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President Jill Bussey Harris Featured in 12 On Your Side Report
Link Cheryl Burke Featured in a Times Dispatch Article on Mentors
From the excitement of schoolchildren waiting for their “biggie” to join them for lunch to the long-term effect of a mentor following a child from elementary school through college, Chimborazo Elementary School Principal Cheryl L. Burke says mentorship through Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond & Tri-Cities has been beneficial for her students.
With a larger-than-normal waiting list for mentors, the organization is pleading for matches for more than 200 children.
Of the 210 waiting children, two-thirds are boys but only one-fourth of the available volunteers are men, executive director Ann Rohde Payes said.
Last school year about 650 children cycled through the program with 400 active mentors. Men often misunderstand the program’s mission and don’t sign up, Payes said.
“It’s about being a friend but also about helping kids achieve goals,” Payes said. “It’s not necessarily about hugs and going out and getting ice cream.”
The waiting list has surpassed 100 children consistently for the past four years, but as the organization increases its reach and success, more parents call to sign up their children, she said.
“Right now it’s pretty intense,” Payes said.
The Richmond chapter has launched targeted mentor recruitment for children in the East End by reaching out to business owners, downtown workers and government employees.
The local nonprofit, part of the national organization that traces its history to 1904 in New York City, operates in four Richmond schools and three Henrico County schools, and has ties to elementary and high schools in Petersburg and Hopewell.
Burke said there are few other ways children can get one-on-one attention for four to nine hours a month. Classrooms, sport teams and even multiple-child families do not give children as much individual attention as mentors, she said.
When Chimborazo started its program 11 years ago, it was the first city school for the local Big Brothers Big Sisters.
Burke, who has been principal for 17 years, said attendance and performance at the East End school are better among mentored children.
“We know they are going to come into school the day their biggie is coming in,” to take a walk in the school’s garden, play basketball or come to lunch, she said. “I’ve been able to see the difference.”
Matches are based on the child’s level of need and waiting list time, shared interests with a mentor, and location. The organization typically sticks to within a 15-minute or 15-mile distance between mentor and mentee to increase the likelihood of consistent contact and relationship building.
Potential mentors must be 18 or older and go through rigorous state and federal background checks. The organization prefers that they have a car. Applicants must also supply references.
The school-based programs require one hour per week, and the community-based mentorships require nine hours per month.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Richmond & Tri-Cities will host two “Big for a Day” events to acquaint potential mentors with children on the waiting list, from 12 to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Peter Paul Development Center, 1708 N. 22nd St., and at 11:30 a.m. Jan. 29 at George Mason Elementary School, 813 N. 28th St.
Congratulations to Jill Bussey-Harris, DMD and Monroe E. Harris, Jr. for receiving University of Louisville Alumni Fellows Awards
Monroe E. Harris, Jr., 84 DMD, received a Doctor of Dental Medicine from UofL’s School of Dentistry in 1984. He completed an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago in 1988.
Dr. Harris was the recipient of the Oliver Hill Citizen of the Year Award, the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons Award in 1984, the C.V. Mosby Award in Pathology in 1984, the Quintessence Award of Clinical Achievement in Periodontics in 1985, the Dentist of the Year for the Old Dominion Dental Society in 1998, the Bank of America’s Local Hero Award in 2009, the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities Humanitarian Award in 2011, and the Flame bearers Award for the United Negro College Fund in 2011.
Dr. Harris has been affiliated with many professional and civic organizations. He has served as Board Member for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Foundation, the Virginia State Board of Medical Assistance, Venture Richmond, Theatre I.V., American Civil War Center, Richmond Public School Foundation, Richmond Center State Foundation, and the Garfield Child Memorial Fund. Harris has served as President of the Old Dominion Dental Society, and the Virginia State Board of Dentistry. He has been a Board Examiner for Southern Regional Testing, a Diplomate for the American Board of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons, a Fellow for the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, and a Member of the National Dental Association. Dr. Harris has volunteered his time in the community for the Crossover and Fan Free Dental Clinics, the Richmond Community High School, the Richmond School of Health and Technology, Donated Dental Services, and the Mission of Mercy. He is a member of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon Honorary Dental Society, Beta Delta Honorary Oral Medicine and Pathology Fraternity, and Delphi Honorary Dental Society.
Jill Bussey-Harris, 87DMD, received her Doctor of Dental Medicine from UofL’s School of Dentistry in 1987. She also earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Fisk University.
Dr. Bussey-Harris was the first African-American full-time Assistant Professor at the VCU/MCV School of Dentistry.
She has been affiliated with many professional and civic organizations. She is a member of the American Dental Association, National Dental Association, Virginia Dental Association, Richmond Dental Society, Academy of General Dentistry, Old Dominion Dental Society, Peter B. Ramsey Dental Society, American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and American Association of Women Dentist. Dr. Bussey-Harris has served as patron chair for the 2010 Heart Ball, art auction chair for 2011 The Links, Inc., on the Citizen’s Advisory Council for Furnishing and Interpreting the Executive Mansion, Massey Cancer Advisory Board, Richmond Ballet Trustee Board, Canvas Board at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, SPARC Board, School of Performing Arts in the Richmond Community and the First Lady’s Initiatives Team Effort (FLITE).
In addition to all of the Harris’s accomplishments, successes and contributions to their profession and people, their greatest is their two children, Monroe III and Madison.
One of the goals of the Alumni Fellow Program is to get the honorees “in front of” current faculty and students. That get together is always inspirational to everyone involved. Before we could even ask the Harris’s, they expressed the desire to meet with minority students. Adding class and student government leaders, plus faculty, made the lunch time event even more special. Seeing Monroe Harris provide his mentor Shelley Caulder, with a hug of love and appreciation while both had tears in their eyes was indeed special! The goal was accomplished! See Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyNk58rb2zw
