Big Brothers And Big Sisters Closes Door In Mahaska County

Oskaloosa, Iowa – What would a youth mentorship program in Mahaska County be like, if it happened at all?

Those were the fundamental questions being asked at an information meeting held at George Daily Auditorium one evening in February of 2017.

In May of 2017, the decision was to use Big Brothers and Big Sisters as the model agency, and fundraising to provide that service was underway.

In mid-November of 2020, the program announced that it was closing its doors.

This move doesn’t stop current matches from continuing; they will be administered by the Johnson County Big Brothers and Big Sisters into the future.

Molly Tippett Coster, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mahaska County Board Chair, added that COVID hit the nonprofit hard. Without the ability to fundraise and a limited cash reserve, no in-person meetings, the program had to decide what the future would be.

All funds raised to this point have and will be expended in on-going support to matches and wrapping up operations, the organization explained.

“Although we are extremely disappointed to come to this conclusion, it doesn’t negate the positive impact seen in the community for the last three years,” the organization stated in a press release.

During the summer months, a few matches were meeting in person while utilizing masks, but limited school hours also meant that new littles and bigs weren’t making their way into the program.

Sixteen youth were matched with sixteen caring adult mentors. 86% of those matches reached 12-month retention, and 5 of those continued past 24 months (3 @ 30 months). The overall match length for matches in Mahaska County is 20.3 months. Each youth received 72 hours a year of mentoring valued at $1,637, the press release explained.

Coster said, “We’d like to thank all our private and corporate donors who helped to fund and support our program. It is truly appreciated.”

“I’d also like to give a special thanks to Steve Burnett and Amy Meyer, whose vision for youth mentorship in Mahaska County and determined fundraising launched Big Brothers Big Sisters of Mahaska in 2017. Their efforts not only had a positive impact on the youth in our program for the three years we were open, but those benefits will continue into the future.”