This year, why not consider making a gift to a local charity in honour of that hard to buy for person on your list? Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County is a local charity that provides mentoring programs to young people right here at home that need a special friend to help them through a tough time. Your donation helps fund these mentoring programs, and truly gives the gift of friendship this Christmas.

The agency serves the whole of Lanark County with its programming. Big Brothers Big Sisters has an office in Smiths Falls at 18 William St. East, and they offer gift cards for you to write out for your loved one. Your donation also gets you a charitable tax receipt. The agency also has an office open on Wednesdays in their Perth thrift store, Jewels Gently Used Clothing. Gift cards can also be mailed from the office, so making your gift known over the phone is also an option.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lanark County is a not for profit organization that receives no direct, sustainable government funding. They are a proud United Way member agency, but count on community donations to obtain most of their operating money.

Mentoring changes lives. If you stop and think about it, each of us can think of someone in our lives that mentored us, provided a role model, led by example. Often, those people changed the direction of our lives. Perhaps it was a parent, teacher or a coach, perhaps a neighbour. Who was your mentor?

For many children, there is no obvious mentor. Some of the children in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program have lost a parent to illness or divorce, or are in families who face financial difficulties or disabilities that prevent them from having the time or the resources to be the kind of parent they wish they could be. All of the children are in need of someone to talk to, to spend time with. Your donation provides the agency with the resources to find, screen and train volunteers, to assist families, and monitor the matches to ensure the safety of the children.

Make gift giving simple – call Big Brothers Big Sisters today.