Meet at Past Match: Marg & Cody - Together for over 25 years!

 Marg & Cody 

(Photos were taken by Daniel Cullen Photography)

Story by: Krista Webb

Marg and Cody’s story is truly inspiring.  They were first matched back in 2000, when Cody was just 10 years old and Marg was old enough to be his grandmother. But despite the age difference between the pair, their relationship blossomed right after they met. Flash-forward 16 years, and Marg and Cody still have a really special relationship. So special, in fact, that last year Cody moved in with Marg and her husband, Roger, and he refers to Marg as his “grandma”. 

Their relationship has been different than most matches since the very beginning. Cody was a sweet, kind, sensitive young boy who loved having an adult friend to hang out with just him for an hour every week. Marg, who is a very kind and caring woman, got along with Cody right off the bat. They talked, drew pictures, painted, played cards, and made up fun games. 

Marg and Cody’s In-School Mentoring match was closed when Cody finished grade 7, but their relationship didn’t stop there. They continued to see each other outside of school, and soon became a part of each other’s families. Marg would watch Cody’s hockey games and take him to baseball games and wrestling matches, and Cody would spend time at Marg and Roger’s cottage. 

Cody only has nice things to say about Marg and how she’s affected him. “She’s been a constant presence in my life. To this day she’s one of the only people I can count on.”

Marg and Roger have mentored many in their lives, and they’ve invited quite a few non-family members to live with them over the past 40 years, so it’s really no surprise that Marg’s non-biological Little Brother now lives with her and her husband in Port Perry. Roger has also become an unofficial mentor to Cody over the years, and Cody looks up to him a lot, too.

Marg acknowledges that Cody wasn’t the only one getting something out of their match. “It’s very rewarding to see someone grow up and do well, when it could have gone so differently,” says Marg. Cody says that he thinks his life would have been “1,000 % different” if he had never met Marg. He admits he got into some trouble in high school and knew he was going down a bad path, but when he decided to change his ways, it was partially due to the fact that he didn’t want to disappoint Marg and Roger. 

Marg has encouraged Cody to continue his education, and he has plans to attend Durham College in the fall for the Fitness and Health Promotion program. Marg is so proud of the young man Cody has become. They both agree that Marg gave him confidence, and by supporting him in whatever he did, she has helped shape him into the person he is today. 

If you're interested in learning more information about the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programs, please call Cheryl Doyle at 905-985-3733 ext 2, or visit www.BigBrothersBigSisters.ca/NorthDurham.

Meet our Staff: Special Events Coordinator, Krista Webb

Name: Krista Webb

Nickname: KDuke

Age: 26

Horoscope Sign: Aries

Kids: None

Husband: Kyle

Pets: A stunning German Shepard named Boomer (aka Booms, Boomy, Mr. Booms, Pup, Mr. Prince)

I am writing this myself, so here are some little tidbits about me!

Favourite colour: Burgundy
Dream vacation: Scotland/England
Favourite food: French Fries
Biggest pet peeve: People who can't drive but have a license!
What did you want to be when you were a kid?: Don't remember...
What did you take in school?:Public Relations
Favourite vacation to date: Exploring British Columbia by myself!
Favourite movie: You've Got Mail
Favourite Book: The Undomestic Goddess- Sophie Kinsella, The Truth About Forever- Sarah Dessen
Favourite Band/Artist: Circa Survive
Favourite T-Show: Friends
Favourite Season: Fall! (The weather, the coziness, the tea, the colours, the scents..everything!!)
 What's your favourite thing about working at BBBSND?: Constantly meeting new and wonderful people all the time.

In my spare time, I like to craft, binge-watch movies and tv shows on Netflix, buy ALL the makeup, play and cuddle with my pup, swim, go for hikes in Durham Forest, and hang out with friends!

I live in Lindsay, with my husband, and can often be found at yard sales on Saturday mornings in the summer, or at the family cottage near Minden!

I've worked at BBBSND since 2013 and have loved being a part of a fantastic staff who are very tight-knit!

Meet our Staff: Mentoring Coordinator, Becky Lawlor

Name: Becky Lawlor
Nickname: Little Bird, Beck
Age: 25
Horoscope Sign: Pisces
Kids: None (yet)
Fiance: Cody
Pets: A bunny named Thumper

I asked her a few questions so that we could get to know her better...here they are:

Favourite colour: Pink
Dream vacation: Bora Bora
Favourite food: Mac & Cheese
Biggest pet peeve: When people don't listen
What did you want to be when you were a kid?: Dolphin Trainer
What did you take in school?: Child and Youth Worker
Favourite vacation to date: Cuba with Cody
Favourite movie: Anything Nicholas Sparks
Favourite Book: Don't like reading
Favourite Band/Artist: Anything Country
Favourite T-Show (of all time): Friends
Favourite Season: Summer (she loves the heat)
 What's your favourite thing about working at BBBSND?: Our team, and seeing how happy with kids are with their mentor.

Becky lives in Epsom with her fiance and her family with her bunny, Thumper, her fiance's dog, Dexter, and family dog, Cali.

She joined the BBBBSND team back in 2013 and can be seen around many different schools all over North Durham!

Right now, she is busy planning her wedding with Cody, that will be in June 2017 at their family home.

In her spare time, she likes to go four wheeling, travelling to tropical destinations, hanging out with friends, and going camping. You won't catch her shopping though, she hates it!

Becky has been matched with Little Sister, Hailey, for 2 years now!  (Read her blog post about that here)

I hope you enjoyed getting to know our Mentoring Coordinator, Becky, a little bit better!

If you're interested in learning more information about our Mentoring Programs, please call Cheryl Doyle at 905-985-3733 ext 2.  

Meet a Match: Margie & Matthew

 Margie & Matthew 

Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Durham’s (BBBSND) Executive Director, Margaret (Margie) Ayres, took on the responsibility of being a mentor to Matthew in March 2013. “I wanted a better understanding of how the programs benefited the children and ultimately, I wanted to be a mentor for the same reason as everyone else: I wanted to support a child in our community” says Margie. 

Margie and Matthew started out in the In-School Mentoring (ISM) program in the last few months of Matthew’s grade 6 year. During their time together, they’ve done a bunch of different activities including cooking pizzas and baking cookies, painting bird houses for Father’s Day, playing hangman and Dogopoly, playing basketball, and sometimes just sitting and chatting. Margie’s favourite pastime in their match is when Matthew is putting together a Lego sculpture “he’s so good at it, reading all the instructions carefully, and patient with it, too, unlike me” says Margie. Margie thinks Matthews favourite thing to do is play Dogopoly “because he always wins and takes all my Monopoly money” Margie jokes.

Margie says she likes spending time with Matthew because he’s very appreciative of her coming every week and he’s always so polite. “He’s also got quite the sense of humour, he’s quite sarcastic, but always making me laugh,” says Margie. Margie explains that Matthew’s dad is also very kind to her “Every time I call Matthew’s dad, he’s always very thankful for me hanging out with Matthew, and so that’s really nice to hear.”

In July of 2015, Margie and Matthew semi-transitioned to the Traditional Program, meaning that she mainly sees him once a week in the school, but she can see him in the summer outside of school. Their first Traditional outing was to Joyride 150 on Matthew’s birthday! Margie brought her son and a couple of his friends to ride around with Matthew. Margie said they rode their bikes around for 7 hours and they all loved it! Margie plans on bringing Matthew along to a lot of BBBSND events so that he can see what it means to give back to the community.

When asked about what kind of relationship she thinks they have, Margie said that they are friends. She has fun with him and can count on him, and vice versa. “I think he really enjoys it when I come see him. He always wants me to stay longer than the 1 hour I’m supposed to stay,” says Margie.  

Even though Matthew has recently been matched with a Big Brother who has more time to spend with him outside of school, Margie and Matthew are going to continue seeing each other in school, as well as occasionally outside of school.

If you're interested in learning more information about our mentoring programs, please call Cheryl Holmes at 905-985-3733 ext 2.    

Photos were taken by the amazing Daniel Cullen. 

Our Umteenth Wing & Pizza Night Success

On February 27th, we held our 19th, 20th, 21st (we don't know exactly) Wing & Pizza Night fundraiser at the Scugog Community Centre, and let me tell you, we had a BLAST! 

We honestly couldn't imagine a more delicious event in Scugog. I mean, we have TWELVE restaurants there serving up their BEST wings and pizza. Do you know how many wings and slices of pizza were eaten that night? I don't know either, but I'm going to guess around 5,000 wings, and about 400 slices of pizza. Yes, there was a lot of carbs in that room, but it was all worth it for our great cause! 

Here were this years participants:

The Pub, Durham Homestyle Gourmet, Food Man,  Vos Independent,  Great Blue Heron Charity Casino, Harp & Wylies, Clem's Custom Wing Shop, Col. Mustards, Dominos, Bona Via Pizzeria, Crusty Pizza, & Jim's Pizza and Pasta

The winner of best pizza goes to: Crusty Pizza!! 

The winner of best wings goes to: Harp & Wylie's!!

Congratulations to you both!!

We had over 350 guests--a fabulous turnout-- who enjoyed said wings and pizza, and who danced the night away to the sweet tunes Dj-ed by Mr. Todd Soomre (the best dj, in our opinion).

Don't worry, there was dessert too, to round out the nice buffet. We had mini, scrumptious cupcakes from Cakes by Stephanie, and just as many cookies from Asphalt Cookie Company, and we can honestly say not a single one was left! The dessert paired nicely with the coffee donated by Tim Horton's :)

There were over 90 (!!!) silent auction items, donated mostly by generous local businesses and friends of our organization, which generated over $5,000 for us! Thank you, lovely folk, for bidding high and often!

We had 1 very excited winner of our West Jet Raffle who plans on jetting off to New Brunswick to visit her brother-in-law, we hope you have a fabulous time with your FREE airfare!

Ohmygoodness, the amount of volunteers we had was truly crazy. I can honestly say that that night could NOT function without our volunteers, and so we are forever thankful to you, as you are a big part of our success!!

With everyone's help, we were able to raise over $17,000!!!

This night is our biggest of the year and we want to thank everyone for coming, donating, participating and supporting us as it's the children and youth in North Durham who truly benefit from your generosity!!! 

If you'd like to see what this event is all about, we're hosting one in Uxbridge on April 30th, 2016 at the Uxbridge Community Centre! Click here for more details.

Annual Wing & Pizza Night- Port Perry

Hey y'all! 

It's about that time again for our biggest and best fundraising event of the year! Do you like mouth-watering wings? How about pizza? Well this is the event for you! 

Saturday, February 27 at the Scugog Community Centre

Tickets are $30 cash only

(only available in advance. You can book a table if 8 tickets are bought)

Doors open at 7:00pm and food is served from 8:00-9:30pm

 

This year, we have 12 restaurants participating, and we want to know who you like best! Here are the contenders:

Wings:
The Pub
Durham Homestyle Gourmet
Food Man
Vos Independent
Great Blue Heron Charity Casino
Harp & Wylies
Clem's Custom Wing Shop
Col. Mustards

Pizza:
Dominos
Bona Via Pizzeria
Crusty Pizza
Jim's Pizza and Pasta

 

Last year, we had a tie for Best Wings with Harp & Wylie's and Clem's Custom Wing Shop, and the winner of Best Pizza was Bona Via Pizzeria! 

Do you agree? Come to the event, try every flavour and vote!

Make sure you save room for Old Flame Brewing Co. beer on tap!

There will be also be a silent auction, cash bar and dance!

Like us on Facebook to see the auction prizes before the event!

Mr. Todd Soomre will be the DJ! (We know he's the best) 

Tickets can be purchased at our office (The Scout Hall-15585 Simcoe St. Port Perry), PPPrint, Gus Brown, Flawless Dry Cleaners and the Scugog Arena.

Call 905-985-3733 ext. 4 for more information!