Well, there's a nine-decade gap between Iva Broadus and DeAngela Williams. Other than making Ms. Broadus who just turned 99 the oldest Big Sister in the nation, according to the organization's records, that little fact doesn't seem to matter much.
At Cockrell Hill Elementary School in DeSoto, 10-year-old DeAngela enjoys social studies and science. But the highlight of her week is the school bus ride to Grace Presbyterian Village, where she visits her Big Sister. See the video from The Dallas Morning News and Denton Record Chronicle here: http://www.dentonrc.com/video/index.html?nvid=207480
"I get to see her every week. We play games, and we talk. She asks me how school is, what I did on the weekend," DeAngela said. "I help her, too by bringing her food and drinks and playing games with her. She enjoys every game we play."
In the gentle give-and-take over cards or lunch, there are other kinds of teaching and learning between Ms. Broadus and DeAngela. Social protocols, manners that are best passed from older to younger the same things Ms. Broadus learned, in turn, as a little girl from her Aunt Edna.
"People are going to like people who like them," Ms. Broadus told her young charge in a recent discussion. "That's why I'm here, to tell you little things you don't know."
When Ms. Broadus was a toddler in Michigan, her father taught her numbers by playing three-card rummy. She's now playing Uno with DeAngela and thinks card games should become part of school curriculum.
"You learn numbers, addition, subtraction, division. For a child, it's invaluable, and they don't realize they're learning," said Ms. Broadus, who belonged to six bridge clubs before a fall brought her to Grace Presbyterian Village, a retirement community in east Oak Cliff.
Records are kept locally, and there are more than 400 Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies in the country. Kay Keenan, vice president of marketing communications of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, believes Ms. Broadus is the oldest volunteer in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in the U.S.
"Three or four years ago, we did a call for many different categories of Bigs, and at that point the oldest in the country was in his mid-90s, and he has since died," Ms. Keenan said.
"I think it says that if you're out volunteering, it will keep you young," Ms. Keenan said. "She's clearly an ambassador for us."
At 98, Ms. Broadus is vivacious; her mind is sharpened daily by a quest for information.
"If it's there and it's learnable, I've got to learn it. We always can learn something, no matter who we are. Every day I try to learn something I didn't know before," she said.
She sees dividends to mentoring a fourth-grader: "Something about it makes your heart feel good but it's that way with anything you do to help people. I probably get more out of it than the child."
Every Thursday, 18 fourth-graders from the DeSoto school come to Grace Presbyterian to learn such lessons as part of a Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Texas pilot program.
There are other Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring programs in North Texas, where the children are brought to a site, but most are to learn about the workplace.
"This is really kind of a first, where we're taking them on a weekly basis to a particular location to meet with mentors once a week," said Diana Phillips, the organization's regional executive director for DeSoto/Waxahachie.
There have been logistics to work out transporting the children from the elementary school, getting the parents on board and background checks.
"We do background checks on everyone, whether they're 99 or not," Ms. Phillips said.
The results have been gratifying, she said.
"The students love it. We foresee expanding the program as of next year, and we hope to make it even bigger for the next school year," Ms. Phillips said.
DeSoto schools program coordinator Lee Merryman expects the partnership with Grace Presbyterian Village to continue, and for the model to be adopted around the country.
That's an idea that makes sense to DeAngela.
"I think other kids should get to have a Big Brother or Big Sister, too," she said.
J. Louise Larson is the managing editor of The Ennis Journal in Ennis, Texas. She is a Texas-based writer and speaker whose work has been published in magazines and newspapers, including Entrepreneur Magazine, AirTran's Go Magazine, Smart Business Magazine, Midwest Airlines' MyMidwest Magazine, DS News, the Dallas Morning News and others. Her work has been featured on thestreet.com, msnbc.com, entrepreneur.com, business.com and other sites. Her family blog can be seen at http://familyrootsandwings.blogspot.com/ and her writing blog at http://writingporch.blogspot.com/. She is the author of The FabJob Guide to Become A Party Planner (FabJob Publishing 2006) and a member of The Author's Guild and the Writers League of Texas.
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