Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound was one of two mentoring agencies in the nation to earn a one million dollar grant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This grant will allow BBBSPS to serve up to 1,000 at-risk youth for 5 years through one-on-one community-based mentoring.

BBBSPS’s immediate goal is to double the size of the agency by 2010, which will allow them to match 5,000 children with a mentor through in-school or community-based programs.

I’ve been a “Big Sister” for almost 5 months now, paired with a 5th grade “Little” in the school-based program. For one hour at lunch a week, I get to play Monopoly, Sorry!, or Dominoes with the kid and it’s actually a lot of fun. I wanted to share the last part of this morning’s email with Seattle Metblogs readers in hopes that maybe one of you would be interested in mentoring.

Did you know that we currently have over 800 kids waiting for a Big Brother or Big Sister? Because you are a Big yourself, you understand first hand the importance of our program and are therefore our best resource for finding other Bigs. Please share your stories with your family, friends and co-workers and encourage them to BeBIG! They can easily inquire by calling 1-877-700-2447 or by going online to www.bbbs.org/pugetsound.