Bowl For Kids Sake / For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been providing young people in the United States with much-needed mentoring. A recent impact study on the organization’s work found that mentoring produces measurable outcomes for adolescents regarding drug use, violent behavior and school performance in a time when large numbers of Americans have little confidence in social intervention. BBBS has been serving the children of Hawai’i since 1963, and Wendy Gorka, BBBS Honolulu’s Director of Development and Marketing, spoke with Honolulu Weekly about the benefits of mentoring Hawai’i’s children and their goals for the 22nd Annual Bowl For Kids’ Sake event this weekend.

With the hurting economy and parents working two or three jobs to make ends meet, do you find that there is an even greater need for positive role models today?

Yes, we definitely do. We have a waiting list at the moment and it’s tougher to recruit volunteers. So, it’s two-fold. We have more kids that we need to service, and with volunteerism being down, the waiting list will just get longer unfortunately.

Why do you think it’s been tougher to recruit volunteers?

It’s the economy. People don’t have the time or extra money to spare for gas to go on their outing with their little brother or little sister. It’s just the economy affecting us in ways we didn’t expect.

A national study shows that kids who grow up participating with Big Brothers Big Sisters are less likely to use drugs, drink, skip school or hit people. What is it about BBBS that you think allows for this?

I think by possibly taking the child out of the atmosphere where they would be experiencing some of these things. For instance, this trend of bullying in school is a huge problem right now, where kids are picking on other kids or beating them up. And if they were to have a big brother, maybe they would be less likely to instigate one of those situations. Possibly they would have the confidence through having been matched with a big brother to break up that situation–to help the person being bullied. They might have the confidence to step in and show them that this isn’t right.

I’m sure that with any of those factors, that their Big would show them that it’s not right. You see it all the time at the schoolyards or walking home from school. I just saw it yesterday: a bunch of kids bullying each other. And it took one kid, he stood up and pushed everybody else back and said, “leave him alone.” And I thought, “Well good for you.”

What makes someone a good role model?

Just that they want to be here. They want to make a difference. They want to help a child. They want to be part of a great organization. I think what a lot of the Bigs find is that once they’re done with the program, the Bigs themselves are changed because they’ve learned so much about themselves. So it doesn’t take someone with a Ph.D. It’s all walks of life. Anyone can be a Big. As long as you’re a good person and you want to help, you’re a good role model right there.

Tell me about the construction internships and the site-based programs.

It’s one of our newer partnerships that we were approached to explore. They’re actually high school Littles–normally they would be elementary or middle school Littles. These were high school students who were identified [as needing] a path to follow; where they would need something to make a living at once they were out of high school. They were assessed by their teachers as being potential candidates for this construction academy where they would learn a trade. And [the companies] provided the Bigs on work time. So they actually paid their staff to go out and work with these kids during working hours and mentor them. It’s a really unique program.

We’re opening up a second site this year with the construction academy at Leilehua High School.

What’s up with the 22nd Annual Bowl For Kids Sake?

It’s our signature event for all BBBS across the nation. This year, our theme is the Hollywood Bowl. So we’re rolling out the red carpet. We have a five-foot tall blowup Oscar. We have paparazzi. [laughs] We’re trying to really make everyone feel like they’re at a movie premiere. We’ve got velvet carpets. And when you walk through, you’ll be greeted. We’re really going all out with the decorations. So it should really be a great event. We’ll have over 700 bowlers. We’ll go from 7 in the morning until midnight. We have five different shifts. And we’re hoping to raise $200,000.

We’re almost sold out, but we have a couple open lanes. Up until the day of the event, if we have an open lane, we’ll put you out there. It’s 6 people per team, and it’s a $75 minimum pledge per bowler. If you do come out and bowl, you get two games free of bowling, your shoes, tons of food and a T-shirt. We have a T-shirt designed every year by a great local graphic artist firm, Clarence Lee Design, Inc. This year we’ve got Darth Vader and a bunch of different Hollywood characters on the shirt.

It’s sure to be a really fun day for everyone.

Bowl For Kids Sake, Hollywood Bowl fundraiser at ‘Aiea Bowl, Sat 8/9, 7am–midnight, to reserve a lane, call 521-3811, ext. 229;

[bigshonolulu.org], [honolulubowl.kintera.org].