For well over 1/2
century now, Big Brothers Big Sisters
of San Diego County has helped
kids reach their true potential.
Right now though,
they're looking for more helping hands.
Joining us now is Tina Rose,
CEO and President of the organization,
as well as Big Brother Jay
and Little Brother Jose.
Thank you for being with us.
It's a holiday.
You guys can be out barbecuing.
I hope you got one to go to after this.
Definitely. We could talk about that.
You got things to do.
I just want to start, Jay.
A lot of people out there
might think to themselves,
there may be a need,
but it's too much for me.
I can't do it. I'm not built fo.
What would you tell for those people?
Because this is the heart of the mission,
You know, it's it's nothing out,
honestly, but I do normally.
They do a fantastic job of matcg
us up with what we like to do.
So, I mean, we're out playing sports,
we're going to the beach,
we're going to Padres games,
which is stuff I do on my own.
So it's been awesome.
And Jose, for you, how long have
you guys been paired up? I'm
gonna say around four years,
Four years now. And you were
the 2021 Courage Award winner.
You stood up in front of
a a room full of people.
Is it, is that one of the best
memories you've had with with
Jay or is that nothing there,
There's much more.
No, that was the best one right there.
The awards. That was the best o.
And what came out of that for y?
I'm gonna say I was nervous,
but I said relax my body and thk
before you do. And I just said t
and you nailed it.
What are what are some of the fn
things you get to do with Jay?
What does he mean to you?
He means me a lot because he's funny.
A lot of funny ideas.
When I went ice skating,
I fell so many times he laughed at it.
It was crazy because I cannot stop doing it.
Four years now. How old are you?
I'm 1313 years old and I've see,
I've seen bigs who their relationship
lasts long past aging out of the system.
Is this, does this feel like a
lifelong partnership to you? Ye,
I sure hope so. I mean, it seems that way.
Absolutely. There's a need.
We need more Big Brothers.
We need more Big Sisters. Tina ,
CEO, Where specifically is thatd
being felt right now in San Die?
We're feeling it kind of in
certain quadrants of San Diego.
So the biggest needs are in East County,
in South Bay and City Heights ad
then up towards the Oceanside aa
as well as Vista are kind of our
biggest areas that we have needt
certainly all across San Diego d
our biggest need is from male mentors.
So about 80% of the kids that we
waiting and right now about 220 are boys
and you know for people are thig
about getting interested but
they do have some anticipation,
some anxiety rather.
What are some of the ways you cn
help them find out if they're f?
Yeah, well, I think it's just,
I feel like we have the secret sauce.
It's the secret sauce to living a happier,
more purposeful life.
And that's just honestly being
a Big Brother, big sister.
It's. I mean, Ask Jay.
Like, it is really just fun to
to give back to your community
to have fun with kids like Jose.
It's nothing that you need to be perfect.
You don't need to be a perfect person.
You just need to have time that you want to,
you know spend with a child
in your community. How
rewarding is it? You know,
you've done been doing this for years
and are you surprised by anythi?
I mean, I was surprised by.
I mean how much fun we we have to be honest.
I mean I think everyone wants
to be a part of something
that's bigger than themselves.
This is certainly kind of ticked that box.
It's been awesome. Is
it? Were you a little skeptical
when you first met Jay? Did you.
I mean, did it take you a while
to warm up to him? Yes, it did.
What were you expecting?
I did not expect nothing,
but I just wanted like a simple,
nice guy and a smiling guy.
And is this more than just going places he.
Is he teaching you about stuff
that's important in your life?
Yes. Can you give me an example
of something?
When I was trying to play footb,
he teach me a little things like
how to do rules of football,
like flag football because I
played flag football and I never
played flag pool in my life.
Helped you get ready for that.
Get out of the field.
All right, we're helping.
We're going to help all those as
and kids out there who need to t
out of the field in this format.
Big Brothers, Big Sisters of San Diego,
I think we have a full screen up
to tell people where they can g.
We know the Courage award and
dinner is coming up October 4th.
That's a way for people out theo
get involved where they can just go to
the website and support the admission.
Is that right?
Absolutely, Yeah.
We have San Diego Gives Days this Thursday,
so it's a day people can get ba.
Monetarily, The next day is a day of service.
We're just encouraging people to give
local and we're joining with abt
330 other nonprofits across San Diego
to encourage people to both give back
financially and give back with their time.
So we hope that people will join us there.
And then we have our Gourmet
dinner coming up October 5th,
which is going to be a great, great event.
And I can speak from experience.
I'll be there. It's fantastic.
Looking forward to it.
Thank you for your time,
especially on a holiday for being with us.
Appreciate it.
Big Brothers Big Sisters
of San Diego County.
They're worth your time.