Get Out and Volunteer in Utah!

Utah has plenty of opportunities to get out and volunteer. One of these is the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentorship program. This program has been running for more than 40 years! It’s a 1-to-1 mentoring program matching “bigs” with “littles.” Our Bigs are supportive, friendly adults matched with youth in need of a mentor. Our youth mentees are called Littles. The time commitment is a few hours per month for at least a year. Over time, youth start to realize their potential. Thee connection then grows exponentially between our bigs and our littles.

You can volunteer several types of ways for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah volunteer mentorship program. As a Big, you’ll most likely be using our most common mentoring methods: community-based, site-based, and technology-enhanced (i.e., remote) mentoring.

A community-based mentoring program matches bigs with littles that need an additional role model. The big and little meets several times a month to foster confidence, help improve their grades and school attendance. Being big is a responsibility, with a minimum volunteer commitment of one year.

A site-based mentoring program gives a big brother or big sister the chance to meet with their little across 15 different elementary schools across the state of Utah, meeting after-school for an hour on a specified weekday. Connecting with your little at these meetings is essential to their well-being, emotionally and academically. Typically bigs and littles work on schoolwork or participate in fun activities together.

The technology-enhanced mentoring program, a.k.a mentor2.0, focuses on high school students preparing for adult life after they graduate. Whether the mentee is looking to go to college or to start a career, the mentor is there to help support them in the process. Giving the mentee resilience, confidence, goal-setting to help keep them on track in high school and into their life after they graduate. When volunteering, you should expect to hold weekly online communications and monthly in-person meetings as a volunteer for the mentor2.0 program.

The Big Brothers and Big Sisters mentorship program are essential; however, there are other ways to volunteer. Volunteers can help refugees from war-torn or religious-intolerant countries by joining the Utah Refugee Vista Project, or improve their community’s health by volunteering for the Community Health Connect Utah program. Volunteers of America, Utah, is another program dedicated to helping individuals struggling with mental health, homelessness, and addiction. No matter what you choose to do, there’s always a way to help. Get out and volunteer today!