SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (AP) - On a windy, warm April afternoon, 14-year-old Cameron jumped high into the air and snagged a football thrown by Rueben Castro in his fingertips.
Before arriving at the Sergeant Bluff park, Cameron and Castro visited Southern Hills Mall and grabbed a bite to eat. After their game of catch, the pair were headed to get haircuts.
Cameron found his ideal mentor when Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland matched him up with Castro, a staff sergeant with the Iowa Air National Guard’s 185th Air Refueling Wing. Like Cameron, Castro enjoys spending time outdoors and playing sports.
“Cameron’s pretty much like my little double,” Castro said, as he sat at a picnic table next to Cameron under a shelter at the park. “A lot of our backgrounds fit the same. A lot of our interests are the same. A lot of our problems are the same. He likes fishing more than I do, but I’m getting more into it. We just kind of learn and grow off each other.”
The Sioux City Journal reports that for more than 40 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland has been making meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers, “Bigs,” and children between 6 and 13, “Littles.” Those matches continue until Littles graduate from high school.
Jetske Wauran, director of marketing and recruitment for the nonprofit, said Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland has a “tremendous need” for male mentors.
“Especially during the pandemic, it’s heightened,” she said. “I was told that there have been little brothers on the waiting list for at least two years.”
Wauran said the reverse is happening with big and little sisters. There are currently women on a waiting list to be matched up with girls.
“We are trying to recruit more little sisters into the program,” she said. “I really do think it’s because women are more interested in volunteering, generally.”
Castro, who said he is the second oldest of six siblings, decided to get involved in the program after regularly hearing ads about Big Brothers Big Sisters of Siouxland on the radio.
“I just wanted to help somebody else,” he said. “I wanted to be a mentor.”
Castro completed the application process and, after several months, was matched up with Cameron. Prospective big brothers must complete paperwork, an in-person interview, background check and home visit.
Castro said his biggest fear about being a Big was finding things to do with his Little. When he first began meeting with Cameron, Castro said the two spent time together nearly every day. Now, he said they meet about every other week, sometimes spending as much as 40 hours a month together.
“It gets me away from the house and gives me freedom,” Cameron said of his involvement in the program.
Castro said he finds playing football, going for drives, walking around the mall and just hanging out with Cameron “rewarding.” The minimum time commit required of Bigs is just four hours a month.
“It’s not really a whole lot of time. It’s easy to go above and beyond,” Castro said.
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