Big Brothers Big Sisters finding new ways to connect with kids during pandemic
Nicola MacLeod | CBC News | Posted: April 17, 2020 8:00 PM | Last Updated: April 17, 2020
'I don't know how long this will last, but once it's over I know there's a lot of children on a wait-list'
Participants in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program on P.E.I. are finding new ways to connect with each other during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Big Brothers Big Sisters volunteers are normally asked to be available for one visit a week for two to four hours, but with physical distancing requirements, these visits are no longer happening. Instead, executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters P.E.I. Myron Yates says mentors and children — or bigs and littles as they're referred to within the program — are finding new, creative ways to stay in touch.
"It's important to maintain that throughout this," said Yates.
"They look forward to that, once they're matched, both the mentors and the children, they look forward to that visit on a weekly basis."
Yates said he's heard of duos calling, texting, writing letters and video chatting about what TV shows they're watching or books they're reading, but also taking that time together to do other things like school work, scrapbooking, doing crafts or painting and drawing.
Children without that social engagement that they have at school, it's just going to be so important. — Myron Yates, Big Brothers Big Sisters P.E.I.
"They're maintaining that relationship on a regular basis just as if they would in a normal case," he said.
"We're kind of so impressed with the creativity with some of them ... they're making lists of things that they'll do together once this is over or things that they'll bake together once this is out of here."
New matches on hold
Although relationships between pre-existing matches are continuing, Yates said they've had to put any new matches on hold, as their matching process involves some in-person meetings, including between the big brother or sister and the child's family.
"That's the big thing for us, I don't know how long this will last, but once it's over I know there's a lot of children on a wait-list and we'll probably get a lot more too," he said.
"Children without that social engagement that they have at school, it's just going to be so important."
He said he hopes to see new interested volunteers once the pandemic is over.