SARASOTA/CHARLOTTE COUNTY (WSNN) – Here’s a story about two mentors…Two very special people who happen to be a Big Brother and Big Sister of the Year.
Two mentors…
“It’s kinda funny, because they’re like, ‘All the work you did,” Sarasota resident and Big Brother, Sid Friedman said. “‘But, what work? It’s just been effortless, you just love the kid, and you’re there for him.”
“She’s a gift, and that I just love her,” Englewood resident and Big Sister, Candy Brooks said. “I cannot imagine that there will be any time in my life that I don’t have Aaliyah there.
One award…
“We celebrate these two volunteers that have really inspired and encouraged the potential of these littles,” Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Suncoast’s President/CEO, Joy Mahler said.
Out of the 1,800 volunteers in the 10-county footprint, Sid Friedman and Candy Brooks are receiving the honor of Big Brother & Big Sister of the Year.
For more than 50 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Sun Coast has been matching youth with mentors who defend their potential and help them achieve their goals.
Booker High School Senior, Jakobie Green, had some challenges in his early years, but his grandmother has taken him in, along with Friedman who is Green’s Big Brother.
“He’s more of a father figure, Little Brother, Jakobie Green said. “He helps me basically to know what it is to do the right and wrong things besides my family, he’s an addition to my family, he is my family.”
Friedman says Green is a superstar and he loves being his co-star.
“Being the guy he calls is really special for me (chokes up),” Friedman said. “I adore this role of being there with the kid. And, I want to be his rock, this solid foundation for him, who he knows is always here, and regardless of what happens, I got his back.”
Brooks says her Little, Aaliyah Passeneau came at a time when they both needed each other.
“I can talk to her about anything of my personal issues and she’ll listen and help me with it,” Little Sister, Aaliyah Passeneau said.
Passeneau’s dad left her at three, her mom struggles with addiction. And she’s gone from living with her grandmother to going into foster care, to now being adopted by her mom’s best friend; living in a steady home for about 18 months now.
Brook says she couldn’t be more proud of the young woman she’s becoming.
“She has been doing well in school, really pushing forward, and just showing the content of her character,” Brooks said. “Whatever is being handed her she bounces back and just comes back better than ever.”
It’s an organization offering an additional family member or caring adult to a youth’s life.
