Big Brothers Big Sisters moves to former retail store
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Sept. 21, 2023) – Moving to New Towne Mall is already paying off for the organization that pairs local kids with volunteer mentors.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Central Ohio is now operating out of the former FYE store. President and CEO Beverly Pearch says it’s drawing a lot more attention than their previous headquarters at the Monroe Center in Dover.
“We’ve had people that are walking in interested in volunteering, interested in mentoring, interested in getting their kids enrolled so I think the visibility here is really going to help us recruit the additional mentors that we need for the program.”
The new location also has about 1,000 more square feet of space. Pearch says they need room to accommodate future growth within the organization that served a record number of (426) kids last year and recently expanded into Harrison County.
“We saw a 25 percent increase in children served in 2022, so that meant we needed to add additional staff to be able to support that many kids. We served 426 kids, and we only had a staff of 7 at that point. So we knew it was imperative to grow the staff, and we were outgrowing the space that we were in at Monroe Mall.”
There was a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday for the new Big Brothers Big Sisters office in the mall. It’s staffed on weekdays from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, or give them a call at 330-339-6916.