~ Best Friends Forever ~ Little Sister Tiffany will be 18 years old in February. She will “graduate” from our program at that time. Tiffany has been fortunate to have had Big Sister Kim Battaglia in her life since she was 9 years old. Their history together is unusual in that they met when Kim applied to volunteer to be a Mentor in our In-School Mentoring program. She was matched to Tiffany and for eight months she saw Tiffany one hour/week at Tiffany’s school. When Kim was accepted to Teacher’s College she knew she would not be able to continue as Tiffany’s In-School Mentor. However, because of the relationship she and Tiffany had developed, Kim asked the agency about the possibility of becoming Tiffany’s Big Sister and efforts were made to bring Tiffany into our program as a Little Sister. In July 2003 they were matched as Big and Little Sister. Over the years whenever Kim’s circumstances changed she always seemed to think “Where does Tiffany fit into the picture?” Because of her foresight and the value she placed on their relationship she took the time to find the answer to this question. So after Teacher’s College, when she went off to South Korea to teach for a year, Kim and Tiffany entered a pilot program we were offering at the time, Digital Heroes. They stayed in touch on a weekly basis via email keeping each other up-to-date on the happenings in their life and when Kim returned from South Korea they resumed their Big Sister–Little Sister match as though she had never been gone. Kim is now a teacher in Windsor and married. Tiffany is a young adult with all kinds of hopes and dreams and Kim is there to encourage, support and help Tiffany bring those dreams closer to reality. These two are like real sisters or as Tiffany once said, Kim is “better than a real sister”. Being the outsider watching them, I see the connection they have. They value the friendship they have. They know what the other is thinking; they can finish one another’s sentences. Kim is definitely the older sister but she seems to easily relate to Tiffany’s world. They have fun together doing “whatever” and they get serious and talk about heavy life stuff that happens to all of us. Kim does not have all the answers (or do you, Kim?) but Tiffany knows Kim is in her corner to support her all the way. If nothing else I am certain Tiffany knows Kim cares about her. Her Big Sister is looking out for her and, I think, will be doing so for a long time after we close their match. As the caseworker assigned to Kim and Tiffany’s match I have been privileged to know these two fine people and to see how they have made this program work for them. We might have introduced them but they are the ones that built the friendship to what it is today. ~ Terri Hogan, Caseworker, Big Brothers Big Sisters Windsor Essex ~
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