March 30th Update: A Message from our CEO

I am in awe of the supportive messages we’ve received from national affiliates of BBBS and friends of BBBS-Greater Sacramento. It further illustrates what I’ve known all along, volunteer Big Brothers & Big Sisters are a special collection of some of the most good hearted and generous people on earth. These are difficult times for all of us and unfortunately it looks to just be the beginning.

We hope to provide match support and special offerings for outings as soon as it is safe for our community. Until then, we are in survival mode.

As much as possible, through email and social media posts we have provided ways for Big Brothers and Big Sisters to stay in touch with their Littles and families during this time of social distancing. We will continue to do so. I also want to be as transparent as possible about our financial stability. On Wednesday of last week, I had to lay off 50% of our staff. This is never an easy thing to do. Unfortunately, we are a nonprofit. As such, we are not sitting on a ton of liquid assets nor cash reserves in the event of a crisis or substantial decline in donations. If county, state and nationwide shelter in place directives stay in force for even a few more weeks than predicted it would continue to prevent us from being able to hold fundraisers and negatively impact the ability for even the most giving and generous amongst us to donate or pledge money to support our mission. The unfortunate consequence would have a huge impact on our ability to make payroll and keep our support staff.

Hours and hours were spent pouring over potential scenarios. Cutting payroll was the obvious answer that kept staring us in the face and is the only way to buy us time and give Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sacramento a fighting chance to regroup, restructure and rebound stronger than ever once we all get through this crisis together. Thanks to recent Executive Orders regarding unemployment benefits as they related to businesses and nonprofits affected by COVID-19, our staff will be able to obtain the financial assistance they need much more quickly.

BBBS Sacramento will be prepared and ready to bounce back providing match support more than ever as soon as we can. We hope that you and your families are safe and healthy during these times. If you are in a position to donate and allow us to continue with our small staff working from home, please do so by visiting our website: www.bbbs-sac.org.

In Service,


Dimtrius Stone
CEO

March 18th Update

Sacramento County health officials yesterday afternoon called on all residents, not just the elderly, to stay home effective immediately unless they have essential chores to do, such as grocery shopping, banking, food pickups, or health appointments. As such, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Sacramento Area asks all Big Brothers/Sisters, families, and volunteers at this time to please cancel/postpone any scheduled outings with your Littles until further notice. We will reassess proper next steps during the first week of April and send another update out to everyone on how best to proceed with outings or if we will continue to ask that they be postponed. In the meantime, we encourage all Bigs to be creative in staying connected to your Little in whatever way you feel most comfortable, are able to, and can do. Whether that be calling your Little, Facetiming with them, etc. There are lots of creative ways to stay connected so we encourage you to do so.

We are heeding the advice of public health officials, who believe this is what we as a community need to do to limit the number of community members who could be exposed to the illness and prevent our health care system from the real possibility of being overwhelmed. At the advice of the same public health officials, we encourage everyone in the BBBS Sacramento family to get outdoors for fresh air and exercise, when possible, as long as it’s a safe distance from others.

We appreciate your support and understanding during this unprecedented time. Please contact us at 916-646-9300 or info@bbbs-sac.org with any questions you may have.

March 13th Update

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Greater Sacramento area is committed to keeping our Bigs, Littles, families, employees and supporters healthy and safe.  We are currently taking steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).

As families, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and volunteers of our program, we want to communicate openly with you about our procedures, plans and general tips for preventing the spread of COVID-19.

In effect now:

  • The BBBSGreaterSac office will be closed, but phones will continue to be monitored until April 1st.
  • BBBSGreaterSac will limit business-related travel and monitor recreational travel of all BBBSGreaterSac staff.
  • We will continue to thoroughly clean the BBBSGreaterSac office.
  • All match-related and agency events, including Match Intro Meetings, Big and Little interviews, match activities like Strikes for Kids bowling, etc. are postponed and will be re-evaluated on April 1st.
  • Effective today, BBBSGreaterSac strongly recommends that all Bigs and Littles avoid in-person match outings until April 1st (at minimum) and instead focus on building a friendship through email, phone, text, FaceTime, etc.  Please contact our office at 916-646-9300.

Be sure to review and follow the California Department of Health COVID-19 updates and recommendations here: Link

Thank you for your continued support of the BBBSGreaterSac mission and all you do to defend potential in our community.

Sincerely,

Dimtrius Stone
CEO