Big Buddy Program is having to get creative

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — For almost 70 years, the Big Buddy program has been matching underprivileged kids with adult mentors.

But since the pandemic’s start, all that has had to change, and mentors in the program have to find new ways to bond with their kids.

Instead of visiting the kids at their homes, mentors are dropping off food, backpacks, and even special baskets full of gifts on their mentee’s birthday, all this while wearing masks and social distancing.

Annie Anthony, the Wilmington Branch’s head and president of the Cape Fear Volunteer Center says they’ve had to pivot from their normal operations:

“It’s the only one on one mentoring program that allows you to take them out and go to the library, the university, the beach, you know to ballgames. All the things that we love that we can’t don right now.”

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