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The BIG News
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio
 Introducing Our New CEO: Elizabeth Martinez
Elizabeth Martinez, President and CEO
Elizabeth Martinez, formerly our Chief Operating Officer, has succeeded Ed Cohn as President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio. Elizabeth joined the agency in 2003, and she has held progressively responsible positions, including Hispanic Mentoring Manager, Assistant Vice President of Hispanic and School-based Mentoring Programs and Vice President of Programs. 

Ed has made amazing contributions during his 11 years as CEO. In fact, during his tenure leading the agency as CEO, we served more than 100,000 central Ohio children! We are pleased that he will remain on our Board of Directors and continue to provide strategic guidance and vision to the agency.

Elizabeth has 15 years of experience working with children, youth and families, as well as extensive community and board involvement. She has been honored for her work with youth in our community. As the new leader of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio, Elizabeth is excited about this opportunity to put her vision, creativity and strategy to work to help kids in our community achieve success! Please join us in congratulating Elizabeth.
Come Bowl With Us...and Party, Too
If you've never joined in, now's your chance to get involved with our largest fundraising event of the year, Bowl for Kids' Sake presented by KPMG and The Champion Companies. There's still plenty of time to form a team, register and fundraise online, then join in the bowling bash at Columbus Square Bowling Palace on March 5, 2016. It's a family-friendly celebration party especially for those who joined in the fundraising...with free food, kids' activities and fun for all! For more information and to register, please click here.
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Huge thanks go out to our generous sponsors! Our Presenting Sponsors are KPMG and The Champion Companies. Platinum Perfect Game Sponsors are Rockbridge, Safelite, Clear Channel Outdoor and WNCI 97.9. Gold Sponsors include Cardinal Health, Columbus Square Bowling Palace and UBS. Silver Sponsors are AEP Ohio, Hamilton Parker, Kimball Midwest, The Mendoza Company, Ohio Custodial Management/Ohio Support Services and Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Services.

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Celebrating Mentoring
When central Ohio came together to celebrate mentoring at the Ohio Statehouse for the 15th annual Mentoring Celebration on January 21, there were many inspirational stories of wonderful gains experienced by mentees with help from their mentors. The Mentoring Celebration was hosted, as always, by our Mentoring Center of Central Ohio. The Mentoring Center works with 35 partner organizations, helping increase the quality and quantity of mentoring. Three Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring matches were among the those honored at the Celebration!

Honored mentoring matches: front row, from left-Little Sister Camryn and Big Sister Marva Pack; Mentor Sheri-Lynn Wynn and Mentee Oscionnah. Back row, from left-Mentee Orpheus and Mentor Todd Warner.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio held our 82nd Annual Meeting and Luncheon on November 10 at the Ohio Union. Our 2015 Spotlighted Matches were Little Sister Camryn and Big Sister Marva Pack plus Little Brother Kion and Big Brother Andrew Wehr. The 2016 Milton Lewin Legacy Award went to special friends and supporters of the agency, Haslett Heating & Cooling and its former owner, Stewart McHarg. Congratulations, everyone!
Little Sister Camryn and Big Sister Marva Pack

Big Brother Andrew and Little Brother Kion

Holiday Fun



There were many happy faces at our annual Holiday Skating Party in Columbus, where mentoring matches enjoyed the skating and pizza. This year, some of those happy faces qualified to get vouchers for free vision exams and glasses from our partner Visionworks, who did vision screenings of 45 kids at the party, and ended up providing free vouchers for eye exams and glasses for the 12 kids who needed them!In the Hocking Hills, nothing says winter like our Holidays in the Country fundraising event at our Camp Oty'Okwa. The 2015 event on December 12 was the fifth annual, and the funds it raised will support our camper scholarship fund that allows kids to benefit from Camp Oty'Okwa's programs. It was a special evening with a gourmet meal, musical entertainment and lots of wonderful silent auction items.

McBig Nights Are HereTipOff

The 3rd Wednesday every month is McBig Night at the eight area McDonald's restaurants owned by the Mendoza Company. From 5-7 p.m. each of those evenings, 10% of the proceeds of all eight of those restaurants will be donated to support the work of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio. What a great night to stop by for a tasty Big Mac or one of McDonald's healthy salads! 

 

Alex Mendoza and the Mendoza Company have pledged $15,000 to support our programs! Thanks to them for their amazing support of central Ohio kids! The eight participating restaurants are located at: 2520 South Hamilton Rd., 4250 International Gateway, 2441 Lockbourne Rd., 1020 Alum Creek Dr., 3550 E. Broad St., 3005 E. Livingston Ave., 3095 N. High St., and 2091 E. Dublin Granville Rd. Please join us for McBig Night!

2015 Clark Kellogg ClassicTipOff
On December 5, some of the area's best high school basketball teams showcased their talent at the

2015 Clark Kellogg Classic. It was a great opportunity for fans to cheer on their favorite team and support these three charities: Ronald McDonald House Charities, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio! Special thanks to the Clark Kellogg Classic and all of our sponsors, who made this possible.

 

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio, a United Way member agency, has been matching children with mentors since 1933. One of the largest Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies in the country, we serve thousands of children each year through our Community-based Mentoring program, School-based Mentoring program (including Project Mentor) and Summer Camp and Environmental Education mentoring programs at Camp Oty'Okwa in the Hocking Hills. We serve children in 14 Ohio counties through our offices and affiliates in Columbus, Chillicothe, Cleveland, Delaware, Marysville, New Philadelphia and Springfield, plus Camp Oty'Okwa. In addition, our Mentoring Center of Central Ohio is helping increase the quality and quantity of mentoring throughout Ohio. Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, professionally-supported matches between volunteers and children. We provide ongoing evaluation and support which independent studies prove have positive impacts: helping children perform better in school, avoid violence and illegal activities, and have stronger relationships with their parents and others. Learn more at bbbscentralohio.org, projectmentorcolumbus.org, campotyokwa.org, amachiohio.org and mentoringcenterco.org.

IN THIS ISSUE
Meet Our New CEO
The Biggest Bowling Party Ever
15 Years!
Celebrations
Yum, McBig Nights
Slam Dunk For the Kids
About Us


ALUMNI LITTLE BROTHER SCORES BIG!
Our Alumni Little Brother Kenny Stafford finished up an outstanding season playing professional football with the Edmonton Eskimos. He and his Esk teammates won the Grey Cup, which is Canada's national championship! Kenny and his Big Brother Daryle Cobb stay in close touch; they shared their story in this inspiring video.
Kenny just signed a new contract to play next season for the Montreal Alouettes. Go Als!

MANY THANKS!
COLUMBUS PERFORMANCE AUTO GROUP was our generous Presenting Sponsor for our first-ever Golf for Girls' Sake event. The event raised funds to support girls' leadership programs at our Camp Oty'Okwa. We also thank Leadership Sponsor KPMG! The event would not have been possible without the hard work and commitment of Co-chairs Kerrii Anderson and Tina Ambrozy and their talented committee. 

Special thanks to American Showa for sponsoring its annual golf outing in Delaware, which raised funds to support Delaware County youth. American Showa has been providing support to Big Brothers Big Sisters for 22 years!

We are very grateful  to Microsoft for selecting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio for an exciting $200,000 software grant that will help our agency operate more efficiently so we can serve more kids!

We thank Bar 145 in Columbus for hosting the 2nd annual Ugly Sweater Party benefitting our agency's work at Camp Oty'Okwa. Hope you can join us next year!

SERVING CHILDREN FACING ADVERSITY
Did you know Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio leads a collaborative of Ohio Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies serving children of incarcerated parents (Amachi Ohio), and also foster care youth (Connecting the Dots)? Both of these programs help Ohio kids who face additional challenges in their lives. An independent study by Public/Private Ventures found that higher-risk youth like these who were paired with mentors reported better grades, greater acceptance by peers and fewer depressive symptoms. Mentoring Works!

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