Ready. Set. Give. - Ep. 5

“Ready. Set. Give.” is a seven-part series that helps companies create a culture of giving. “One way employees can get involved is to volunteer as a lunch buddy. That’s where you would spend 30 minutes per week having lunch with a child at a nearby school,” says Trysta Herzog, with Big Brothers Big Sister of the Ozarks. Big Brothers Big Sisters mission is to provide life-changing friendships to children facing adversity.

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Duration: 2:12

Video transcript:

- Many businesses are looking for ways to cultivate a culture of giving back. I'm Mitch Wilkins from Arvest Bank, and I'm here with Trysta Herzog, from Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Ozarks. Trysta, what suggestions do you have for companies wanting to expand community involvement?

- A company can host a nonprofit fair, or have representatives from nonprofits come to talk to their staff, and many companies incentivize community service.

- Yes, I encourage people not to over commit. Maybe start with just one organization, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters. Can you tell us a little bit more about that organization?

- Our mission is to provide children facing adversity with life-changing friendships. And what that means, really, is we match children, who we call Littles, with professionally screened adults that we call Bigs. And even before the Bigs meet their Littles, we're already working to build a meaningful one-to-one relationship.

- Wow, that's a great cause. How can a company encourage their employees to get involved?

- One way employees can get involved is to volunteer as a Lunch Buddy. That's where you would spend thirty minutes a week having lunch with a child at a nearby school.

- Wow, that's great. Most of us can even find that time. Everyone has to have lunch, right? What if somebody wants to give more time than just the thirty minutes?

- There is a way for anyone to get involved. We're always looking for people to become Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and that enormously influences the life of their Littles. As a Big, you would spend time doing fun, low-cost activities with your Little, at least once a week for a full year. We also have a monthly mentor program for at-risk juniors and seniors in high school, and that's a couple of hours a month, typically.