On Monday, 9th March, all the BBBS matches in Cork were recognised for their commitment and enthusiasm to the programme.
The action packed event was an opportunity to celebrate the rapid growth of the Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) Programme in Cork and to publicly acknowledge the contributions of the volunteer mentors, young people and supporters to the great success of the programme.

Speaking at the recognition event, Brendan Duffy, Chairman of the Vodafone Ireland Foundation said "We are delighted to partner with Foróige to help deliver such an important mentoring opportunity to a number of communities in Cork. The Big Brother Big Sister project has clearly had an incredibly positive impact on all involved. We would like to thank and congratulate the young people, their volunteer mentors, and the hard-working staff of Big Brother Big Sister Ireland for creating such a beneficial and successful programme. We look forward to the future development of this programme throughout the country."

The National Chairperson of Foróige, Pat McLoughlin said that the "The Big Brother Big Sister Youth Mentoring is the largest proven youth mentoring programme in the world. It is based on the very simple concept of friendship, but has been shown to have very powerful effects. The programme is still in its infancy in Ireland, but already we are seeing wonderful results - young people gaining in confidence, having an advisor in times of need or simply getting the opportunity to try activities they wouldn't ordinarily get a chance to try. Foróige is very proud of the phenomenal success of the programme in Ireland to date and I certainly look forward to witnessing the impact of the programme as it continues to grow."
This exciting youth mentoring programme matches a young person (10-18) with an adult volunteer mentor. The basic idea is that a friendship will form between the young person and adult volunteer mentor that will promote the positive development of the young person. BBBS, operated by Foróige, the National Youth Development Organisation, in Ireland, is available in 12 counties nationwide and to date over 1300 matches have been formed.
The young person and adult volunteer mentor are matched based on common interests and personality. They meet once a week, for a year, and together they decide on the type of activities that they would like to do.