Obstacles & Project Changes

Starting the semester, we, like any group, were expecting some obstacles. Aside from the most obvious being switching to on-line and having to completely restructure our plan, another substantial problem was finding a time when each team member was available. As busy college students, it was difficult to manage everyone’s schedule and class loads. With just that being said, we quickly came to the realization that we had to set a goal that would be tricky to accomplish, while still being attainable. Just a few days after being put into groups and meeting with Jenny Bates, our community partner, we changed our goal from finding 20 new Bigs for the organization to 10—with 20 being set aside for our “stretch goal.” 

Finding young adults to sign up to be a Big was a bit more complicated than I think we all originally assumed it would be. We were constantly explaining what being a Big would look like, what kind of time commitment would be required, and bucking against the stereotype that high school-aged kids need a positive influence less than elementary-aged kids. We definitely underestimated how hard it would be, to say the least. We managed to find 5 new Bigs to be paired with kids on the waiting list in about a half a semester though, so there was potential for our goal to be reached if our plan was allowed to be executed.  We took one main approach to accomplish our goal. Basically, it was just to ask our friends and around campus to see if anyone was interested in the idea. It seemed to work pretty well, but the problem we faced was convincing people to actually fill out the application and move forward with the process. This is where those stereotypes that were previously mentioned, came in. A lot of folks were intimidated by what they thought being a Big meant so they would say they were interested and then not complete the application. 

Of course, due to the outbreak of COVID-19, our most prolific obstacle was figuring out how to switch gears and find an attainable goal that we could strive toward while taking all of our classes online and being restricted from congregating in large groups. A pandemic in the middle of a semester in which students are expected to work together, with large quantities of people, clearly wasn’t going to go as smoothly as we would’ve hoped. The learning curve was massive, and unfortunately, wouldn’t be flattened easily, pun intended. From discovering how to utilize Zoom to completely reorganizing our entire project, the entire semester has been rather touch and go. With our original plan being to organize and execute a large social gathering, it was apparent that we would no longer be able to bring that many people together; therefore, we came up with a plan to fundraise instead. 

With half of the semester already having been spent attempting to piece together a mixer for mid-April, we were pressed for time and limited on resources. This is where we really started to kick it into high gear. From posting on social media, Venmo requesting ex-significant others, and asking our parents for money, we raised over $600 in a little over 2 weeks. To put this into perspective, the money we’ve raised is enough to fund a match for over half a year. This kind of funding would cover the initial expenses of running background checks on a potential Big and any additional gifts that would be provided by Big Brothers Big Sisters. These extras would include non-perishable food items for the families of Littles that are no longer in school each day. We also organized a small food drive within the Hays community by asking local businesses to set out boxes for donations that would be dived out to each family in need. 

Overall, the work that our group has done over the last 4 months has been productive and successful, despite the occasional obstacle. We found 5 new Bigs, helped raise funds for the local organization, and found community partners to help feed Littles in need, as well as their families. None of these accomplishments would have been possible without adequate communication between team members, our community partner, and those that we were asking for a commitment. Looking forward, the best advice we, The Heroes of Hope, could give, would be to have a solid back up plan, even without an impending pandemic looming over the start of the semester and to utilize each team members’ strengths to compensate for any potential weaknesses, before problems arise and deadlines approach.