It was a sweltering hot day in Cottonwood’s Riverfront Park on Sunday, July 13. A few dozen people, ranging from young children to retirees sheltered under the roofs over the picnic tables as they ate a lunch of deli sandwiches and thankfully, cold soda, provided by the Verde Valley ’Vettes.
For 17 years, the area Corvette club has made a habit of buying Christmas presents for the Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters, giving gifts to children from Sedona to Camp Verde who need the extra help of a supportive surrogate older sibling, and the extra resources provided by the club around the holidays. On Saturday, they held the event to bolster the connection between the two groups, and give a chance for everyone to get to know each other a little better.
“So many of us moved here, and our grandkids are scattered,” Larry McCarty, a founder of the VVV who helped begin the partnership with the YBBBS, said. “We like kids. We’re a nonprofit, so we like to give money away to the community.”
“We all know that young people are the future, and they all need a chance,” Ron Osborne, a fellow founder, said. “It’s some- thing they wouldn’t be able to have otherwise.”
Parked next to the pavilion were a squad of the fine Corvettes that bring the club together. Kids as young as middle school climbed into the driver’s seats of the flashy sports cars, excited by the feeling of effortless cool the cars evoked.
“A lot of time we don’t see the kids, but doesn’t matter,” Osborne’s wife Katie said. “We know it helps.”
According to the Verde Verde office of YBBBS, events like this provide a unique opportunity, since much of the focus of the organization remains on the other side of the mountains. And the needs of the organization go well beyond Christmas gifts.
“We’re seeing a greater need,” said YBBS Development Director Robin Layton. “There are more single [parent] families and incarcerated parents. So we’re seeing a greater number of children that are living with grandparents or other than two- parent homes. And that’s where the support is needed.”
According to Giselle Suarez, YBBBS’ Verde Valley match advisor & Community Outreach representative, there are this year 45 littles waiting for a big, compared to 52 matches that the organization currently has in operation. Some of those kids have been waiting over a year.
The need is especially high for men willing to step up as a big brother. The national Big Brothers Big Sisters recently underwent a rebrand in order to seem less feminine and hopefully attract more male role models, switching away from a purple Heart logo and adopting the motto “Defenders of potential.”
“A lot of our sister agencies are seeing single families being led by females — there’s a grandma, or a mom, or an aunt,” Layton said. “So there aren’t any men in these children’s lives.”
For those bigs who do match up with a little, the relationship can be very rewarding.
“He and I started a relationship when he was eight years old,” Ken Rouse, a retiree who was at the picnic with his Little Brother, Ricardo Rosas. “He’s turning 18 this year. It’s been such a fascinating trip. I’ve learned a lot from him. The great thing about being a big is if you listen, you’ll learn a lot.”
When the pair first met, Ricky was having trouble in school and living with a single mother. Now he is finishing high school. The two have spent years spending time together for activities ranging from going to the movies, to going fishing, to bowling or baseball.
“When I was little, I didn’t have enough friends, and he would come by and grab me togo to the movies,” Rosas said. “I have such respect that Ricky has grown up enough to get a job and buy a car,” Rouse said.
The duo have been such a success story in the eyes of YBBBS that they recently paired another youngster — Jesse — with them as a second little, allowing Ricky to serve as both a big and a little simultaneously. Rouse told a story of one day asking Jesse what he wanted to be when he grew up, and hearing that the answer was himself becoming a Big Brother.
“That makes it all worthwhile,” Rouse said.
