STAYING CONNECTED THROUGH DIGITAL NEARING
Elora and Carissa have been matched for over 9 months, as is the case with everyone else their relationship has been impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic. Elora, as the youngest sibling in her family wanted to have the opportunity to mentor a young person herself. It was this desire to be a positive person in the life of a young person and a passion to give back to the community that inspired her to become a Big Sister. She and Carissa have developed a wonderful bond that both want to continue through the pandemic.
At Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windsor Essex we made the conscious decision to “Lean In” 
to continue to support our matches by identifying Digital Nearing tools to help Bigs and Littles stay connected. Elora and Carissa have adopted our Digital Nearing recommendations with video chats. They interact and play online, sometimes colouring together as you can see, or just talking and are looking forward to doing a virtual museum tour together very soon (one of the great suggestions from BBBSWE).
Elora recently messaged our County Community Based Mentoring Coordinator Dhai Omar to tell her how her and her mentee Carissa are staying connected.
Hello Dhai!
Just sending you the pictures of my last video call with Carissa, we coloured together, we made her a playlist on my Spotify for when we eventually get to see each other again and go on a drive. She also showed me the bearded dragon, Barney!! Overall I think the virtual outings are going well!
Thank you,
Elora
It’s truly incredible to see how so many of our matches like Elora and Carissa are “Leaning In” to their relationship despite the challenges of the pandemic. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windsor Essex will be there in a BIG!! way to help support and deepen their on-going connection.