"The thought of it scares the heck out of me!"
The Ron Rostan Story.
Submitted by Jeff Newland, Executive Director, BBBS

That's how my friend Ron reacted when he first considered introducing people to Big Brothers Big Sisters through the outreach process. A believer in our cause, and ally to me, Ron approaches friendship with deep respect. He needed to be sure that the people he introduced would be treated with the same respect and allowed to make their own decisions on their own timeline. We talked about that and Ron came to understand that the outreach approach is all about respect for relationships. That was less than a year ago.

Since then, Ron has introduced people who are making a real difference. One is Markar Naradikian who decided to become a Big Brother to a ten-year-old boy named Tyler. Tyler's mother shares with our match support team wonderful stories of the experience her son is having with his Big Brother. At the same time, Markar's wife, Leslie, became a COUL volunteer to work with the children still awaiting a Big of their own. It's a great way to help.

In addition to these two volunteers, Ron's UofR buddy, Jim Fryer, took on the fun challenge of becoming a Bowl for Kids' Sake Lane Captain. For the March 2006 event, Jim put together his team and raised $260 dollars! Jim is already ramping up for 2007 with his new online page (see bbbsr.org/bowling/jimfryer).

Thanks to Ron, there are now TEN new people introduced to Big Brothers Big Sisters, and nearly $300 in new funding (likely to grow). But most important, there's a little boy who has a new Big Brother to spend time with him every week.

Thank you, Ron, for helping us meet some very good people. Each one of them is glad you did.!

- Jeff