loved the support and staff at BBBS during my time as a volunteer and would recommend volunteering your time, money or energy to this organization. It really is all about giving back and building strong youth. Loved my time here!

Best place to volunteer. Amazing organization, staff and moto

I was a volunteer here. I originally signed up in January, and wasn't matched until mid May. The typical time it takes to be matched is 3 months from application according to the people who ran the orientations.

They first tried to match me with a young boy whose parents wanted to "Canadianize him and have him shown around town". The second match attempt came in the form of a young girl. Matches are meant to be done based on shared experiences, backgrounds, location etc. This girl and I were nothing alike. She comes from a family of privilege, has lots of friends, and isn't struggling.

Throughout the time I spent with this organization, I was continually let down by the coordinators. When I tried to raise concerns about the girls background and lack of interest in doing anything other than going skiing in Banff, or going on the rides at the Stampede (which definitely doesn't fall into the "low to no cost" that the program recommends) I was told that things would get better if I just gave it time. When I told tje coordinator that I didn't think there was anything I could mentor the child on because of her background, I was told "she is going to learn how to react with people when she watches you pay for things". Every time I raised a concern, I was dismissed. Multiple times I explained that I was there to help a youth who needed it like I did when I was younger, but that fell on deaf ears every time. They "didn't know what kind of childhood I had" even though I had explained it many times at that point. Eventually, after being told to give it "one more month" and not having any of the promised follow-up, I decided I had enough.

About a month of playing phone tag resulted in me having to come into the office. Again, I tried explaining why I wasn't happy with the program and how I wanted to help someone who legitimately needed a big sister. Someone who can look at me and see that I didn't have the best childhood, but now I'm a tournament paintball player, I have a cool motorcycle, and things work out in the end. The meeting was more or less a bunch of finger pointing and guilt trips. All day, I knew I wasn't going to have a good time at the meeting and it was wearing on me. I left feeling worse, still unheard, and not expecting anything good to come from it.

So I get an email the next day. "As I mentioned last night, even if we were able to find a mentee for you that has similar interests and comes from a background that you can better relate with, there is no guarantee that it would be a good fit". I went through all the interviews, I repeatedly explained who I am, and I still don't feel like the coordinator actually heard anything I spoke to her about. I leave the program disappointed that I couldn't help a disadvantaged youth, but relieved that I don't have to feel bad about the overall situation anymore.

Amazing organization. Friendly and helpful staff. Thanks again