By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Hattie Hartschuh has always been a big sister but the role took on a whole new meaning when she started college. Now, she wants to bring that kind of special mentorship to the forefront in Crawford County.
Hartschuh, a 2005 Wynford graduate, moved to Manhattan, KS to study at Kansas State University. Having been involved in community-related activities most of her life, she knew she wanted to continue that dedication while living 800 miles from home. That was when she stumbled upon the program Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“I was extremely involved in my community and it was probably the most rewarding of all the community service-type of activities that I did.”
Big Brothers Big Sisters is a youth mentoring organization in the United States that mentors children ages 6 through 16. The program strives to make a positive difference in the lives of the youths enrolled in the organization.
“When I first moved out to college I had never heard of the program before,” Hartschuh recalled. “I saw a commercial for it and heard a friend of mine talk about it but I really didn’t know what it was about. I went out there and decided I was going to ask.”
Hartschuh called the Big Brothers Big Sisters program in Manhattan and was informed that they needed “Bigs.” Bigs are the mentors in the program, their younger counterparts are called “Littles.”
Liking what she saw, Hartschuh filled out an application.
“It was actually relatively painless. I was impressed with that,” she laughed. “The big thing that kind of held me back was I thought it was going to be time consuming.”
Hartschuh found out, however, that being a Big only required at least four hours each month spent with her Little.
“If you can manage that then you’re good, you’re golden,” Hartschuh said. “I worked three part-time jobs and was a full-time student and I was a Big.”
Hartschuh was matched with her Little, Dani, when the girl was 12 years old. Hartschuh stayed steadfast as not only a mentor for Dani but also a friend and saw Dani graduate from high school last May.
“She’s a blast,” Hartschuh said about her Little. “We still keep in touch and everything. She just turned 19, which is crazy.”
Hartschuh said she sometimes brought Dani to one of her part-time jobs where she worked giving horseback riding lessons and gave her free riding lessons. Other times, she would cook dinner for her Little, who lived just a few blocks away from Hartschuh’s house, or take her out for a meal.
“I was a college student when I did this so I was on a college student budget. We ate ramen. We ate a lot of ramen, mac and cheese,” Hartschuh said. “It doesn’t take a lot of time and it doesn’t have to take a lot of money. I think that’s another thing that kind of inhibits people from actually signing up. But really, you’re not obligated to take them out and buy them stuff or buy dinner or whatever.”
Rather, Hartschuh explained, it was about spending time with her Little and being a positive influence on her life. “It was that companionship that she just really needed. She needed somebody to be there for her.”
Hartschuh said the program can be as structured as a Big wants it to be. Big Brothers Big Sisters also offers training and seminars.
Over the seven years with Dani, Hartschuh says there are two memories that have stuck in her mind on exactly why she continued to be a Big.
The first memory revolved around Dani, who didn’t have the best home life, Hartschuh said.
“She mentioned to me how it really meant a lot having a big sister,” Hartschuh remembered. “She’ll call me up and she calls me sis. It really struck me. She had a really rough time . . . being a mentor’s not always easy.”
Hartschuh said Dani had issues trying to fit in at school during her preteen years and had problems with depression and stealing.
“The fact that I could be there for her and kind of make that a little bit of an easier transition and be a positive influence was extremely rewarding. I felt like I was doing good,” Hartschuh said.
Hartschuh’s second favorite memory came only a year ago as she was writing her thesis for her master’s degree. She said the two of them went out to eat when the stress of graduate school hit her.
“We’re sitting there at the table and I was venting to her for once about school and how frustrated I was and how it was taking me so long to write this stupid thesis and it was so many pages long. I was just going on and on.”
It was then that Hartschuh knocked her drink over and spilled its contents all over her lap. She said that Dani started laughing and so she asked what was so funny.
“You’re such a mess. What do I do with you?” Hartschuh recalled Dani telling her.
“That really struck me because I was like, wow, she’s almost as much of a Big as I am. Who’s the Big in this situation?” Hartschuh laughed. “It was kind of funny how those roles reversed.
Hartschuh recently returned to the area after getting her master’s degree from Kansas State University. She now works at Kalmbach Feeds in Upper Sandusky as a nutritionist but admits that she feels the loss of no longer being an official Big Sister and sees the benefit of having that program in the area.
It has been a decade since Hartschuh has spent longer than a few weeks in Crawford County and, upon her return to the area where she grew up, she has noticed how much has changed.
“When you’re constantly in a place you don’t notice changes so much, so you’re just kind of use to it,” Hartschuh said. “Coming back twice a year, I could really see how Crawford County was changing, in both good ways and bad ways.”
She knew the benefits of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, such as the positive effects it has on drug use and school performance, and felt it was important to bring those benefits back home.
“I was really proud to be a part of my community when I lived in Kansas and all I could think about was why am I not doing this at home?”
Crawford County is part of Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Central Ohio, the regional branch of the program that also serves Richland and Ashland counties and is based out of Mansfield. Jim Nicholson currently serves as the executive director.
Hartschuh said there are typically more Littles signed up for the program than Bigs that volunteer. “As much as you want to push and get those kids signed up to give them something to do this summer, you also want to push people our age to get out there and get involved. That goes back to that it doesn’t take much time, it doesn’t have to take much money, and it’s extremely rewarding. It truly is.”
“There’s lots of things that make (Big Brothers Big Sisters) important to me,” Hartschuh said. “It takes a lot to get me fired up. Seeing and hearing stories about kids that are in our community that don’t get a break, don’t get a hand up, they don’t get the help they should be getting. People saying we’re doing what we can, isn’t that enough? Well, it’s never enough. You can always do better; you can always push for more. As long as there’s kids out there who else is going to give them something to do other than find trouble in the summertime when they don’t have school?
“We’ve got some fantastic in-school mentoring programs in Crawford County right now but we really don’t have anything that’s community-based,” continued Hartschuh. “It really takes a community to raise a child so I would love to introduce people to the opportunity of raising those kids and helping to be a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters.”
Hartschuh hasn’t been teamed up with a Little yet as she has been focusing more on promoting the program for Crawford County. Though there are Littles enrolled in Crawford County, Hartschuh said that there are some matches that drive in from out-of-county to visit with their Little. The program also faces an unequal 3:1 ratio of female and male Bigs, something that affects Big Brothers Big Sisters across the nation.
“There’s definitely a shortage of getting guys involved,” Hartschuh said. “Especially in our community, so many of them are ag oriented and busy. I get it. But four hours a month is doable.”
During the application process, volunteers select what they can and can’t tolerate in the child. Hartschuh said they try to find the best fit for both the Big and the Little.
Hartschuh already held an informational meeting where she invited people from Bucyrus, Colonel Crawford, Galion, and Wynford high schools but she said it didn’t have the best turnout.
“At this point I’m just trying to light a fire; I’m trying to get people interested and involved,” Hartschuh said. “It’s such a great program to be a part of, I just can’t say that enough.”
If you are interested in signing up for Big Brothers Big Sisters of North Central Ohio visit www.tobeabig.com, email bbbsnco@aol.com, or call 419-525-4618.