Big Brothers Big Sisters seek Native 'Bigs'

When playing stickball, Kristy Smithson keeps her eye on the ball. Her other eye is on her little sister, Shoshanna, who is getting into the rough and tumble game for the first time.

At 15, Shoshanna had but a brief introduction to the game before this round, but she’s already keeping pace with the seasoned players.

In stickball, men often play the women, but usually only the men and boys use the specially-made sticks designed to maneuver the small hide-wrought ball away from opponents and toward the goal – in this case, a wooden fish painted bright orange and mounted on top of a pole about 25 feet in height.

The sisters each make plays, rushing for the ball, grabbing it with their hands and catapulting it through the air to hit the orange fish. Shoshanna impresses Smithson.

“She’s good at it,” Smithson, out of breath, says. “She’s just trying to get a feel for it. I told her ‘It’s real rough, you got to be careful.’”

Shoshanna found that out for herself.

“It’s pretty fun,” she says, wearing a T-shirt several sizes too large for her. “I already got stepped on.”

Although they are not related, they have been sisters for five years. In other words, Smithson is Shoshanna’s mentor, and they were matched together through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Oklahoma, the nonprofit organization that works to help children and youth reach their full potential through matching them with adult volunteers. Smithson was in college when she decided to sign up. Now at 27, she is BBBSOK manager of Native American partnerships, actively recruiting Native youth (littles) and adults (bigs) to pair them.

“When we match based on ethnicity, we find that they (pairs) have a closer bond, and that we’re able to learn from one another,” Smithson said. “With my ‘little,’ we do a lot of cultural events together, and I encourage that in her.”

Smithson and Shoshanna (her last name is withheld due to BBBSOK policy) are both Choctaw. Shoshanna is also Muskogee-Creek and Seminole, but the duo’s shared heritage adds another dimension to their friendship.



Initiative

The organization has roots that go back to the early 20th century. In the 1970s, two volunteer mentor groups came together to form the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America that we know today. It operates in every state as well as in several countries.

According to the organization’s website, independent studies have shown a measurable impact BBBS has made in the lives of children. Participants are more likely to develop more confidence in school, relate better to others, avoid alcohol and illegal drug use and stay in school.

Special mentoring programs help to match children of African-American and Hispanic heritage to mentors of the same ethnicity. Other programs have also been created to help kids cope with a parent in incarceration as well as those who have a parent actively serving in the military.

Further research shows that matching children to volunteer mentors of the same ethnicity or shared experience helps give them an early sense of trust and relationship building. It can increase their progress to the benefits of mentoring, said Anne Lisko, BBBSOK director of program evaluation.

“They start thinking of their future in ways they never have before,” Lisko added.

The Native American mentoring initiative was made possible through funding from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention under the U.S. Department of Justice. Currently the program has a little more than 100 Native children enrolled across BBBSOK’s eight service areas covering Oklahoma. More than half of the children are matched to a mentor. The rest are on a waiting list for volunteers.

In recruiting, Smithson said she approaches individuals and schools. Shoshanna’s mother found out about the organization at her daughter’s school. Smithson also goes to the tribal governments. Some tribes, such as the Chickasaw Nation in Ada, have created formal partnerships with BBBSOK to recruit volunteers and youth from tribe-owned businesses, including casinos.

There is still a need for more, especially male volunteers. The state organization, which works with more than 2,000 children total, sees a deficit across the board in men to mentor boys. There is rarely a shortage of big sisters to pair with girls.

“We’ll have a hundred boys and no men to match them with,” Lisko said. “We really feel like we’d be doing a disservice to the boys if we match them with a woman, because the reason they’re coming to us is because they don’t have a father figure.”

The organization goes through a thorough check of all mentor volunteer applicants. But Lisko said that shouldn’t discourage genuinely interested people from applying.

“We aren’t looking or people that are perfect,” Lisko said.

Past lessons learned can help mentors relate to their ‘littles’ when they need guidance.

Volunteers are asked to spend an hour or two a week with their ‘littles,’ but that time is often spent playing games, watching movies, eating pizza, helping with homework, hiking and sharing other fun activities.

Smithson and Shoshanna spend a lot of their time going out for ice cream or heading for powwows.

“These kids are amazing. They teach volunteers things every day, but it is a commitment,” Lisko said.

BBBSOK asks mentors to commit to at least one year. Many find it rewarding, like Smithson, who is eager to see more Native children and youth empowered.

“When you see someone of your own ethnicity being successful and doing good things like going to college or having a job, it’s inspiring to them,” she said.

Shoshanna has gained respect for herself and others through friendship with her big sister. Although there are some subjects at school that she would rather avoid, she works at those studies as if they were her favorite subject: math.

“I probably wouldn’t have gotten where I am now,” she said.

To find out more about BBBSOK and its Native American mentoring program, go online to www.bbbsok.org or call Smithson in the Oklahoma City offices at (405) 606-6309.




Kristy Smithson, Choctaw, left, and her ‘little’ Shoshanna, Choctaw/ Muskogee-Creek/Seminole, take a rest from a rough and tumble game of stickball.

KAREN SHADE | NATIVE AMERICAN TIMES PHOTO