On June 17th at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, Illinois, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America recognized the generosity of its corporate and individual partners at its annual awards gala with special guest, Academy and Grammy Award winner, Jamie Foxx.
Foxx shared a moving personal story about being encouraged by his grandmother to learn to play the piano as a means of seeing the world outside of his hometown of Terrell, Texas. Foxx also reaffirmed his commitment to Big Brothers Big Sisters and to the cause of mentoring children who face adversity. He thrilled the audience with an impromptu singing performance with event emcee, NBC journalist and correspondent, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Board Member Kate Snow.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America presented Foxx with its Common Good Award, which is given to a partner who provides an investment of services to benefit the common good of the organization and brand as a whole. Since 2012, Foxx has been Big Brothers Big Sisters of America’s national spokesperson. In addition, Foxx regularly hosts “Littles” at his home and, earlier this year, helped to launch the BE AMAZING! campaign.
The gala culminated with the presentation of the Big Brother of the Year and Big Sister of the Year awards, which were given to Tom Fascia of Randolph, New Jersey, and Dakotah Taylor of Bennington, Nebraska, respectively.
Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, holds itself accountable for children in its program to achieve measurable outcomes such as educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships. Partnering with parents/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children (“Littles”) with screened volunteer mentors (“Bigs”) and monitors and supports these one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course. The Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Outcomes Survey substantiates that its mentoring programs have proven, positive academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes for youth, areas linked to high school graduation, avoidance of juvenile delinquency and college or job readiness.
Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children facing adversity, often those of single or low-income households or families where a parent is incarcerated or serving in the military, with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. This mission has been the cornerstone of the organization’s 110 year history. With nearly 340 agencies across the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves approximately 200,000 children, their families and 200,000 volunteer mentors. Learn more at www.BigBrothersBigSisters.org.
Source: PR Newswire
