THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507070062
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
Life was an uphill struggle for 6-year-old Angie.
Her mother, unmarried and with three or four children, had a live-in, quasi-permanent boyfriend. Angie got hardly anything for Christmas.
But her life leveled when the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program caught up with her.
Marilyn Panton, now a Suffolk News-Herald staff writer, was living in Columbus, Ohio, when she met Angie. ``I love kids and enjoy being with them,'' she said. ``I wanted to spend quality time with a kid.''
Area residents who share those feelings now can share the opportunity. Big Brothers/Big Sisters, offering one-to-one relationships between adult volunteers and at-risk children, has an office at 112 W. Washington St.
Suffolk joins Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and more than 500 agencies around the country linking kids with people willing to provide help, friendship and positive influences.
The ``bigs,'' as they call themselves, get together with children up to 13 years old.
``We have $20,000 to get started in Suffolk, then I hope United Way picks up the funding,'' said Peter S. Viele, executive director. Fund-raisers also are planned.
A local chapter, begun in 1970, was shortlived when federal funding ran out. Now, money is coming from the Tidewater Kids Foundation and the comparatively new family organization, the E.C. Wareheim Foundation. ``We're also hoping for independent and corporate funding help,'' Viele said.
``We have more kids than adults,'' Viele said. ``Some kids have had to wait three years. That's much too long.''
He said the problem is the funding needed for social workers who screen and train volunteers and do family assessments of the kids before a match.
``We're very cautious about the background checks,'' Panton said. ``We look for emotional reactions to one another, plus reaction with the parent.
``Caution - they go above and beyond,'' said Panton, whose husband, James, is on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters. ``It's a wonderful experience. I'm thrilled to see it come to Suffolk.''
The numbers of girls without mothers and, particularly, boys without fathers have doubled in the past 10 years.
``A lot of these kids have no one to show them stability. They don't have a normal home life,'' Panton said.
Big Brothers/Big Sisters does not work exclusively with children who have problems.
``Sometimes, there's a wonderful mom who's single, who works, and this gives her some relief,'' Panton said. ``Most of the children are indigent, but not necessarily from noncaring or emotionally deprived situations.''
Viele said: ``We need reliable people. We have to think of the kid. If you say you'll see him at 10, you darn well better be there at 10.''
He added, ``You get more than you give, and it's fun - fun to see their faces light up when you do things for them.'' MEMO: Group born of, driven by, concern for kids' welfare
The Big Brothers/Big Sisters movement began at the turn of the
century when people in several American cities were worried about the
rise of juvenile delinquency, and wanted to help stem that tide.
Irvin F. Westheimer, a Cincinnati businessman, is credited with
introducing the idea in 1903. A year later, a New York court clerk,
Ernest K. Coulter, got the men of Central Presbyterian Church interested
in helping indigent boys and girls.
The idea grew. The idea was to reach the children before the children
reached the courts. Over the years, the approach changed from
reclamation to prevention.
Across the country, more than 100,000 children are served by Big
Brothers/Big Sisters. However, more than 16 million children in the
United States are growing up in one-parent homes, and that number is
increasing.
According to literature from the organization, more than half of
African-American children and nearly one-third of Hispanic children live
in one-parent homes.
Bowl for Kids is Aug. 5 at Pinboy's, Western Branch in Chesapeake. For
more information, call 934-7816. The Suffolk office of Big Brothers/Big
Sisters is at 112 W. Washington St.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
Peter S. Viele, executive director of the Suffolk chapter of Big
Brothers/Big Sisters, listens while Marilyn Panton talks about her
past experiences as a volunteer with the organization.
by CNB