People asked why I became a Big Brother when I already had a kid, the answer is simple, I freakin' love kids. I wanted 5 of my own, my part is easy, right?! My wife almost left me on the spot when she heard that.
When our one & only was born at 4 pounds, a full two months early, the risk was too high to have more. So, that's when I devoted my life to being surrounded by kids as a hockey coach and a big brother.
The process is a wonderful one with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Calgary, they don't just give you any kid to mentor, they make sure there is a match with your interests so your time spent together can be maximized. My little had a dad that took off from the family & he needed someone to keep him on the straight & narrow. He didn’t live in the best neighbourhood & trouble lurked at every corner.
I had two goals with our time spent together, experience something he's never done before: skating, golf, a Flames game etc, or make sure with our visits we were paying it back to charity. We didn’t just attend McHappy Day/Miracle Treat Day etc but tweeted a picture of him & I together at the event. By doing this I hoped he would one day he would do this with his kids. Pay it forward as much as he could.
It was such a great experience & I had a chance to try and turn someone’s life around. My buddies are convinced I saved a life, but thankfully we’ll never know that. I do know that I got as much out of our time together as he did.
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