Founded in 1999 and affiliated with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, weoffer the oldest, best-known, and most effective youth mentoring programsin the world, while remaining one the smallest and last local, independentchapters. We are a true grassroots organization, with four Island staff andmore than 250 loyal volunteers who work in every phase of agency activity.All BBBSIC mentoring services are provided entirely free of charge byvolunteers with training and support from professional staff. Our most important goal is to provide a caring mentor for every child thatneeds one. Most of the children we work with live in low-income and/orsingle-parent homes. Mentoring services are grounded in the common,shared interests of the “Bigs” (adult mentors) and “Littles” (child mentees).The match process is rigorous, involving parental engagement andthorough, consistent oversight by agency staff. This year, we project thatwe will serve approximately 100 Whidbey Island children with meaningfulrelationships and lifelong learning opportunities.