This weekend is the local Big Brothers, Big Sisters annual fundraiser. They need to raise a minimum 40K over the next few weeks to keep the doors open.
Not long after I first became a Big Sister, Jeb Bush & the rest of the GOP had dealt many other regional BB/BS chapters a death blow by cutting funding by as much as 97% to this kind of charity. For those who do not remember/know when Jeb Bush was Governor, the Fladidah economy was BOOMING at the time.
This particular chapter survived through some very generous donations, including that of their own building. They use one office suite & rent the rest of the building to generate their own income. The downturn in the economy (& the drop in in potential renters) has cut into this source & others are just not available.
My Little Sister is a grown-up now. She works more than full-time, she pays her taxes, she has done some volunteering herself, regularly attends book club &, as I like to say, she is not pregnant so far. I am not taking the credit for this (except for the book club bit-that was definitely me), I am just saying that without BBBS, girls & boys in her situation will just not have the opportunities she has.
I realize you might be curious what frivolities BBBS spends their money on. There are the usual overhead charges (you know: lights, AC) but the last time I saw the budget, the big line items were staff & insurance. Not health insurance for the staff, but insurance for the kids when they are under the supervision of their Bigs (I'm sorry to say that is what we are called; the kids are called Littles. gack). You can read more here.
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have seen that there has never been one advertisement, there are no pop-up ads or anything like that. In return for not having to scroll through ads/wait for loading in the sidebar, you get free quilt patterns, political rants, random recipes, emu care tips, etc. If you have ever found anything useful here, please put a dollar or two in an envelope & mail it to:
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mid-Florida
1155 NW 13th St.
Gainesville, Florida 32601
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