Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana is celebrating 45 years of providing critical youth mentoring programs across a seven-parish area – Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, Jeff Davis, Rapides and Vernon.

BBBS-SWLA hosted the 2024 Big Defender Luncheon on Thursday at L’Auberge Casino Resort. At the luncheon, accomplishments from 2023 were highlighted and stakeholders and sponsors honored.

BBBS-SWLA is the region’s largest donor and volunteer driven mentoring network. It provides support to local youth through six inclusive and affirmative mentor programs, and meaningful connections between adult “Bigs” and youth “Littles.” The mission: “Create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth.”

Erin Davison, CEO, BBBS-SWLA, said that this mission is accomplished through their “JEDI” values that were instituted four years ago: justice, equity, diversity and inclusion.

“All are welcome at our table.”

She reflected on the 45-year legacy of BBBS-SWLA. BBBS-SWLA was rooted in SWLA in 1979 as an umbrella program of Family and Youth. After five years, in 1984, BBBS-SWLA had garnered enough fundraising and community support to go off on their own.

In almost a half a century, the organization has provided about 215,000 mentoring hours to roughly 8,000 local youths. The economic impact of BBBS-SWLA over that time period is approximately $5,000,400.

“It’s overwhelming to think now how many adults we have supported and mentored in 45 years. Think about the next 45 years, where are we going to be?”

Davison said that BBBS-SWLA’s efforts have had tangible results. Based on feedback from the Littles in their program, 93 percent of them are saying “no” to drugs, violence and skipping school, 92 percent have plans to complete high school and attend college, 91 percent feel a sense of belonging amongst peers and 90 percent see their Big as very important adults in their lives.

Former Little Shelli Benglis Broussard spoke at the luncheon to recount her 30-year mentor connection with her Big Faye Robinson. Broussard was six when she was matched with Robinson, who was 60 at the time.

Broussard said that despite the age gap, they developed a deep bond through shared interests: music, dancing, sports, the outdoors and healthy competitive spirits.

“We had the kind of connections a lot of people never experience in their life. She welcomed me into her life with open arms, and never stopped. … In the 30 years that we were matched, she helped me realize not just family can love me unconditionally.”

Last year, Robinson passed away. To honor her triumph as a Big Sister, the annual Big Sister Award was dedicated to her.

The Faye Robinson Big Sister Award was presented to Hannah Veazay.

This year, the Big Brother Award was renamed to dedicate Ben Terry, who was a Big to his Little Chris before the landfall of Hurricane Laura and up until he needed to focus his time and energy on his cancer treatment. Davison said renaming the award after Terry, who died last year after a hard-fought battle against colon cancer, was an easy decision.

“Thinking about our 45th year, and thinking about this person who chose to be here, who chose to be a part of us, chose to be a part of Southwest Louisiana and could have moved anywhere else and moved up in ranks in the meteorology world… we decided that our Big Brother award was going to be renamed in his honor.”

The Ben Terry Big Brother Award was given to Travis Thomas.

To further honor both Robinson and Terry, artist Candice Alexander engraved portraits on slates of wood taken from the Sallier Tree. The portrait of Robinson was gifted to Broussard, and the portrait of Terry will be mailed to his mother.

2023 was a big year for BBBS-SWLA. In October, they launched the Big Defender Fund – an endowment fund that was jump started by a “transformative” $1.1 million donation from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. Additionally, approximately $160,000 was raised through three fundraisers: Bowling for Kids Sake and two Bags and Brew events in Lake Charles and DeRidder.

There are three fundraisers currently planned for 2024: Bags and Brew on March 23 at Crying Eagle Brewery, Bowling for Kids Sake on Aug. 17 at Petro Bowl and Cornhold for Kids on Oct. 19 at Stadium Grill.

To learn more, visit www.BBBSSWLA.org.