Big Brothers Big Sisters wins strong support in Los Alamos schools

Students and volunteers in the Lunch Buddy program at Aspen Elementary ended the school year with a party, a local sign that Big Brothers Big Sisters New Mexico has won strong support in Los Alamos Public Schools. The program has become one of the clearest examples of community adults showing up for children at school, not just for academics but for steady, familiar connection.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Mexico says its school-based matches meet once a week at school during lunch, where Bigs and Littles eat together, play games and work on homework. The same organization says its community-based matches spend four to six hours a month together. That makes the school-day model a practical fit for elementary students who benefit from regular contact without the extra travel or time commitment that can come with after-school mentoring.

Aspen Elementary, at 2182 33rd St. in Los Alamos, serves PK-6 students, placing the Lunch Buddy program inside a school where younger children can meet the same adult mentor on a predictable schedule. The model is simple, but its impact is visible in the way students and volunteers gathered at the end of the year to celebrate the relationships they built.

The local volunteer network suggests the need has not gone away. Volunteer Los Alamos lists Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Mexico - Los Alamos and Rio Arriba Counties as a community-building, family-focused organization and posts a Lunch Buddies opportunity for Los Alamos and White Rock Elementary Schools. The listing says adult mentors are matched with a child during the school lunch period, a structure that lowers the barrier to participation for residents who may not be able to give several hours outside the school day.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Mexico is now operating under a broader statewide umbrella after the boards of Big Brothers Big Sisters Mountain Region and Big Brothers Big Sisters Central New Mexico voted to merge into one organization. The nonprofit lists Dionne Cruz Miller as chief executive officer and gives its phone number as (505) 535-5080.

The Mountain Region’s roots go back to Santa Fe in 1979, and the network now includes Los Alamos and Rio Arriba counties. In Los Alamos, the attraction is less about structure than about consistency: one lunch hour a week, one child at a time, and a school setting where mentoring is built into the day instead of added on top of it.