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This week our focus on a healthy lifestyle is activity. The benefits of an active lifestyle are extensive. Not only can it give you bigger muscles, but it can also improve your mood, give you an energy burst, and help maintain a strong immune system. Strengthening the muscles in your body is crucial to a longer and healthier life. So, whether you’re looking to get started with exercise or you are already a fitness fanatic, check out all the ways to stay fit—no matter what life throws at you.

The heart is the most important muscle in our body, and making sure it is healthy and in shape is key to overall wellness. The more activity you can do each week, the better, even if that means just a short walk outside. The most important part of staying active is finding something you enjoy doing. It can be as simple as taking a stroll in your neighborhood or throwing a football, or it can be a workout or a run. Each person is different, and finding something you love doing is crucial.

There are so many different activities that one can do for this week’s challenge. Try going for a walk outside! Aaptiv has bodyweight workouts you can do for an added challenge and does not require equipment. Try doing these a few times this week and a few times next week to see how much stronger you get. Bigs take a picture doing a workout with you Little and share it in the Big Networking group. Let us know which exercises or activities you tried. 

This week our insight into overall wellness is sleep! Sleep is essential to overall wellness because it the key to mental and physical performance throughout the day. 1 in every 3 Americans does not get enough sleep each night. This creates several negative impacts on our bodies as well as our minds. However, when we do get enough sleep, we can prevent getting sick, think better, and be healthier and happier. Healthline explains the multitude of negative impacts a lack of sleep has on our body and mind. 

Consistent bedtime and wakeup times are so important to help you sleep better. This gives you a regular sleeping time for your body to get used to. Avoiding computers, cell phones, and TV 30 minutes before bedtime also creates better sleep. See if you and your Little can try to set a bedtime and “unplug” from electronics 30 minutes before going to sleep. 

Did you know that making your bed in the morning can help you go to sleep at night? This week’s #WellnessWednesday challenge is for Bigs & Littles to make your bed every morning before leaving your room and see how this small change impacts your sleep each night.

To get your Little ready for the new 2020-2021 school year we are sharing #WellnessWednesday tips and activities to improve overall wellness for both Bigs and Littles. Each Wednesday throughout August, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay will cover one of the four most essential aspects of overall wellness: nutrition, sleep, activity, and mindset. Every week will include a small challenge or activity for Bigs and Littles to do together.

The first aspect of overall wellness is nutrition. Having a balanced diet is key to healthy living. The healthiest foods are those closest to their natural state, like fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, and brown rice. Finding unprocessed food is something that many think is a difficult, almost impossible task. However, there are replacements for almost every ultra-processed food that we buy at the store. Healthline explains the difference between processed and ultra-processed foods as well as replacements for some of the most popular choices.

There are numerous easy recipes on the internet to create food that is not only nutritious but enjoyable. The first #WellnessWednesday challenge is to make a pizza! Your goal is to create the healthiest, most creative pizza for you and your Little to try. Need some inspiration? Check out these recipes from Boboli, a pizza crust company, with several healthy recipes for pizza. This week’s challenge is to create a pizza with your Little via video chat (make sure both of you have the ingredients). Share a photo of your pizza to the “Big” Networking Facebook group with the hashtag #WellnessWednesday! We can’t wait to see all of your healthy pizza creations.

Check out week two of #WellnessWednesday on Healthy Sleep.

Littles and their families were able to get new backpacks and school supplies for the upcoming school year.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay and Lavonte Legends hosted a backpack event to give supplies to Littles and their families for the 2019-2020 school year. Lavonte David, starting linebacker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, donated 200 brand-new Nike backpacks through his Lavonte Legends Foundation. School supplies were donated by Stetson Law School Part-Time Student Group, Orion Marine Construction, Inc. and Tampa Postal Federal Credit Union plus $1,000 was donated by a private donor for supplies.

Littles were given a backpack and were able to “shop” for new school supplies. Volunteers from the Stetson Law School Part-Time Student Group helped set up and hand out folders, notebooks, pencils, and other school supplies. After shopping, Littles, Bigs and their families had some down-time in the gym playing basketball and dancing to music. Everyone enjoyed a lunch of pizza from Blackjack Pizza and cookies from Blondies Cookies.

Tia, the representative from Lavonte Legends Foundation, was presented with a poster that was signed by all the Littles thanking him for his donation of backpacks. She spoke to the crowd about the importance of mentoring and why Lavonte believes in the mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay.

View photos from the event here.

Each year, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay celebrates our Littles who are graduating high school with a graduation ceremony

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay has had an exciting time recently celebrating the high school graduation of Littles in our mentoring programs.

On May 1^st, Leto High School had 17 students graduate from our School-to-Work program with Nielsen. The event featured the recently inducted mayor of Oldsmar, Eric Seidel, as the keynote speaker. Littles reminisced about the past year in the program, spoke about their experiences with School-to-Work that they will carry into the future, and awards were presented to those with perfect attendance. Nielsen also provided scholarships to two students, Jessica and Jonathan. Special thanks to Publix for donating a cake for the occasion.

View photos from the Leto and Nielsen graduation here.

On May 14^th, we hosted our annual Graduation Ceremony for all graduating Littles, their Bigs and family members, at the Tampa Garden Club. Overall, we had 92 graduating seniors this year. Before the ceremony began, guests enjoyed the photo booth donated by Andrejka Photography. The evening started with a welcome from Jennifer Libby, VP of Programs, and Stephen Koch, President and CEO, followed by a delicious dinner catered by Lynn’s Catering. Bob Conigliaro from Caspers Company was the keynote speaker and shared some sage words of wisdom for the graduates. Gerry Goldhammer represented the BBBS Tampa Bay Scholarship Fund and presented scholarships to four deserving Littles, Delaney, Damion, Nate and Bennie. The Live for 24 Foundation, who raises funds in remembrance of former Big Melissa Vanderhall, presented their scholarship to Little ZaDerricka. Each graduate was honored and recognized with a certificate and special BBBS Tampa Bay branded pen. The evening closed with a presentation from Dallas Ruffin, who announced our newest program, Big Futures, which will help support Littles beyond graduation to help ensure they succeed and meet their future goals. Everyone enjoyed the cake donated by Winn-Dixie.

View photos from the graduation ceremony here.

On May 15^th, Middleton High School had 20 students graduate from our School-to-Work program with Moffit Cancer Center. Moffit provided graduation caps and gowns for the Littles to help make the ceremony feel authentic. The program coordinator at Moffit, LaWanda Courtney, spoke about her heartfelt match story with her Little. We had three graduating Littles speak about their experience in the program and how their relationships with the Bigs and all they have learned will carry with them into their futures. Scholarships provided by Valley National Bank were presented to two Littles, Lydia and Francesca.

View photos from the Middleton and Moffit graduation here.

We are so proud of all our graduating Littles and know that they will all go on to do great things in the future. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2019!

Each spring, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay hosts a Match Spring Picnic for Bigs & Littles to spend time together in the great outdoors.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay hosted their annual Match Spring Picnic at Philippe Park in Safety Harbor. With almost 300 Bigs, Littles and staff in attendance, this was one of our biggest picnics yet!

Matches enjoyed arts and crafts, sports and games, music, dancing and a delicious lunch of hamburgers and hotdogs grilled by our own President & CEO, Stephen Koch, and his Little Jon.

Special thanks to Starbucks for donating coffee and iced tea for our matches to enjoy at the picnic and the Hobbs Foundation for making the annual Match Spring Picnic possible

View all of the photos from the Match Spring Picnic here and here.

Matches at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay enjoyed a day of fishing and fun in the sun.

Bigs and Littles from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay recently enjoyed a fishing clinic hosted by the Old Salt Fishing Foundation and the Rotary Club of the Gulf Beaches. Matches had the opportunity to learn more about casting a line and baiting a hook. Then they were able to fish on their own. A few were lucky enough to catch some small fish, but most matches just enjoyed spending the day together at ROC Park at Madeira Beach. Afterward, matches were invited to the Spring Break Festival & Carnival hosted annually by the Rotary Club of the Gulf Beaches. The organization donated free wrist bands for Littles who had attended the fishing clinic. Special thanks to Big Mitchell Shenkman for helping make this match event possible!

View photos from the event.

More than 100 matches celebrated the holiday season at United Skates.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay’s matches celebrated the upcoming holiday season at the annual Hillsborough Holiday Party hosted by United Skates in Tampa, FL. Over 100 matches were in attendance for this annual event. Matches not only enjoyed skating at the skating rink but also participated in games and arts & crafts. Littles were excited to have a special visit from the big man himself, Santa Clause! Santa gave each Little a gift card to buy a present with their Big. Bigs & Littles posed for pictures with Santa, snacked on cookies from Blondies Cookies, and all around had an awesome time!

Special thanks to United Skates Tampa, Blondie’s Cookies, and the Hobbs Foundation!

View the slideshow from the event here.

View photos from the event here.

The annual bowling event hosted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker ignites potential in the children in Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay’s youth mentoring program.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Lavonte David showed his support for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay with his annual Lavonte David Bowl For Kids’ Sake match event. This yearly bash is a chance for BBBS Tampa Bay matches to enjoy pizza, soda, and bowling while getting to meet Bucs players. The Bucs linebacker was joined by Cameron Lynch, Donovan Smith, Devante Bond and other players who took the time to take photos with Bigs & Littles, autograph gear, and bowl a few frames with the kids.

During the event, David expressed his position as a defender of potential, seeing each of the Littles in BBBS Tampa Bay’s mentoring program as “Lavonte’s Legends”. David also announced the launch of his scholarship foundation that will help deserving kids pursue higher education. President & CEO of BBBS Tampa Bay, Stephen Koch, and Director of Activities and Training, Heather Castle, presented David with a custom framed jersey that featured the new Big Brothers Big Sisters logo as a token of appreciation for his support.

Lavonte David continues to be a champion for BBBS Tampa Bay’s mentoring programs and continues to defend potential in every child in our community.

Thank you to Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, PDQ, Dead Bob’s and Blondie’s Cookies for donating delicious food, Balloonies for the awesome balloon arch, Doogie Entertainment for providing the soundtrack for the evening, Image Depot Express and All Sports Custom Framing for creating a special gift for Lavonte David, and Pin Chasers for hosting the event!

See photos from the event here.

Bigs & Littles from all seven counties attended this match event at the Museum of Science & Industry

Each year, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay hosts the Big Celebration for our matches. This event is an opportunity for Bigs and Littles from across our seven counties to get together and enjoy food and fun with each other. This year we had over 200 matches in attendance and the event was a hit!

The celebration was an evening at the Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI) sponsored by Outback Steakhouse and TECO. Matches enjoyed all the exhibits that the museum had to offer, including a hurricane wind machine, a virtual reality ride, and a mock mission to the moon. Matches enjoyed tacos catered by Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and cookies from Blondie’s Cookies.

The Big Celebration is also a time for matches to catch up with their Match Support Specialists who help facilitate the relationship between Bigs and Littles.

Thank you to MOSI, Outback Steakhouse, TECO, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, and Blondie’s Cookies for empowering potential in our Littles.

Join us as a defender of potential » https://bbbstampabay.org/be-a-big/