Being a Big Brother today is easy.  All you have to do is be a friend to a child.  Big Brothers are fun, spontaneous and great listeners who enjoy being a positive influence and enjoying quality time with a great friend, a Little.  The Big Brother program is a one-on-one mentoring relationship between a volunteer (18 years of age and older) who is matched with a boy (aged 6-16). Our Bigs and Littles spend 2-4 hours a week together doing any activity they have planned for their outing. These activities include anything from playing sports, to watching films, to cooking, to learning a new instrument! The sky is the limit! 

We ask for a minimum of a one year commitment to a match as it’s proven to have the most positive impact on a child.  We are currently looking for volunteers who are reliable, stable and who are able to commit to a one year match in the following areas:

1-      Barrhaven/Manotick

2-      Ottawa West

3-      Ottawa South

4-      Orleans/Cumberland

5-      North Gower

6-      Nepean/Bells Corners

7-      Kanata/Stittsville

If you have 2-4 hours a week to spend mentoring a young person between the ages of 6-16 please visit Is Mentoring For You? to learn more about being a Big. 

If you are interested in a short term volunteering opportunity, please check out Game On! an exciting new program about healthy choices for boys.

How to apply?

After almost 2 years of processing Littles and working towards matching those on our waitlist, we are excited to report that we only have approximately 30 Littles on our waitlist. This number includes a few Little Brothers and for that reason we are looking for Big Brother volunteers based on geographical location.

If there is a potential Little Brother in your area, we will gladly guide you through the application process. However, since the number of Little Brothers is low, we cannot guarantee that you will be matched. Our goal is to create the best matches for our volunteers and Littles therefore information is gathered during the application stage and used when matching.

If you are interested in volunteering in this program, send us an email at bbbso.ca or contact us at 613-247-4776 with your postal code.  Once our Enrollment Coordinators have assessed your geographical suitability, you will be invited to complete a pre-screening questionnaire to allow us to cross-reference match considerations for our Littles.

We will then be forwarding the application ONLY to volunteers who have similar interests, availability and match considerations as the Littles ready to be matched or are in-process.