Big Brothers, Big Sisters

This month I celebrate one year with my little brother. We all know how times flies, yet in this case it seems unreal that we have been hanging out for a year now.

After Mike and I married we decided that we wanted to become foster parents. The whole experience was incredible, and we were able to add love and kindness to lives that hadn't known much of that. The foster experience allowed us to realize that we didn't want to have a child unless we could raise that child forever, and the adoption system seemed out of reach for us financially speaking.

So one day we talked about me becoming a big brother, and I started the process. It has been a perfect example of trying to make the world a better place for all living beings!

Big Brothers and Big Sisters has been around forever. Their work changes the lives of children and teens all over the country. I checked them out and decided that this was something that could work for me. I should add that, at least in Colorado, there were anti-gay practices happening and those are long since gone.

The process is simple: background check, fingerprinting, an interview with one of the staff, and a training. The time that BBBS asks is 2-3 three hangouts a month, agreed upon by you and your little (the child/teen you are connected with).

To maintain as much privacy as I can for my little, I won't use his real name. Joe is 8 years old and in the third grade at school. He was 7 when we met. He lives pretty close to us, which I think is important in creating a long-term relationship. BBBS's vision is that a big brother will remain so until the little graduates from high school, so living close to Joe makes visits a lot more convenient.

In the past year we have gone on hikes, had library visits, gone swimming (Joe loves the rock climbing wall at the Lakewood public pool!), spent hours on math problems, and volunteered at our local animal shelter (imagine that!).

The relationship is great for both of us. I get to be part of a wonderful young man's life and he gets a (hopefully) positive role model. He shares his home with his mom, older brother and younger sister. Me being his big brother doesn't take the place of him having a father, yet it gives him access  to another world, and growing experiences with an adult male.

I love it. And as tough as an 8 year old can be to read, Joe is digging it too. If you live in the Denver area and might be interested in becoming a big brother or big sister, check out their website: http://www.biglittlecolorado.org/ If you don't live in the Denver area a simple Google search will get you to your closest office.

Thanks so much for reading!

Set up a library display!

I am at our local library having just set up our vegan display. I wanted to share this with all of our readers as this is a wonderful way to promote your activism regardless of the cause. Our local library has let us set up a vegetarian/vegan display three times now, and each time prior to this they have gotten incredible feedback. Last time we did this they set up an assortment of veg and vegan cookbooks and they couldn't keep up with the demand to check them out!

I love our local library and come here often. I frequently check in with them to see when I can get on the list for the display. I'm not sure what the policies are where you live, but here in Jefferson County, Colorado, one basically just needs to sign up on the list. Displays are on a monthly basis so once you sign up you just wait until your month comes and then arrive the first day of that month to set up your display.

For our displays we have used vegan food item boxes to promote the wide variety of vegan foods. This time I just set up the display with several vegan cookbooks, veg starter kits from PCRM and Vegan Outreach, and a couple of tshirts from PETA and Mercy For Animals. I like to keep the display simple and with plenty of room around the items in the display so folks can easily read the information and book titles. If you have a local event coming up and have a card or flyer to promote it, I highly suggest adding that. With Veg Fest Colorado coming up later this year I also added their postcard to our display so people can learn about that event.

Setting up a library display is such a great way to promote and educate around what is important to you. Hundreds of people a day will see this display and if our past history maintains, many of those will check out a veg cookbook. And it barely takes any time at all to plan it and set it up.

Please let us know if you set up a library display. We'd love to hear all about it!

Thanks for reading!