Big Buddies mentor Emalyn Hiney and her mentee at the program's February 2011 ice skating pair event.

University of Vermont

• Big Buddies- Volunteers in Action

Contact the Student Coordinators:Kelsey Veilleu, Margaret Cameron
Advisor: Lluvia Mulvaney-Stanack

UVM’s Big Buddies Program provides community children with positive, enthusiastic student mentors who can be a consistent influence in their lives, through play and shared activities. Big Buddies matches UVM students with youth from the Burlington community. The coordinators for Big Buddies work closely with the guidance counselors in the elementary schools to match students with those children that would benefit most from having a mentor. The commitment required from UVM students is a full academic year with their little buddy, consisting of one-on-one time and special semester activities with all of the volunteers.

First Year of operation: 1979
Minimum age for mentor: Freshman in College
Minimum time commitment: 3 hours/week
Minimum length of commitment: Remainder of time at college, unless substituting