Kathy and Caitlin: a Walmart trip for white towels, 14 years, and a first-generation Texas A&M graduate

Their first outing was to Walmart. Kathy Hall had a mission in mind for Caitlin Jones: she needed white sweat towels for the fitness center. They bought the towels. They moved on to the next thing.

Over the next 14 years, there were hundreds of next things. Shopping trips where Kathy gave Caitlin a budget and whatever was left over was Caitlin’s to keep — the beginning of a financial education. Trails. Baking. Caitlin learning to read food labels at H-E-B. Tickets to the theater, where they ushered in exchange for free seats. Kathy and her husband Charles, who became a second set of role models.

Caitlin was 10 when they were matched through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Texas Hill Country. She is 24 now. She graduated from Tivy High School in 2020, commanded the JROTC unit, became the first person in her family to earn a college degree — from Texas A&M University — and works full-time at Peterson Health. She now serves on the BBBS board as what the organization calls its “Little Liaison,” representing the voice of the young people the program serves.

“It’s just inspiring to see what she does,” Caitlin said Thursday on Lead Live’s Nonprofit Week. “And it inspires me like I can do different things with my life. Kathy and Charles inspired me in so many ways. Everyone has their part in inspiring a child.”

Hall, Caitlin, and board member Jeannie Wanhainen appeared Thursday to represent a program whose local waitlist has grown to 40 children — with an urgent specific shortage: men.

Wanhainen joined the board after her son was matched with a Big Sister. Her son had a meaningful experience, but the reality of raising a boy as a single mother led her to a frank acknowledgment.

“My son is a boy. He grew up in a female household,” she said. “So the male big is much needed.”

The one-to-one mentorship model is the program’s core — not group activities, not programs, but a single adult building a consistent relationship with a single child, typically from a single-parent home, over years. The research outcomes are striking: children in the program are 27% less likely to drink, 46% less likely to use drugs, 52% less likely to skip school, and 85% expect to attend college, trade school, or enlist in the military.

“As a mother, that’s what I want for my child,” Wanhainen said, “is to excel and be able to make good decisions and have somebody else other than just me to lead him to that.”

BBBS will have a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Expo in mid-September, featuring cookies Caitlin will bake herself. The Big 3K Walk & Run fundraiser — which moved from the flood-damaged River Trail to Schreiner University’s flat 1.6-mile decomposed granite loop from the Trailhead — is Saturday, Oct. 10. Wear your best superhero gear.

To sign up as a mentor or register for the 3K: bigmentor.org or (830) 777-7476.