Meet Kayla

A couple months ago, I decided to volunteer with the Big Brothers and Big Sisters program.  After applying, interviewing, filling out paperwork and doing a background check, I was matched with a little sister.  Her name is Dakaylia, but she likes to be called Kayla.  We first met about a month and a half ago.  I went to her house with my case worker from BBBS and I met her and her family.  After that we were pretty much set free to do whatever we wanted.  The thing I like about the program is that it’s very open ended.  You and your little get to decide what to do and when to do it.  So, while it is a time commitment, it doesn’t necessarily take up a specific time slot each week, like Thursday evenings from 5-7.  You get to work around your schedule.

The following week, we made a bucket list of different activities we wanted to do together.  Our list has bigger events like going to red’s games or the zoo, but it also has some simpler items like baking cookies and going to the library.  

For our first outing, I let her pick whatever she wanted off of our list.  Of all things, she was most excited to go fishing.  So… that’s what we did. We packed up our rods and tackle box (borrowed from my dad) as well as a couple Lunchables, and set off to the park for a day of fishing.  Given the fact that I’m no professional angler, this was a learning experience for both of us.  We caught a grand total of zero fish, had to touch a lot of worms, and accidentally dismantled the reel off our rod and flung it into the water.  All in all, it was not the most successful fishing trip, but we had a lot of fun.  

Kayla lives near the city, so she doesn’t spend a lot of time by lakes.  It was so cute to see her get all excited about seeing ducks and turtles and snails.  

Since our fishing trip we've taken a lacrosse class, baked cookies and had a movie day.  I've noticed that of all the things we've done together, her favorite thing to do is just hang out at my apartment.  The first thing she does when she comes over is look at each of my framed pictures.  She loves seeing the photos of my college friends, my family and pictures of my friends' weddings. She also really likes running errands with me like going to the grocery store. It's pretty cool that it doesn't take a lot for her to have a good time.  I'm excited to get to know her better and experience more things with her.