Goodbye, Big Brothers Big Sisters

Butte County is no longer home to a branch of Big Brothers Big Sisters, the national nonprofit that helps kids by pairing them with adult mentors.

The local program closed up shop at the end of last month due to ongoing financial problems, according to a report in the Chico Enterprise-Record. The nonprofit reportedly had been struggling for some time due to a drop in donations attributed to the economic downturn.

Butte County BBBS had operated locally for about 13 years, most recently in north Chico. It moved there over the summer, following the resignation of several staff members, including Executive Director Kathy Barrett, and the closure of its East Sixth Street location.

A spokeswoman from the national headquarters in Philadelphia told the E-R that the local organization was charged with notifying their participants of the program’s collapse.