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Agency’s branch makes first area match in program
Kruger, a 19-year-old from West Newton, is the first volunteer to be paired with a youth through the new Big Brothers Big Sisters Fayette County branch office. She was matched with a 12-year-old from the Connellsville area named Veronica. (Office staff will not release last names to protect the children’s confidentiality.) The two have met once or twice so far to spend some time together and play miniature golf. Kruger plans on taking Veronica horseback riding sometime soon. Kruger, who has no siblings, said she had been thinking about becoming a Big Sister for a while. ‘I wanted to do it ever since I was 16 years old,’ said Kruger. ‘I think it’s going to work out good.’ So does Ellen Marsili, a caseworker who interviewed Kruger when she applied to the program. ‘She’s very easy to get along with,’ said Marsili. ‘She’s very dedicated. When she does something, she does it all the way.’ Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Laurel Region opened the branch office in July after members of county social service agencies asked it to start a Fayette County office. ‘I think this has been needed for a long time,’ said Cheryl Danko, the program manager at the office located at 199 Edison Blvd., Uniontown. Larry Hornyak, the chapter’s marketing director, said that, although the office opened almost four months ago, it’s still on schedule to get it up and running. He said it can takes two to three months to pair a ‘big’ with a ‘little’ because volunteers have to undergo background checks and several interviews, all of which take time. Big Brothers Big Sisters matches adults with 7- to 14-year-old kids who are from single-parent homes and have no significant contact with the absent mother or father. The goal is to provide direction and guidance to children through positive role models, according to John DeCarlo, the project manager for Family Services System Reform, one of the agencies under the Fayette County Collaborative Board for Families. The board had asked the chapter to set up the branch office. According to statistics provided by the chapter, kids in the program are 46 percent less likely than their peers to start using drugs and 27 percent less likely to start drinking. They’re also less likely to lie and skip school, according to the chapter. Danko said she is happy to see the branch office make its first match. ‘This feels like we’ve really begun the program,’ she said. She said Kruger and Veronica are both interested in sports and enjoy softball and soccer. She said it’s important to match participants with similar interests. ‘If they don’t have the same likes and dislikes, the match just isn’t going to work. We don’t want to lose a volunteer and we don’t lose a ‘little,” she said. Since Jessica and Veronica have been paired up, the office has made a second match. A third is to follow at the end of the month, Danko said.
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