 I'm Allison Olivier and I have the honor of being the Senior Advancement Officer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Sheboygan County. On behalf of our entire team we hope you and your family and friends are staying safe, well, and feeling connected. Big Brothers Big Sisters continues to navigate these challenging times alongside our bigs, littles, and their families. Our team has been working tirelessly to design and implement safe, creative, and successful ways to ensure our littles feel supported in their mentoring relationships. Everything we do at Big Brothers Big Sisters is for kids' sake. We know it's been a difficult year. We're in the middle of a pandemic, far reaching shutdowns and isolation. But throughout all of this there are always those people who rise above the fray and remind us that there are still good people doing kind work on behalf of others. There is hope. Today I am very excited to introduce to you one of our littles, Jonathan Zavalleta. Jonathan has been a little in our program since the age of five and littles are aged five to 18 who have an adult mentor. And his big, the adult mentor, Chris Horvath, has been in our program for more than nine years. Jonathan is an example of what a littles potential can develop into when mentored by a caring adult. Hey Jonathan, thank you for being with me today. You are doing something really special and it's really starting to get some attention. Can you tell me a little bit about your idea and what inspired you to do this? So my idea with this fundraiser was to raise some money to give some gifts to for the big brothers, big sisters, families and the littles involved with it. Something that inspired me was my mother or someone that inspired me was my mother. And she has always been there for me and ever since the beginning we've had struggles in our life. Hurdles were jumping over every single day and she, right, and she always finds some way to jump over it or through it. So she motivated me to push through and kind of just, you know, live day by day and just go. So since about 14 you came up with a way that you wanted to help your mom, right? And that was doing some odd jobs. So you said, you know, you were raking leaves and things like that and and then anything that you could do to help your mom. And you said your brothers and sisters kind of joined in too as they were able to, right? Yeah. So now you're 17 years old and you're now you're working even more and maybe a little more professional than just raking leaves, right? And what are you doing and how did that inspire you to create this fundraiser? Well, at 14 right when I was legally able to work. I had my first job at McDonald's and then I met someone amazing, Jordan Saunders. He's a general manager over at Parker Drons and he gave me a job like real quick and I worked my way through it. I figured out I loved working in restaurants. So I've worked in probably a restaurant in Sheboyka. I've been all over the place and and then one of the restaurants at Stefano's, I met an amazing man, Siegfried Delon. And he's he motivated, he motivates me still today. Oh, it's amazing. He did a lot of nonprofits and kind of just helped out by cooking and he started his own private catering. So I kind of joined in with him and we've been doing catering events ever since. Okay, so you're doing these catering events, you're learning how to cook and prepare things and then suddenly you get this idea that you want to make jam and chocolate bark and PPE equipment and what are some of the products that you've made? Yeah, so we've made some marmalade, some chutneys and a triple berry jam that sold very fast. And we were sponsored by a Lake Shore chapter student nurses association for the COVID prevention packages. It's really nice and I hear that they put a special note in that packet thanking people for participating. Now you had some special bark that you had made, I understand that sold out already. Yeah, that sold out the first day when we went out to Pigley Wiggly. Yeah, oh sure, I'm sure. So where are some of the places that you were selling your product? Before we were selling them at Pigley Wiggly, both north and south side, we were very honored that their, you know, let us do that. And then over at the Hanson holiday market, we were there for about two weekends and over at the Y, yeah, the Y, sorry, the Y. Yeah, no, that's okay. So you've really been in a lot of places and everybody's talking about it. I know that TMJ4 came out and they did an interview and highlighted some of the things that you were doing and I know there's just such a buzz at big brothers, big sisters, sharing your story because we're all excited and inspired by what you've done. What is your goal? How much do you want to raise? Our goal is 2,500, but right now we're almost halfway there. Okay, so like about $1,200? Okay, so there's definitely a push to sell all of your product and continue to get donations, right? Because you're going to have an opportunity then to buy gifts, is that right? For families? Do you have, have you selected the families? Is Big Brothers, Big Sisters going to help you with that? Correct, Big Brothers, Big Sisters is going to help us with that and they have a few families set aside right now waiting until we can actually get the gifts. Wonderful. That is just so incredible of you to want to do that and so selfless. I mean, you're just a young man, you haven't even graduated high school yet and already you're thinking about how you can help others and designing products and making them and learning how to sell them and price them. So you priced them at a price that was affordable, right? Correct, yeah. We were selling them the jams first at 650 and we looked at competitors around our location and they were like, you know, $12 and $6.50 would cover the cost to make it and we were accepting all donations. Nice, very, very nice. Now, I want to ask you something. So, Chris Horvath has been your Big for the last nine years and so you've been in our program for nine years and I want to ask you what would you say to somebody who is thinking about becoming a Big and what would you say then to someone, a little kid who's watching, who might want to become a little? So let's start with what would you say to somebody thinking about becoming a Big? Becoming a Big, I would definitely push them to become a Big only because as a little, I guess, I've learned that time is way more expensive than anything else than that anyone can achieve. So I mean, my mother was always, you know, there for me but she was always working so as a Big, you know, the time that they gave us and kind of like just like everything that they gave that Chris gave me was very, very appreciated. Yeah, and you had fun with Chris and you have fun with Chris, because you still see him. He's still your Big, right? And because our program goes through 18, but we know that, you know, littles continue to stay connected with their Bigs long after that. And as the parents may be thinking about enrolling their kids as a little, what are some of the benefits for a little to have that Big? I guess just quickly, you know, when I was in elementary and middle school, I was troubled, you know, a troubled kid getting in trouble all the time. And when Chris came in my life, he kind of showed me showed me like the right way, you know, and really pushed me to know like the good morals and stuff. Excellent. That's really nice. And clearly, he's done a very good job and your mother has too. You definitely have all of what it takes to be a good person. And Jonathan, I want to thank you so much for what you're doing on behalf of the families of Big Brothers Big Sisters. And your gift that supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters is a clear reflection of your heart. And on behalf of all of us here in Sheboygan County, thank you. You are an example of what makes this world a much better place. We cannot wait to see what you're going to do next year. Gift to support Jonathan's effort can be made to Big Brothers Big Sisters and the contact information is on the screen. I encourage anyone who is watching and can make a gift to not delay. Jonathan is hoping to go shopping very soon to shop for his families. We wish you and all of those you love a joyful holiday season.